Vital Waste Graphics

14

15

Ability of countries to support their citizens from their own environment

Hectare per person

7

Deficit

Surplus

6

Canada

Europe: Austria Denmark France Germany Italy Netherlands Norway Spain Switzerland United Kingdom

5

Australia

4

United States

Japon

3

Sweden

South Korea

2

Brazil

Finland

1

Russian Federation

Argentine

Turquie

China

0

Mexico

Pakistan

Bangladesh India

Philippines

Thailand

South Africa

Indonesia Malaysia

Chile

Source: Earthday Network

Will nature be able to supply all services that human beings need? The Ecological Footprint measures the amount of productive land area needed to support a nation’s consumption and waste. This indicator shows that in many countries, as well as for the planet as a whole, the demand for natural re- sources, or the “ecological capacity”, exceeds the amount available. Countries that are not able to support their national consumption with their own natural resources are running at an “ecological deficit”. Therefore these countries have to either import ecological capacity from other places, or take it from future generations.

Consumption of selected industrial raw materials compared to global population

0

20

40

60

80

100 %

Iron Crude Steel Zinc Tin Population

Copper

Aluminum

Nickel

France, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom and United States (5 countries) Rest of the world (188 countries) Source: University of Minnesota