Ecological footprints and biocapacity graph Canada httpwwwfo

Ecological footprints and biocapacity graph

Canada) http://www.footprintnetwork.org/images/trends/2015/canada.png

Brazil) http://www.footprintnetwork.org/images/trends/2015/brazil.png

Which Country is more Sustaibable and why ?

I need an explanation how do you understand the graphs and see whats going on.

Solution

The productivity of a biologically productive area is known as the Bio-capacity of that area. This means, the capacity of the area to sustain itself by renewing its productivity or resources.

On the other hand, Ecological footprints refers to the area consumed by the humans. Here the could be used for living, farming etc.

It is to be noted that when the ecological footprints appears, the productivity of the land reduces over time because of its use. And when the ecological footprints surpasses the bio-capacity, then the area could no longer sustain itself and starts degrading, leading to unsustainability.

Now, if we look at the graphs, we could see that for Canada the Bio-capacity reduces over time from 25.0 hectors per capita in 1961 to nearly 15.0 hectors per capita in 2011. So, the reduction in bio-capacity per decade is approximately

(25 - 15)/6 = 10/6 = 1.67 hectors.

And the ecological footprints remains on average at 5.2 hectors over all these years.

On the other hand, for Brazil we could see that the Bio-capacity reduces over time from around 24.0 hectors per capita in 1961 to 10.0 hectors per capita in 2011. So, the reduction in bio-capacity per decade for Brazil is approximately,

(24 - 10)/6 = 14/6 = 2.33 hectors.

And the ecological footprints increases slightly over time from around 2.0 hectors per capita to 3.0 hectors per capita.

Therefore, if we compare the situations of these 2 countries we could say that even though Brazil has a lower level of ecological footprints, the bio-capacity is reducing at a greater rate as compared to Canada, who on the other hand also been able to maintain the ecological footprints at a constant level. In this sense, Canada could be classified as a more sustainable country as compared to Brazil.