GEOG 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Ecological Footprint, Natural Capital, Ecosystem Services
31 Oct 2015
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Ex: living planet index -> index of thousands of species and measures reduction, how much and where (52% reduction btw 1970-2010, 36% in temperate regions and 56% tropical, 83% in latin america). How do we measure environmental impact: it is a challenge to measure across sectors, two methods that measure impact across sectors using exchangeable unit for different types of impact : What is the demand for natural capital compared with the biophysical capacity to regenerate. Uses land area equivalent / proportions of earth"s surface. Ex : humanity is using resources at about 1. 5x greater than capacity to regenerate => footprint = 1. 5 earths. => we use ressources faster than they replenish. Sustainable rate is 2. 1 ha per person but canada is using resources about 7ha/ person (3. 5x higher) Problem : dif cult to calculate and interpret. Measure the goods provided by ecosystems to bumans in terms of their $ value if they had to be substituted for.
