Ecological Footprint Analysis Of Iran Environmental Sciences Essay

bionomic Footprint Analysis Of Iran Environmental Sciences EssayNowadays by increasing the population of the world, more than than than ever we be and should be more concerned about our resources compargond to our consumption. If we look at the research we stinkpot realize that our consumption is go-arounding the Earths innate(p) capacity to product our needs as well as digesting our waste. To evaluate a measurement to study how sustainable countries develop and how much they care about the environment and its capacity some scientists developed a stick which is based on a simple question Do we fit our planet by continuing our current lifestyle?This method is c tout ensembleed Ecological Footprint. commentary of Ecological Footprint (EF)The concept of the Ecological Footprint was introduced by Rees (1992) and elaborated by Wackernagel and Rees (1996, 1997) among others.The EF can be compared with the nut-bearing biologic capacity of the available worldly concern and the sea to this population (WWF, 2005). The EF measures the remove for natural resources. For its creators, the EF is a measure of the impact of the population expressed in terms of the appropriate demesne it is the surface of ecologically productive territory in the diverse categories (arable unloads, pastures, forests, sea and CO2 absorption area), necessary to supply the resources of energy and matter that a population consume and to interest its wastefulness considering its current technology (Wackernagel and Rees, 1996).One characteristic term of this methodology is the biocapacity or interest from natural jacket. Thus, the biocapacity measures the bioproductivity or biological productivity in an area. The number biological productivity of a hectare of the earths productive surface area is called global hectare (GHA) and is engagementd as the common unit of comparison. Bioproductivity is the ability of a biome (e.g., arable land, pasture land, forest land, productive sea) to pr oduce biomass, which is defined as the weight of organic matter, including animals, plants and micro-organism (living and dead), above or below the soil surface.Thus, the biomes have different levels of bioproductivity. Some of it is built or degraded land. Biocapacity is dependent not only on natural conditions besides also on predominate land use (e.g., farming use, forest use). The use of bioproductive area as an gist unit is a powerful and resonant pisseds of measuring and communicating environmental impact and sustainability. It is crucial to note that the biocapacity represents the hypothetical maximum sustainable capacity for a socio-economic class. While ecological miss by definition reveals the degradation of natural capital, the ecological remainder does not sanction the sustainability of production. Rather, as the Footprint of production approaches the biocapacity and the ecological remainder narrows, the desirelihood that the country will experience environmenta l stressor degradation escalates, at least over longer periods of time. In the EF, by comparing the demand with the available supply it is possible to estimate the ecological sustainability of territories or countries. A nations ecological footprint correspond to the aggregate land and weewee area in various ecosystem categories to produce all the resources it consumes, and to absorb all the waste it generates on a continuous basis, using prevail technology.Methodology of Footprint CalculationFUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTIONS OF ecological FOOTPRINT ACCOUNTINGEcological Footprint accounting is based on six fundamental assumptions (Wackernagel et al.2002) The legal age of the resources people consume and the wastes they generate can be tracked. Most of these resource and waste flows can be measured in terms of the biologically productive area necessary to maintain flows. Resource and waste flows that cannot be measured are excluded from the assessment, overtakeing to a systematic underes timate of humanitys true Ecological Footprint. By weighting each area in proportion to its bioproductivity, different types of areas can be converted into the common unit of global hectares, hectares with world average bioproductivity. Because a single global hectare represents a single use, and all global hectares in any single year represent the same amount of bioproductivity, they can be added up to obtain an aggregate indicator of Ecological Footprint or biocapacity. Human demand, expressed as the Ecological Footprint, can be directly compared to natures supply, biocapacity, when both(prenominal) are expressed in global hectares. Area demanded can exceed area supplied if demand on an ecosystem exceeds that ecosystems regenerative capacity (e.g., humans can temporarily demand more biocapacity from forests, or fisheries, than those ecosystems have available). This situation, whereEcological Footprint exceeds available biocapacity, is known as overshoot (deficit).What does a per individual national Footprint actually mean?A per person national Footprint measures the amount of bioproductive space under constant production required to support the average individual of that country. For example, a five-hectare per person Footprint pith that an average individual in that country uses all of the operate produced in a year by five hectares of world-average productive land. This land does not need to be within the borders of the individuals country as biocapacity is often embodied in goods imported from other countries to meet consumption demands.What is included in the Ecological Footprint? What is excluded?To avoid exaggerating human demand on nature, the Ecological Footprint includes only those aspects of resource consumption and waste production for which the Earth has regenerative capacity, and where information exist that allow this demand to be expressed in terms of productive area. For example, freshwater withdrawal is not included in the Footprint, alt hough the energy employ to pump or treat it is.Ecological Footprint accounts return snapshots of past resource demand and availability. They do not predict the future. Thus, while the Footprint does not estimate future losses caused by present degradation of ecosystems, if persistent this degradation will likely be reflected in future accounts as a loss of biocapacity.Footprint accounts also do not indicate the intensity with which a biologically productive area is being used, nor do they pinpoint ad hoc biodiversity pressures. Finally, the Ecological Footprint is a biophysical measure it does not evaluate the essential social and economic dimensions of sustainability.Statistical DataThe statistics shown the next page are extracted from ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT ATLAS 2009, Published 24th November 2009 by GLOBAL FOOTPRINT NETWORK, investigate AND STANDARDS DEPARTMENT, Oakland, California, United States of AmericaInterpretation of DataAs we can go through in the tables the Total Ecol ogical Footprint of Iran is 2.66 compared to its Total Biocapacity which is 0.99. It means that for this country the Total Ecological Footprint is roughly 160% more than its Total Biocapacity which is by definition a biological overshoot and can lead to degradation of natural capital or resources. In other words, our demand is much high than our demand and this can be a warning for us at least in longer periods of time and there should be decisive measures to subordinate the factors which contribute to higher Footprints.How to improve the situationIn simple words it can be said that to improve the situation beside any rules or policies which governments can strickle, all people can take effective steps to overcome their stressors on environment by decreasing their consumption as well as their waste.There are some simple ways suggested by expertsA) Reduce your Carbon FootprintA1) Use cleaner transport* Walk, bike, or take populace transit whenever possible.* Avoid allowing your car to idle. If youll be waiting for more than 30 seconds, turn off the engine (except in traffic). And dont take the drive-through-park the car and walk inside(a) instead.* Have your vehicle serviced regularly to keep the emission control systems operating at peak efficiency. Check your cars air filter monthly, and keep the tires adequately high-sounding to maximize gas mileage.* Avoid short airplane trips-take a bus or train instead.A2) Add energy-saving features to your home* Install compact fluorescent bulbs in all your home light fixtures-but remember, compact fluorescents contain mercury, so look for low-mercury models and be sure to dispose of old bulbs safely through your local angry waste program.* Weatherproof your home. Make sure your walls and ceilings are insulated, and consider double-pane windows. Eliminate drafts with caulking, weather strips, and storm windows and doors.* Insulate your water heater. Even better, switch to a tankless water heater, so your water wi ll be heated only as you use it.* Choose energy efficient appliances.A3) Adopt energy-saving habits* Keep thermostat relatively low in winter and ease up on the air conditioning in summer. Clean or replace dirty air conditioner filters as recommended to keep the A/C operating at peak efficiency.* Unplug your electronics when not in use. To make it easier, use a power strip. Even when sullen off, items like your television, computer, and cellphone charger still sip power.* Dry your clothes outside whenever possible.* Make minimal use of power equipment when landscaping.* Defrost your refrigerator and deep freezer regularly.* Choose green electricity. many another(prenominal) utilities give you the option to purchase electricity generated by wind and solar power for a small rate surcharge.* leveraging carbon offsets to make up for the energy use you cant eliminate.B) Reduce your Food Footprint* Eat more local, organic, in-season foods.* Plant a garden-it doesnt get more local than that.* Shop at your local farmers market or natural foods store. Look for local, in-season foods that havent travelled long distances to reach you.* Choose foods with less packaging to reduce waste.* Eat lower on the food chain-going meatless for just one meal a week can make a difference. Globally, it has been estimated that 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions are associated with meat consumption.C) Reduce your Housing FootprintC1) Choose sustainable building materials, furnishings, and cleaning products.* Explore green design features for your building, like passive solar heating, a rainwater catchment or grey water recycling system, and recycled materials.* Choose efficient appliances, including low flow shower heads, faucets, and toilets.* Choose furnishings that are second-hand, recycled, or sustainably produced.* Plant drought tolerant plants in your garden and yard.* Use biodegradable, non-toxic cleaning products.C2) Adopt water-saving habits* Take shorter, less frequent sho wers-this not only saves water, but the energy necessary to heat it.* Dont use the garbage disposal. Compost instead.* Run the dishwasher and the laundry machine only when full.* Wash cars rarely, or better yet, take them to a carwash. Commercial carwashes use less water per wash than home washers, and they are also required to drain used water into the sewage system, rather than storm drains, which protects aquatic life.* Avoid hosing down or power-washing your deck, walkways, or driveway.* Regularly look for and fix leaks.D) Reduce your Goods and Services Footprint* Buy less knock back items only when you really need to.* Recycle all your paper, glass, aluminium, and plastic. Dont forget electronics* Compost food waste for the garden. Garbage that is not contaminated with degradable (biological) waste can be more easily recycled and sorted, and doesnt produce methane gases (a significant greenhouse gas contributor) when stored in a landfill.* Buy recycled products, particularly those labelled post-consumer waste.GlossaryEcological Footprint A measure of how much biologically productive land and water an individual, population or activity requires to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb the waste it generates, using prevailing technology and resource way practices. The Ecological Footprint is usually measured in global hectares. Because trade is global, an individual or countrys Footprint includes land or sea from all over in the world. Ecological Footprint is often referred to in short form as Footprint. Ecological Footprint and Footprint are proper nouns and thus should always be capitalized.Global hectare (gha) A productivity-weighted area used to report both the biocapacity of the Earth, and the demand on biocapacity (the Ecological Footprint). The global hectare is normalized to the area-weighted average productivity of biologically productive land and water in a given year. Because different land types have different productivity, a gl obal hectare of, for example, cropland, would demand a smaller physical area than the much less biologically productive pasture land, as more pasture would be needed to provide the same biocapacity as one hectare of cropland. Because world bioproductivity varies slightly from year to year, the value of a gha may change slightly from year to year.Overshoot Global overshoot occurs when humanitys demand on nature exceeds the biospheres supply, or regenerative capacity. Such overshoot leads to a depletion of Earths life-supporting natural capital and a build-up of waste. At the global level, ecological deficit and overshoot are the same, since there is no net-import of resources to the planet. Local overshoot occurs when a local ecosystem is exploited more rapidly than it can renew itself.Land type The Earths virtually 11.9 billion hectares of biologically productive land and water are categorized into five types of surface area cropland, grazing land, forest, fishing ground, and buil t-up land. Also called area type.Ecological deficit/reserve The difference between the biocapacity and Ecological Footprint of a region or country. An ecological deficit occurs when the Footprint of a population exceeds the biocapacity of the area available to that population. Conversely, an ecological reserve exists when the biocapacity of a region or country exceeds the Footprint of its population. If there is a regional or national ecological deficit, it means that the region or country is either importing biocapacity through trade, liquidating its own ecological assets, or emitting wastes into a global commons such as the atmosphere. In contrast, the global ecological deficit cannot be compensated through trade, and is equal to overshoot.Carbon Footprint When used in Ecological Footprint studies, this term is like with demand on CO2 area. The phrase Carbon Footprint has been picked up in the climate change debate. Several web-calculators use the phrase carbon Footprint. Many ju st calculate tonnes of carbon, or tonnes of carbon per Euro, rather than demand on bioproductive area. The Ecological Footprint encompasses the carbon Footprint, and captures the extent to which measures for reducing the carbon Footprint lead to increases in other Footprint components.Biological capacity, or biocapacity The capacity of ecosystems to produce useful biological materials and to absorb waste materials generated by humans, using current management schemes and extraction technologies. Useful biological materials are defined as those used by the human economy. Hence what is considered useful can change from year to year (e.g. use of corn (maize) stover for cellulosic ethanol production would result in corn stover becoming a useful material, and thus increase the biocapacity of maize cropland). The biocapacity of an area is metrical by multiplying the actual physical area by the yield factor and the appropriate equivalence factor. Biocapacity is usually expressed in global hectares.Natural capital Natural capital can be defined as all of the raw materials and natural cycles on Earth. Footprint analysis considers one key component, life-supporting natural capital, or ecological capital for short. This capital is defined as the stock of living ecological assets that yield goods and services on a continuous basis. briny functions include resource production (such as fish, timber or cereals), waste assimilation (such as CO2 absorption or sewage decomposition) and life-support services (such as UV protection, biodiversity, and water cleansing or climate stability).RefrencesECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT ATLAS 2009, Published 24th November 2009 by GLOBAL FOOTPRINT NETWORK, RESEARCH AND STANDARDS DEPARTMENT, Oakland, California, United States of AmericaE C O L O G I C A L E C O N O M I C S 6 6 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 6 2 8 6 3 7, Sustainability of nations by indices Comparative study between environmental sustainability index, ecological footprint and the energy performance ind iceshttp//www.myfootprint.org/en/take_action/reduce_your_footprint/http//www.footprintnetwork.org/en/index.php