Food Wasted, Food Lost

Ecological Footprint accounting for food production

in a given year (Galli et al. 2007; Monfreda et al. 2004). Average bio-productivity differs between land use types, as well as between countries. For any given land use, the global hectare is normalized to take this into account. For example, a global hectare of high-yielding cropland would occupy a smaller physical area than an area of pastureland with less biologically productivity, as more pasture area is needed to provide the same productivity as one hectare of cropland. With this metric, one can assess human demand on nature, and guide personal and collective action in support of a world where humanity lives within the Earth’s bounds. According to Global Footprint Network estimates, humanity demanded resources and services equivalent to the capacity of 1.5 Earths in 2008. Since 1961, the total Footprint has increased by 150 per cent (being now 2.5 times larger). In the meantime, with changing management practice and increased agricultural inputs, biocapacity expanded globally by 20 per cent (Global Footprint Network 2013, Borucke et al. 2013). When total demand for ecological goods and services exceeds the available capacity of a given location to meet this demand, the situation is referred to as overshoot. Global overshoot is

Ecological Footprints tell the extent towhichpeople usewhat the biosphere provides. The Footprint methodology can therefore also measure the environmental demands of food production and show to what extent food production contributes to the overall demand of people on the biosphere. Ecological Footprint accounting quantifies both the annual availability of biocapacity and human demand on that capacity (Wackernagel et al. 2002; Borucke et al. 2013). Demand on ecosystems is mapped onto land uses, which are divided into six Footprint components, or area types: cropland for food and fiber production, including feed for animals; grazing land for livestock production; forest land for both timber and other forest products; forest land for the carbon Footprint to sequester the carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning; built-up land for housing and infrastructure; and fishing grounds for fish products (marine and inland).Twodemandcategoriesareprovided for byonebiocapacity category: forest products and the carbon Footprint both compete for forestland. Hence only five categories make up biocapacity. Results are expressed in a globally comparable, standardized unit called the global hectare (gha). A global hectare is a biologically productive hectare with world average productivity

Stretching the ecosystems beyond their limits

Planets needed to sustain footprint

Global hectares per capita

3.0

3.5

Business as usual

3.0

2.5

Footprint

2.5

2.0

Biocapacity de cit

2.0

1.5

Biocapacity

Rapid reduction

Footprint

1.5

1.0

1.0

0.5

0.5

0

0

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050

1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050

Source:The Global Footprint Network, 2013

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