Definition of Ecological Footprint

What is the Definition of Ecological Footprint?

The Definition of Ecological Footprint is as follows. Ecological footprint (sometimes called Ecological footprint analysis or EF analysis for short) is measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems and natural resources.

The concept of ecological footprint is based on the assumption that anything that consumes items or energy needs a certain amount of land, water and other natural resources to live the way it is. That means the more active and consuming someone or something is, the larger the ecological footprint for him, her, or it. There are many ways to measure, calculate and estimate the ecological footprint.

Definition of ecological footprint analysis

Ecological footprint analysis is the mathematical analysis of natural resources and human demand that is used to measure or estimate the consumption of natural resources. There are different ways to perform an ecological footprint analysis. However to calculate ecological footprint correctly, you will need to compute a massive amount of data. Therefore, most scientists currently just estimate ecological footprint based on reasonable assumptions.

Ecological footprint analysis compares human consumption of natural resources with planet Earth's ecological capacity to regenerate them. Ecological footprint is, therefore, an estimate of the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate (if possible) the resources a human population consumes and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste, given prevailing technology and current understanding.