Untitled - Global Footprint Network

Foreword
When I was born in 1962, the world still had significant
ecological reserves. Residents of most of the world’s
countries demanded less resources and emitted less
waste than their respective countries’ ecosystems could
regenerate. Today, less than 20 percent of the world
population lives in countries where this is still the case.
This assessment is based on Ecological Footprint
accounting, a balance sheet that compares how much
nature we have to how much nature we use. Based
on about 5000 data points per country and year, all
from UN statistical sources, it documents our resource
balance. The results for 2005: human demand on
the biosphere exceeds by 30 percent what Earth can
renew. In other words, it takes a year and four months
to regenerate what humanity uses within that one year.
Like in the financial world, overspending can work, for
some time. The question is for how long, and at what
costs. When adding up moderate projections of UN
agencies for 2050, based on slow population growth,
slight improvements of people’s diets, decarbonization
of our energy systems, continued increase in agricultural
productivity, human demand would be twice of what
Earth could provide.
Banking on this growing level of consumption is
unrealistic. Demand would be too far out of sync with
supply. Worse, the accumulated ecological debt from
decades of ecological overspending cannot be fed
indefinitely by depleting our planet. There just are not
that many fisheries to overharvest, atmospheres to fill
up with CO2, or forests to deforest.
If we want to realize the “right to develop” – and this
is the motivation behind this publication – we must
work with the budget of nature, not against it. Ignoring
nature’s budget weakens us – makes it less likely that
we can secure human wellbeing.
To succeed, and to make this success last, we need
to reverse these trends. I am an unwavering optimist
and am convinced we can. Consider this: if the current
trends in biocapacity and Footprint were financial
curves, every planner, economist or minister would
know what would need to be done. They would huddle
and identify an aggressive agenda for action. Nothing
less is required with our current resource trends. After
all, money can be printed, but resources cannot.
Mathis Wackernagel
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Purpose of this publication
This work is based in part on statistical information that
nations work together to best manage ecological assets so
countries provide to the United Nations Food and Agricul-
that those assets are not depleted or degraded, but rather,
ture Organization (UN FAO), the UN Development Program
can continue to meet human demands as well as maintain
(UNDP) and other international agencies. It is presented
a healthy biodiversity?
here in a way that shows the demand the human community is putting on the Earth’s ecological assets. The relation-
The data presented in this publication is intended as a
ship between this demand and the availability of natural
means to enhance the understanding of the extent, use
capital to satisfy it is shown both globally and for individual
and distribution of ecological assets, and their relation-
nations.
ship to human wellbeing. This provides an objective and
measurable starting point for politicians, decision makers,
The purpose of this publication is to provide data rather
opinion leaders and citizens to address the sustainability
than policy recommendations, and to open a creative
challenge—how to live well, while living within the means
debate over the implications of living in a resource-con-
of the planet. This challenge is perhaps the key issue of the
strained world. Statistics show that the human community
21st century, and how it is resolved will likely determine the
is using the Earth’s living resources faster than the planet is
fate of humanity and the rest of the Earth’s species.
able to regenerate them. This publication is intended as a
starting point for discussion to raise awareness of the vari-
We invite all countries and organizations to participate in
ous risks and opportunities for individual countries created
this debate, and to explore the implications of the Ecologi-
by this resource imbalance by asking such questions as:
cal Footprint and biocapacity data for national programs,
for valuation of ecological services, and for international
• What does this global deficit mean to those countries that
agreements such as those designed to protect biodiversity.
use less biological capacity than they have available?
In particular, this data provides an important perspective
for shaping and evaluating post-Kyoto and other initiatives
• What does it mean for those who are in ecological deficit?
related to the emission and capture of carbon dioxide generated by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. In a
• What are the political, economic, social and strategic im-
world of “peak everything;” food, water, climate, soil and
plications of the fact that eight countries control more than
energy, this perspective given current ecological reality can
half the planet’s biological capacity?
help in the evaluation of proposed solutions to see if they
are sufficient and will result in an absolute reduction in hu-
• If the wellbeing of all is a
manity’s ecological overshoot rather than just transferring
desirable goal, how can
pressure from one type of ecosystem to another.
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Earth, our home planet is the only planet in our solar system known to harbor life and life of incredible
diversity. The view from space enables us to better
understand how thin and fragile is the Earth’s atmosphere, how it protects us from the uninhabitable
void and why we need to protect it.
The presence of the Moon stabilizes the Earth’s wobble thereby making the climate more stable in billions
of years of influence. The regular daily and monthly
rhythms of Earth’s only natural satellite, the Moon,
have guided timekeepers for thousands of years. Its
influence on the Earth’s cycles, notably the tides, has
also been charted by many cultures throughout many
ages. More than 70 spacecraft have been sent to the
Moon; 12 astronauts have walked upon its surface
and brought back 842 pounds of lunar rock and soil
to Earth. This color-coded image shows the Moon’s
mineral composition and barren soil.
Introduction
Recent and ongoing news – from the economy to the
environment – make it clear: The world is changing,
and we cannot continue to ignore the importance of
ecological assets. With an expanding population and
an economy that has already crossed many global limits, now more than ever it is essential to recognize that
the health and wellbeing of the human community depends on the health and wellbeing of the Earth’s ecosystems.
The world is changing not only with regard to growing
resource scarcity, but also in the way we are becoming increasingly more interconnected and interdependent. The global economy and the internet are only a
part of the reason for this change. Today, we can track
the flow of resources around the world in an accounting system that shows where ecological assets are
available and where they are being used. This gives
us a new way to see the world and provides the foundation for a new chapter of global collaboration with
a view to share the ecological assets, without their
depletion or degradation.
Throughout this publication, you will see demonstrated
the growing need for nations to recognize the value of
their own natural resources as well as the need to find
a way for humanity to live well, within the means of our
planet. You will also learn more about the the Ecological Footprint - the metric tool that calculates human
pressure on the planet, and about a new way of looking at nations, from the perspective of natural capital,
questioning whether or not nations have enough natural capital to supply their own consumption or are they
operating in ecological deficit.
All forms of life on the planet coexist within a thin surface layer 40 miles thick, the biosphere. This layer extends from the
depths of the oceans to the stratosphere and it is here where
all living creatures interact with chemical processes and the
energy from the sun to sustain life. Picture taken by the Gemini
9 tripulation on July 5, 1966. NASA
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The Earth’s biosphere absorbs the energy from the sun and
from within its thin, fragile layer, it supplies everything we
need to survive. The Earth is made up of complex, interac-
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tive systems that are often unpredictable. Air, water, land,
and life - including human life - combine forces to create
a constantly changing world that we are striving to under-
stand. Photo of anvils over the Pacific Ocean. NASA, July
21, 2003.
We’re going to have to think of ourselves as a subsystem,
part of the natural world and that we depend upon it in two ways:
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The Earth’s ecological limits
While economies, populations and resource demands
grow, the size of the planet remains the same. To satisfy our demands, the human community is using the
Earth’s living resources more than 35 % faster than
they are regenerated. The continuing growth in this
demand, according to moderate United Nations scenarios, suggests that by the early 2030s our consumption will require the capacity of 2 planet Earths. If we
continue on this path without altering course, room to
maneuver will quickly diminish.
In 2008, by September 23rd, humanity’s use of ecological resources exceeded the amount the planet produced in that entire 2008 year. Since the mid-1980s,
when global ecological overshoot first became a reality,
we have been living on ecological credit. To support
our consumption, we have been liquidating resource
Latin America, beyond its identity as a culturally cohesive unit
is also the largest region of regenerative biological capacity on
Earth. With almost the same biocapacity of Asia-Pacific but
with a population six times smaller, Latin America contributes
an invaluable ecological service to the sustainment of life on
this planet. The Amazon basin contains 25% of the species of
the planet, 15% of unfrozen fresh water and is home to more
than 400 indigenous groups. However, the situation is changing rapidly; more than 2 million hectares of forests are being
burned each year; now one of the biggest sources of carbon
dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Photo NASA.
stocks and allowing carbon to concentrate in the atmosphere. Ecological overshoot is possible only for a
limited time before ecosystems begin to degrade and
possibly collapse. Many of the results are already visible today in the form of water shortages, desertification, erosion, reduced cropland productivity, overgrazing, deforestation, rapid extinction of species, collapse
of fisheries and global climate change.
Some of the pressures we are putting on the planet
today will have consequences that may only be seen
long into the future.
In the effort to expand the agricultural frontier, 200 million acres
of the Amazon Basin have become unproductive and seen a
loss of soil fertility. Tropical forests store between 50 and 170
tons of carbon dioxide per acre, FAO estimates that 7.3 billion
tons of carbon dioxide, between 18 and 25% of greenhouse
gas emissions come from deforestation annually. Deforestation in Amazonia, Mato Grosso, Brazil (12°38’ S, 60°12’ W).
©Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
This chart shows humanity’s increasing Ecological Footprint.
In 1961 we used only half of the biocapacity of the Earth; today we use 35% more than is available.
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Huella Ecológica y biocapacidad per cápita de países. 2005
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The Ecological Footprint measures the area of biologically productive land and water required to
provide the resources used and absorb the waste
generated by human activity, under current technology. A country’s Footprint reflects consumption by
its residents, and includes imported goods and services but not those which are exported.
Both the Ecological Footprint and biocapacity are
measured in standard units called global hectares
(gha). One gha represents a hectare of land with
world average productivity.
This graphs shows the relative size of each country’s Footprint and biocapacity.
Biocapacity is the area of productive land and sea
available to produce resources and absorb waste.
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Notice that the graphs have different scales
Countries with biocapacity greater than their Footprints
have ecological reserves. An ecological reserve is not
necessarily unused—it may be supplying resources
for export, or sequestering carbon dioxide. Maintaining
ecological reserves provides a competitive advantage,
and serves as insurance against economic and ecological instability. Conversely, as reserves disappear,
countries are at risk of greater dependency on ecological services from others, and the possibilities for
sustainable development are reduced.
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Intertropical convergence zone, NASA
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“First we have to change how we view the world, and that will cause us to change how we act.”
Thomas Homer-Dixon
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The changing world
The world is changing and we cannot continue to
ignore the importance of ecological assets.
In the past, we valued economic growth and quick
profit with no concern for the environment. Today,
having exceeded the limits of the planet, it becomes
ever more important to manage our ecological wealth
responsibly, so that it can continue to support both
human and economic wellbeing.
In the past, maximizing financial capital was the goal,
regardless of environmental consequences. But perhaps maximizing ecological assets is a more powerful goal. Nature is the playing field that makes possible all economic activity. Ecological assets can be
both opportunities as well as constraints; how do we
measure them, and manage them wisely?
In the past, we sought to dominate nature in our
quest for it to service mankind, provoking the destruction of nature. Can we establish instead a harmonious relationship between human beings and
the rest of nature to maximize the wellbeing of both?
In the past, we have often treated nature simply as
a pantry of resources. This has lead not only to pollution and the degradation of the natural capital, but
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also to a sense of disconnection and loss of meaning. Can we establish instead a symbiotic relationship between human and natural communities, preserving the integrity of life and restoring the sense of
joy at being one with the Earth?
In the past, we asked, who is right? Who is wrong?
Who needs to change? Today, could we begin to ask
ourselves, “how can we collaborate to create a good
life for all?”
In the past, we tried to establish relations only with with the
perfect partner. Could it be that, more important than having the perfect partner is being the perfect partner?
In the past, we thought that it was impossible to agree
unless all participants were willing. Could it be that one
partner can create the difference by choosing to act
with ethical leadership?
In the past, changes were often slow and incremental.
Might we now be on the verge of a quantum leap that
can establish balance between humanity and the natural
world?
The Earth as seen from the Space Station window. Today we
can see ourselves from space as a sphere in a cosmic voyage.
The artificial borders between countries are almost unnoticeable, and the perception of the planet is as a unit in which
all it’s parts have a regulatory effect that promotes life. Photo
NASA.
“I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself ” .
H. D. Thoreau
The green pigment of chlorophyll from plants, trees
and algae absorbs the energy from the sun and produces a series of chemical
reactions (photosynthesis)
that combine carbon dioxide with water to produce
food. Oxygen is a byproduct
of this process.
Los Micos lagoon, San Pedro Sula region, Honduras
(15°47’ N, 87°35’ W) ©Yann
Arthus-Bertrand.
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Helix Nebula, a spectacular image
of a dying star unraveling into space
at a distance of 650 light years, in
the Aquarius constellation. Photo of
Splitzer Space Telescope, NASA
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“A vision is not just a picture of what could be;
it is an appeal to our better selves, a call to become something more”.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
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Vision of a good life
Humanity’s challenge is to live well, while carefully using
the resources that nature provides so that the wellbeing of future generations is not compromised. This is
the challenge of sustainable development. The United
Nations defines living well as surpassing minimum standards for life expectancy, for education and literacy, and
for the ability to purchase needed goods and services;
together these determine a nation’s score on the Human Development Index (HDI). The UN defines a score
of 0.8 as the threshold for a high level of development.
But living well can only be sustained if it is done within
the Earth’s ecological limits. This means that the average person’s Ecological Footprint must not exceed
the biocapacity available to support each individual on
the planet. Using world-average productivity figures for
the 6.5 billion inhabitants of the planet, we each have
available just over 2 hectares of fertile land. However, if
we take into account that biocapacity must be shared
with other species. In reality we have much less than 2
hectares. Taken together, these two thresholds define
the minimum conditions that must be met if a globally
sustainable society is to be achieved.
As populations expand, economies grow and the demand for ecological resources increases. Thus, both
the biocapacity available to support each individual’s
consumption shrinks and the space for sustainable development is reduced.
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World population is rising at 1.3% a year.
At this rate, population doubles every 50
years. However since we live in a finite
world, it is impossible for this population
growth to continue indefinitely. Growth will
decline as the Earth’s carrying capacity
becomes more evident. Equally can we
ask ourselves if it is the same with the
economy? Can the economy grow infinitely? After all, the economy is subsidiary
of the environment and cannot continue to
operate without a supply of the resources
upon which it depends, and adequate
means to dispose of its waste.
Crowd in Abengourou, Ivory Coast (6°44’ N, 3°29’ W). ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
… From a thing-oriented society to a people-oriented society.
M. L. King
In a sustainable world, all countries would enjoy a high level of development, defined by the UN as an HDI
score above 0.8, and the average Ecological Footprint would be less than 2.1 global hectares, the amount
currently available per person on the planet. Countries meeting both these criteria would be located in the
green quadrant. As world population grows, or if a percentage of biocapacity is reserved for the use of wild
species, the green quadrant shrinks accordingly.
In spite of international recognition almost twenty years ago of the need for sustainable development, almost no country now meets both of these minimal criteria.
Can we learn to live well on less than 2.1 global hectares per person?
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Garbage disposal is
one of the biggest
problems of the cities. Mexico produces
20,000 tones of residential garbage daily.
Refuse dump in Mexico City, Mexico (19°25’
N – 99°01’ W)
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“We simply don’t have a vision of an alternative economic system
that isn’t oriented toward unending material growth.
Until we have an alternative vision, we won’t give up the one we have.”
Homer-Dixon
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A new way to see ourselves
In this graph, countries running ecological deficits-those whose Footprints exceed their own biocapacity- are shown
in red.
Ecological creditor countries -those who
have more biocapacity than they themselves are using- are shown in green.
In facing this formidable challenge of living well
within ecological limits, economic indicators of
consumption like GDP perhaps become less valuable, and the differences between ‘developed’ and
’developing’ countries become less meaningful. As
resource constraints play an increasingly prominent
role in determining quality of life, the distinction between countries that have more biocapacity than
they are using and those running ecological deficits
is becoming ever more significant.
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Geopolitics in the 20th century emphasized the
strategic importance of controlling non-renewable
natural resources, with demand for fossil fuels,
metals and minerals playing a critical role in shaping
foreign policy in the search for new commercial opportunities, and military control.
But in today’s world, new means of connectivity facilitate social relations and global transactions that
are taking place at the speed of light. The Earth is
transitioning from a battleground to a single, integrated, interdependent, and ultimately indivisible
whole.
Scientists are coming to see the living planet as a
single, self-regulating organism, with its fauna and
flora interacting with geochemical processes keeping the climate stable and suitable for life.
The search to integrate the human community with the larger biological community suggests the need for a new social and economic architecture, one that is
more aligned with the earth’s physiology. The old geopolitical paradigm is being replaced by a new biopolitical one, and with this shift will come a transition from
competition to collaboration, a richness of new possibilities, and creative new solutions for living well without transgressing the Earth’s ecological limits.
This meat factory reflects the degree of industrialization in Japan. Cattle raised here are fed with resources that are grown
using biocapacity located in distant regions. Much of this
biocapacity is found in ecological creditor countries. Cattleraising near Fukuyama (East of Hiroshima), Honshu, Japan
(34°31’ N, 133°20’ E) ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
Agricultural landscape near Quito, Ecuador (0°13’ S, 78°30’ W).
©Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
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Night on Earth reveals the regions of the planet where energy
consumption is concentrated. Approximately 85% of the electrical energy of the planet is generated from coal and oil, which
are increasingly scarce and pollute the atmosphere with carbon dioxide.
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In this picture fires set to burn forest land for agricultural expansion are also visible. Up to 25% of global carbon emissions result from the burning of forests.
Flaring of natural gas during petroleum extraction can also
be seen. More than 100 billion cubic meters of gas are
wasted each year, enough to power both Germany and
France.
The glare of blue light in the oceans comes from commercial
fishing at night. Photo NASA.
Earth by day shows where land is covered by vegetation, and
the marine area where most ecological services are being provided. The services provided by these areas include the capture of dispersed carbon dioxide and its regeneration, through
photosynthesis, into useful resources. Other invaluable services provided by ecosystems include climate regulation, oxygen
production, erosion control, recycling of fresh water, and the
provision of habitat for biodiversity. These essential services
are not typically measured nor valued in monetary terms, and
as a result are often taken for granted. This situation is likely
to change as the world becomes increasingly resource constrained, and ecological creditor countries begin to realize the
value of the biocapacity they are making available for use by
others, and then seek to be compensated for the ecological
services they are providing. Terra modis, aqua modis. NASA
2005
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Ecological creditor and ecological deficit countries
Ecological deficit countries, those without sufficient biocapacity to meet their own demands, risk economic disruption as increasing scarcity of resources and limits on
carbon emissions bring higher prices. Countries whose
biocapacity is greater than their Footprints, ecological
creditors, have ecological assets that could contribute
to maintaining their autonomy and independence, and
provide a form of insurance against economic and ecological instability. This more secure position may prove
advantageous in future international relations.
While countries with ecological deficits may need to import resources, countries with biocapacity greater than
their own Footprints often use the remainder to provide
exports that generate income. If managed well, these
ecological assets can provide an ongoing revenue
stream that continues indefinitely. But if overexploited,
these same ecosystems can become degraded and
suffer a reduction or even permanent loss of productivity due to pollution, deforestation, agricultural practices
that lead to erosion and a corresponding loss of ecosystems and their services. This reduces the possibility
of achieving sustainable development goals, both for
that individual nation and for the planet as a whole.
How then do we best manage this ecological wealth?
This challenge is for all countries, ecological creditors
as well as those running ecological deficits, and meet-
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Countries with ecological deficits have an Ecological Footprint
greater than their own biocapacity. Ecological creditor countries
have Footprints smaller than their
biocapacity.
Creditor countries might use their
net biocapacity reserves to support increased consumption by
their own residents, to generate
goods for export, to sequester
carbon, or to set area aside for
the protection of biodiversity.
Some, but not all of these uses
are mutually compatible. Countries running ecological deficits
are drawing down their own ecosystems, or depending on the
biocapacity of other nations for
imported resources and/or for
carbon sequestration.
ing this challenge requires both vision, and the practical
tools to make sustainable development a reality.
When Japan imports Ecuadorian wood to make paper, when Europe imports meat fed by Brazilian soy, or
when the United States imports Peruvian cotton, these
importing countries, all of whom are running ecological
deficits, are using biocapacity from beyond their own
borders. Because disruptions of this supply chain can
negatively impact their economies and their quality of
life, countries with ecological deficits that are importing
renewable resources are dependent on how well both
their own ecological assets and those of their trading
partners are being managed.
For countries that can’t currently afford to import resources, it is especially in their self-interest to make
sure their own biocapacity is well-managed. If not,
these countries are at greater risk of scarcity, hunger,
desertification, economic collapse, political instability
and resource wars.
of its inhabitants. But all countries face a common set
of challenges as well: to build and maintain a robust
economy while minimizing dependence on limited ecological resources, and to ensure that the biocapacity
on which it depends, whether local or global, can continue to provide the necessary resources and to safely
absorb the waste. Changes are slow and the sooner
we act, the greater will be the return on the investment.
Pioneers may well benefit.
Meeting these challenges will require the creation of
resource-efficient and waste-reuse infrastructure, and
in many cases a leapfrogging over resource-intensive
phases of development that are no longer technologically necessary. Together with the appropriate programs
and regulations, this focus on investing in low-Footprint
infrastructure will help bring about and then sustain a
high level of development. However, reaching this goal
also means managing biocapacity to optimize its longterm productivity, while paying careful attention to the
impact of a growing population on overall demand for
goods and services.
Exploitation of forests for wood is a main contributor to the
Brazilian economy. Close to 8,000 square miles are deforested
each year in the Amazon basin. The world loses around 45,000
square miles a year of tropical forest. 80% of the deforestation is illegal so what is needed is political will and economic
incentives to keep the forests alive. Floating wood down the
Amazon, near the city of Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil (3°09’ S,
59°58’ W). ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
In an increasingly resource-constrained world, ecological assets and the politics of the biosphere are playing
an ever more important role in international relations.
Every country has its own unique characteristics and
its own path to follow, and there are many factors each
needs to consider to decrease risks to the quality of life
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Investment priorities
Today’s infrastructure investment policies are decisions
that will affect the future wellbeing for generations, as what
is built today will be around for many decades to come.
Ecological Footprint analysis can inform the decision
making process so the infrastructure projects we are
about to build will contribute to future quality of life, and
not become resource traps that compromise wellbeing
and increase dependency and vulnerability. It can help
us shape and answer questions like:
Moderate UN projections translated into Ecological
Footprint terms, suggest that by the mid 2030s the
pressure from human activity will be double the Earth’s
biocapacity to meet it. We have already been running
ecological deficits for at least a quarter of a century, and
the accumulating debt continues to grow. The degradation of the ecosystem is in danger of bringing collapse
to life as we know it. Society needs to change course
to live within the limits of our one and only planet. We
need the right information, the creativity and the will to
establish unprecedented global collaborations.
How can we best invest in renewable energies that,
while reducing dependency on polluting and increasingly scarce fossil fuels, do not create problems elsewhere in the biosphere? How do we build and encourage use of the most efficient and resilient public
transportation systems?
Big infrastructure projects take years to plan, design
and finance and while many are about to leave the
drawing board and begin the building phase, with the
ecological challenges we are facing, numerous projects are already obsolete even before they are built.
Which infrastructure ventures need to be redesigned
to avoid falling into resource traps that will compromise
the wellbeing of future generations? Which will be resilient enough to take advantage of future opportunities in
a resource constrained world?
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Renewable and clean
energy is generated with
technologies developed
by the air space industry to harness the power
of the wind. Windmills
of Banning Pass, near
Palm Springs, California,
United States (33°55’ N,
116°42’ W). ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
The Earth provides us with everything we need to live
and thrive, but with the human community having already surpassed the planet’s ecological limits, developing sustainably can no longer be delayed.
Just as it is essential for a business to keep detailed
financial accounts in order to manage and benefit from
its assets, countries need ecological resource accounts to manage their ecological assets and protect
the wellbeing of their populations. With the same attention that today we pay to GDP, paying close attention
to biocapacity and Ecological Footprint resource accounts can tell us how much we have, how much we
are using, what is being used, and by whom. Doing so
provides us with the essential information needed to
make ecological limits a central consideration in policy
and decision making. It can help us answer questions
such as:
Is your country running an ecological deficit or are you
still an ecological creditor?
Are these ecological assets thriving or declining?
Can technological advances and greater efficiency
compensate for increased demand for goods and services?
How can your population live well using fewer resources?
Are your infrastructure investments contributing to
your country’s security, or are they increasing its vulnerability?
This new symbiotic vision based on biological resources means rethinking the conventional geopolitical assumptions and ideas about security and progress that
don’t take into account the natural dynamic of ecosystems, and all that is making it difficult to live in a sustainable way.
Vehicles are responsible for 20% of world greenhouse gas
emissions, but indirectly they are also responsible for emissions from the manufacturing of steel, aluminum, rubber, lead,
asphalt, and cement for road building.
There are 800 million cars in the world today. These cars require continuous investment in new roads and other hard surfaces, which typically result in the paving over of bioproductive
areas. Freeway interchange near the port of Yokohama, Honshu, Japan (35°27’ N, 139°41’ E). ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
What are the risks and opportunities for your country in
a resource constrained world?
What ecological assets does your country have, and
how are they valued in the world market?
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Credits
Photographs
References and further reading
Global Footprint Network
Mathis Wackernagel - Executive Director
Photographs accredited as NASA, provided by many sources, are the
result of the collaboration between various institutions: Image science
& Análisis Laboratory, JSC (Jonson Space Center), JPL (Jet Propulsion
Laboratory), Splitzer Space Telescope. UCSD, Caltech, UA. All photographs and images have been obtained using a variety of methods
from X ray, MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer),
OLS (Operational Linescan System) taken from terrestrial systems,
space chips, and orbiting satellites.
Photos courtesy of Yann Arthus-Bertrand from the book “Earth from
Above 365 Days” published by Harry N. Abrams. www.yannarthusbertrand.org and www.goodplanet.org
Photos from Patricio Pillajo courtesy of Fundación Terra
Cover photo: Charlevoix forest, Quebec Province, Canada. ©Yann
Arthus-Bertrand. Page 2.1: Color coded mineral and soil compossition of the moon, NASA. Page 2.2 Earth satellite composition, NASA.
Page 3: biosphere, gemini 9, NASA. Page 4: Anvil over the pacific
ocean, ISS007,July 21, 2003 NASA. Page 6: Composition of satellite
images, NASA. Page 7: Deforestation in Amazonia, Mato Grosso, Brazil. ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Page 12: intertropical convergence zone,
NASA. Page 14: Internacional Space Station window, NASA. Page 15
Los Micos lagoon, San Pedro Sula region, Honduras. ©Yann ArthusBertrand. Page 16: Helix Nebula, Splitzer Space Telescope. NASA.
Page 18: Crowd in Abengourou, Ivory coast ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
Page 19.1: Plantation, Juan Alfonso Peña. 19.2: Ají, Juan Alfonso
Peña. 19.3: Tomatoes, Juan Alfonso Peña. 19.4: Corn. Juan Alfonso
Peña. 19.5: Herbs, Juan Alfonso Peña. 19.6: Water, Patricio Pillajo.
Page 20: Refuse dump in Mexico City, Mexico ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Page 23.1: Cattle-raising near Fukuyama (East of Hiroshima),
Honshu, Japan. ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand. 23.2: Agricultural landscape near Quito, Ecuador. ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Page 24: Data Marc
Imhoff, NASA GSFC & Christopher Elvidge of NOAA NGDC. Image
Craig Mayhew & Robert Simmon, NASA GSFC. Pag. 25: Images without clouds. Terra MODIS y Aqua MODIS, NASA. Oct. 2005. Page 27:
Floating wood down the Amazon, near the city of Manaus, Amazonas,
Brazil. ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Page 28: Windmills of Banning Pass,
near Palm Springs, California, United States. ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand.
Page 29: Freeway interchange near the port of Yokohama, Honshu,
Japan. ©Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Inner back cover: High Andean forest,
Ecuador. © Patricio Pillajo
Ecological Footprint Atlas, Global Footprint Network, 2008. www.footprintnetwork.org/atlas.
Biosphere, Vladimir Vernardsky, 1962
El cambio climático no tiene fronteras, Carlos Amat, Comunidad Andina.
2008
Global Land Cover, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Joint
Research Centre, European Commission, 2000 http://ies.jrc.ec.europa.
eu/our-activities/global-support/global-land-cover-2000.html. Quantifying and mapping the human appropiation of net primary production
in earth’s terrestrial ecosystems. H.Haberl, K.H. Erb, F. Krausman, V.
Gaube, E. Bondeau, C. Plutzar, S. Gingrich, W. Lucht, M. Fisher-K. 2007,
www.pnas.org/content/104/31/12942/soppl/DC1.
Climate change, scientific bases IPCC, 2001. Cambridge University
Press, UK.
Nuestra huella ecológica, Mathis Wackernagel and William Reese, 1996.
LOM Ediciones.
Sea around us, Global database on marine fisheries and ecosystems
center. 2008, University of British Columbia. www.seaaroundus.org
United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database. UN Comtrade.
2008. UN. NY. http://comtrade.un.org
Country classification, Data and statistic division World Bank, 2008.
http://go.worldbank.org/K2CKM78CC0 Earth trends environmental information, World Resources Institute. 2007. http://earthtrends.wri.org
Toward a new sustainable economy, Robert Costanza, University of
Vermont. 2009, real-world economics review, issue no. 49 https://docs.
google.com/gview?a=v&attid=0.1&thid=1204aae476eb62b4&mt=applica
tion%2Fpdf
Living Planet Report. WWF, GFN, ZSL. 2008.
For the common good. Redirecting the Economy toward Community,
the Environment, and a Sustainable Future. Herman Daly-John B. Cobb.
1989.
The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization. Thomas Homer-Dixon. 2006
The Ingenuity Gap, how can we solve the problems of the future. Thomas Homer-Dixon. 2000
An Ecological Footprint Approach to external debt relief. Mariano Torras.
2003. Adelphi University NY.
From production-based to consumption-based national emission inventories. Glen P. Peters. 2007 ww.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon
After the meltdown. David Korten. 2009. ww.davidkorten.org
Target atmospheric CO2: Where should humanity aim? James Hansen,
Makiko Sato, Pushker Kharecha, David Beerling, Robert Berner, Valerie
Masson-Delmotte, Mark Pagani, Maureen Raymo, Dana L. Royer, James
C. Zachos. The Open Atmospheric Science Journal, vol 2, 2008,
Fundación Acuerdo Ecuador
Gloria Dávila – Executive Director
Foro de Ciudades para la Vida
Liliana Miranda: Director
Text y Production
Juan Alfonso Peña
Contributing Editors
Steven Goldfinger
Pati Poblati
Gloria Dávila
Liliana Miranda
Mathis Wackernagel
Infographics
Meredith Stechbart
Juan Carcelen
Photography
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Patricio Pillajo
Juan Alfonso Peña
NASA
Additional Contribution
Susan Burns
Jennifer Mitchel
Aili Pyhala
Martin Kaercher
Tatjana Puschkarsky
Kristin Kane
Anna Oursler
Rachel Hodara
Graphic design
Daniela Arias
Printed
Imprenta Mariscal
Quito Ecuador
August 2009
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The Ecological Power of Nations