Only when the last tree has died and the last river poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise that we cannot eat money.

Cree Indian Proverb

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS

EF is a measure of human demand on Earth’s ecosystems

The area of land needed to provide necessary resources and absorb the wastes generated by a community

Mathias Wackernagel

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ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS

Concept of EF --> Bill Rees and Mathis Wackernagel (1992)

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EF analysis approximates the amount of ecologically productive land, sea and other water mass area required to sustain a population, manufacture a produce, or undertake certain activities

Looks at our use of energy, food, water, building material and other consumables

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Calculations used are typically converted into a meausre of land area ‘global hectares (gha) per person

Coverted to number of planetsThere is avg. of 1.9 ha of land for each person

Human footprint has exceeded biocapacity of earth by 25%

On average people have EF of 2.3 We would need 1.4 planets to sustain this use

US - EF over 12 (need over 6 planets)

China & India growth rates --> need 25 planets by 2050

Ecological deficit / reserve : The difference between the biocapacity and EF 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.

Global overshoot - occurs when human demand on nature exceeds the biosphere’s supply or regenerative capacity

Such overshoot leads to a depletion of Earth's life supporting natural capital & a build up of waste

At the global level, ecological deficit & overshoot are the same, (no net-import of resources to the planet)

Local overshoot occurs when a local ecosystem is exploited more rapidly than it can renew itself

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Countries with the Highest Ecological Footprint (gha per person)

15.99

12.22

10.31

9.88

9.54

9.43

8.49

8.45

7.66

7.53

7.27

7.12

6.63

6.31

6.3

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

United Arab Emirates:

United States:

Kuwait:

Denmark:

New Zealand:

Ireland:

Australia:

Finland:

Canada:

Sweden:

France:

Estonia:

Switzerland:

Germany:

Czech Republic:

Country

Global Hectare per person (gha)

Countries with the Lowest Ecological Footprint (gha per person)

0.86

0.85

0.85

0.83

0.82

0.82

0.8

0.79

0.78

0.76

0.75

0.75

0.73

0.66

0.6

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

Mali:

Guinea:

Ethiopia:

Cambodia:

Angola:

Togo:

Guinea-Bissau:

Bhutan:

Haiti:

Mozambique:

Chad:

Burundi:

Sierra Leone:

Namibia:

Bangladesh:

Country

Global Hectare per person (gha)

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT

FOOD WATER

ENERGY

TRANSPORTATION

GARBAGE

HOUSING

Solutions

LAND DEGRADATION• Is any deterioration of the productive capacity of soil for either present or future use

Types of land degradation1.Erosion2.Chemical deterioration3.Physical deterioration4.Desertification

EROSION• Removal of nutrient-rich layer of topsoil by wind or water

• Water erosion - can occur anyway tends to be worse in areas with higher rainfall

• Wind erosion --> common in arid or semi-arid climates

EROSION• Mature forest (void of human activities) --

> topsoil loss b/t 0.004 & 0.05 tones per ha per year (4-40 kg)

• Cultivated land (NA and Europe) erosion 17 tonnes per hectare per year

• Increase --> change from forest to farmland• Asia, Africa & S. America - 30-40 tonnes

per hectare by per year

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Terrain Deformation• Large or small gullies may cut into farmer’s field

• Landslides (mass movements of land)

• Landslide• quebec

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Terrain Deformation• Dunes, deflation hollows• Land overblown (with materials form somewhere else)

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Chemical Deterioration• Deterioration of soil as result of leaching, salinization, acidification or pollution

• Nitrogen, phosphorus & potassium - loss from soil in one of 2 ways

• Areas of high precipitation - nutrients washed away or leached (occurs in Canada but more serious in tropical areas)

Chemical Deterioration

• Problem in Asia, Africa and S.America --> forests cleared for farming

• For a few years farm yields are high because some organic materials remain in soil (Leaching eventually destroys fertility of soil

Chemical Deterioration

Chemical Deterioration• Salinization - increase in the concentration of soluble salts in soil

• Salts becomes toxic for plant growth

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Chemical Deterioration• Salinization can occur naturally if water

table is close to to surface in an arid area• Can be greatly accelerated by excessive

irrigation• 1/8th of all irrigated land in the world has

be degraded by sever salinization (1/3rd somewhat affected

• Problem in drier parts of US, China, Australia & Middle East

Physical Deterioration

caused by compaction, waterlogging,or subsidence. • Occurs in 3 ways – 1.soil can be compacted by the use of heavy machines or by the trampling of herds or animals

2.waterlogging – when floods recede from an area3.physical damage from sinking of the land which can be caused when a significant amount of water is removed from the water table

Physical Deterioration

Physical Deterioration

DesertficationOccurs when human activities reduce the

productivity of an arid or semi-arid area to the point that is resembles a desert

• 40% of world has climates dry enough that they face possibility of desertification

• Put over 1 billion people at risk

Human Causes of Land Degradation

1.Deforestation2.Overgrazing3.Unsustainable agriculture4.Overuse of natural vegetation5.Urban/industrial pollution

Deforestation

• Land is cleared for agricultural use (tropical rainforests)

• Soil is exposed to serious erosion and leaching

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Deforestation

Deforestation in Canada

• One case of deforestation in Canada is happening in Ontario's boreal forests, near Thunder Bay, where 28.9% of a 19,000 km² of forest area had been lost in the last 5 years and is threatening woodland caribou. This is happening mostly to supply pulp for the facial tissue industry.

• In Canada, less than 8% of the boreal forest is protected from development and more than 50% has been allocated to logging companies for cutting.

Deforestation in Canada

Overgrazing

• Too many grazing cattle, sheep, or goats can destroy vegetation beyond its ability to recover --> erosio and leaching

Unsustainable Agriculture

• Intensive agriculture doesn’t allow soil to renew itself

• In dry areas --> salilnization• Agricultural mining --> not sustainable• Monoculture (one crop) Ex. Prairies during

1930’s• Soil may degrade --> loss of vital structure

provided by organic matter (even if fertilizers used)

•Will Agriculture meet our demand for food

•What will happen if we run out of fertile agricultural land

Overuse of Natural Vegetation

• Developing parts of the world - people rely on trees, shrubs for fuel and bdg materials

• If density of pop. is too high may have impact similar to that of overgrazing and deforestation

Urban/industrial Pollution

• Pollution can foul soil or adjacent farms and make land unusable

• Soil contamination caused by the presence of man-made chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment --> arises from the rupture of oil tanks, application of pesticides, oil & fuel dumping, leaching of wastes from landfills or direct discharge of industrial wastes to the soil.

1995 Causes of Land Degradation by Area (in %)

Area Deforestation Overgrazing Unsustainable Agriculture

Overuse of Vegetation

Urban/industrial Pollution

Africa 14 49 24 13 < 0.5%

North/ Central America

11 24 57 7 < 0.5%

South America

41 28 26 5 --

Asia 40 26 27 6 < 0.5%

Austral -asia

12 80 8 < 0.5% < 0.5%

Europe 38 23 29 < 0.5% 9

World 29 35 28 7 1

Impact of Land Degradation

Is there a correlation between land degradation and poverty and conflict???

During the 1980’s and 1990’s, famines that killed tens of thousands of people were routinely blamed on drought and civil wars.

Rarely did observers acknowledge the contribution of land degradation to these tragedies.

Is this because scientists find other issues more interesting to study, or that research funding is more readily available for studies in more “trendy” areas???

ImpactsLand Loss from Production – 50 000 – 70 000 square kilometres land lost to erosionPLUS20 000 – 30 000 square kilometres land lost to salinization and water logging

So that means, that land degradation takes between 70 000 – 100 000 square kilometres of land out of production per year

Impacts•The growth of cities means an additional 20 000 – 40 000 square kilometres are lost from production each year.

•To put these amounts in context, the area of New Brunswick is about 73 000 square kilometre

Overgrazing

• Too many grazing cattle, sheep or goats --> destroy vegetation beyond its ability to recover

• Soil is exposed to serious erosion and leaching

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http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/alex_steffen_sees_a_sustainable_future.html