Footprint Network Blog
Global Footprint Network - 04/03/2013 06:57 PM
Despite over $150 billion being spent annually in development globally, virtually nobody is tracking whether the achieved progress can last, or whether it is becoming increasingly fragile without the necessary access to nature’s resources.
But this is changing. The United Nations Development Programme’s latest flagship publication, its Human Development Report 2013, prominently features countries’ performance as proposed by Global Footprint Network: how much human well-being do countries generate (as measured by the UNDP’s Human Development Index) at what level of resource demand (as measured by the Ecological Footprint).
The Report reads:
“To sustain progress in human development, far more attention needs to be paid to the impact human beings are having on the environment. The goal is high human development and a low ecological footprint per capita. Only a few countries come close to creating such a globally reproducible high level of human development without exerting unsustainable pressure on the planet’s ecological resources.”
It is a significant step for a leading UN agency to question business-as-usual models of development and explore alternatives. In the past, the report included Ecological Footprint results in its background data table, but this year UNDP used our HDI-Footprint graph to prominently show how far away the world is from meeting the sustainable development challenge, using simple metrics.
The United Nations’ HDI is an indicator of human development that measures a country’s achievements in the areas of longevity, education, and income. The Ecological Footprint is a measure of a population’s demand on nature and can be compared to the available biocapacity.
The basic premise of integrating the two into one science-based measurement framework is that sustainable human development depends on achieving great lives for all, within the resource budget available to the population. The latter means adequate access to ecological assets over the long-term. We are increasingly reminded that human welfare is critically dependent on healthy ecological assets.
The graph exemplifies the challenge of creating a high level of human well-being without depleting the planet’s or a region’s ecological resource base. As you can see, the lower right quadrant represents the goal of sustainable development, i.e., high human development, within levels of resource consumption that can be extended globally. Only very few nations have achieved entering this quadrant.
Fortunately, there are many opportunities to manage and use biocapacity more effectively and to invest in those human development programs that move countries and their people closer to the lower right quadrant, that is, global long-term sustainability.
We congratulate UNDP for clearly demonstrating the dilemma humanity faces and for its commitment to find development models that can overcome this current dilemma.
Global Footprint Network is honored in Switzerland
In early March, around 700 guests from government, business, civil society and the arts gathered at the Swisscanto NATURE gala in Basel, Switzerland, to celebrate stewards of sustainability. The theme of the celebration was “Nature and Culture – the Future We Want!” and the highlight of the evening was the announcement of the 2013 Prix NATURE Swisscanto Prize winners.
This Swiss Sustainability Award recognizes outstanding achievements advancing sustainable development in Switzerland and is presented in three categories: Grand Prize, Generation Future, and Beacons of Hope.
The Grand Prize was awarded to Mathis Wackernagel, President of Global Footprint Network, in recognition of co-developing Ecological Footprint accounting and helping to bring the tool to governments and institutions across the world, including the financial industry.
Mathis Wackernagel - 03/06/2013 05:38 PM
Gastautor Mathis Wackernagel bloggt fur ETH-Klimablog
 Flugzeuge ohne Treibstoffanzeige auf dem Armaturenbrett sind gefährlich. Fürs Starten geht’s. Aber sind wir mal in der Luft und fliegen ein paar Stunden, so ist es gut zu wissen, wie viel Kerosin noch im Tank ist, und wann wir landen sollten.Erstaunlicherweise aber hat das Armaturenbrett unserer Wirtschaft keine «Treibstoffanzeige».
Obwohl alle Ressourcen, die wir konsumieren, von der Natur kommen, finden wir im klassischen Instrumentarium der Politik keine Anzeige, die uns sagt, wie viel Natur uns zur Verfügung steht und wie viel wir brauchen. Einzelne Angaben kennen wir zwar – zum Beispel wie viel Elektrizität wir verbrauchen, oder wie viele Autos wir fahren. Aber die Nettobilanz? Wie sieht es, aus wenn wir alles zusammenzählen? Und ist das überhaupt möglich?
Limitierender Faktor unserer Wirtschaft
Ja es ist. Besonders, wenn wir erkennen, was der limitierende Faktor ist. Denn dieser wird zur Währung der Analyse. Es wird immer offensichtlicher, dass der limitierende Faktor für die Wirtschaft des 21. Jahrhunderts die Regenerierfähigkeit der Natur ist. Sie wird «Biokapazität» genannt. Diese Biokapazität ist letztenendlich der limitierende Treibstoff für menschliche Aktivitäten – nicht die raren Erdmetalle. Denn mit mehr Energie können wir tiefer bohren und finden dann noch mehr Erze.
Wieso ist es nicht die kommerzielle Energie, die uns limitiert? Weil auch da die Biokapazität das Nadelöhr ist: Auch für fossile Energie ist Biokapazität – in diesem Fall die CO₂-Absorptionsfähigkeit der Natur – die limitierende Grenze. Denn würde alle schon gefundene Fossilenergie verbrannt, stiege die Treibhausgaskonzentration in der Atmosphäre auf über 1700 ppm, wie dies Wissenschaftler berechnet haben. Klimaforscher aber raten 450 ppm (oder gar 350 ppm) nicht zu übersteigen, um den weltweiten Temperaturanstieg auf zwei Grad Celsius zu beschränken. Anders gesagt: Wir haben auf diesem Planeten schon fünf mal mehr Fossilenergie gefunden als wir verbrennen können, um unter den 450 ppm zu bleiben.
Zu viele fossile Energie, zu wenig Biokapazität
Nun stellt sich die Frage, ob wir genügend Geld haben, um die Besitzer von 80 Prozent der gefundenen Fossilenergie zu entschädigen, und zwar so, dass sie diese Energie im Boden lassen? Und wie funktionierte eine Wirtschaft ohne diese Fossilenergie, die auch noch das Geld für die Entschädigungen produzieren müsste?
Das ist das Dilemma. Wir haben zu viel Fossilenergie und zu wenig Biokapazität. Wenn wir die Weisheit nicht haben, unseren Fossilenergieverbrauch zu beschränken, dann geht’s der Biokapazität an den Kragen. Haben wir aber die Weisheit, dann stellt sich die Frage, ob es genug Biokapazität gibt, um unsere Wirtschaft auch ohne Fossilenergie am Laufen zu halten? Hat unser «Flugzeug» dann genügend Treibstoff?
Biokapazität in der Schweiz
Wie steht es denn mit der Biokapazität in der Schweiz? Die Schweiz braucht viermal mehr Biokapazität als es in der Schweiz gibt. Drei Viertel der von uns beanspruchten Natur stammen netto aus dem Ausland. Das zeigt die Footprint-Buchhaltung. Die Rechnung wurde vom Schweizer Bundesamt für Statistik bestätigt.
Deutschland, zum Beispiel, braucht fast dreimal mehr Biokapazität als es in Deutschland gibt. Die Welt als ganzes braucht 50 Prozent mehr Biokapazität als die Welt hergibt. Auch das dokumentiert die Footprint-Buchhaltung.
Riskante Strategie
Im Zeitalter zunehmender Ressourcenknappheit so viel von der Welt zu wollen, ist eine riskante Strategie. Besonders für Länder, in denen die Kaufkraft pro Kopf relativ zum Welteinkommen abnimmt. Wie dies zum Beispiel in der Schweiz der Fall ist.
Die Zahlen aus der Footprint-Buchhaltung sind bedeutsam. Daher haben wir Regierungen eingeladen, die Zahlen zu prüfen. In der Folge wurde die Footprint-Rechnung vom Deutschen Umweltbundesamt, dem Schweizer Bundesamt für Statistik, wie auch dem französischen Umweltministerium bestätigt. Die Gutachten sind auf dem Internet zugänglich: www.footprintnetwork.org/reviews
Was bedeuten denn die Footprint- und Biokapazitätszahlen? Primär, dass unsere Wettbewerbsfähigkeit gestärkt würde, nähmen wir unsere Ressourcensituation ernst. Oder nähmen wir Artikel 73 unserer Bundesverfassung ernst. Er rät uns, innerhalb der Möglichkeiten der Natur zu leben.
Wäre es für die Passagiere des «Flugzeugs Schweiz» nicht beruhigender, hätte dieses einen Footprint- und Biokapazitätsanzeiger auf seinem Armaturenbrett?
Besuchen Sie ETH-Klimablog.
Around 600 guests from government, business, civil society and the arts gathered at a gala in Basel, Switzerland on Friday, March 1, to celebrate stewards of sustainability. The theme of this year’s celebration was “Nature and Culture – the Future We Want!” and the highlight of the evening was the announcement of the 2013 Prix NATURE Swisscanto Prize winners.
This Swiss Sustainability Award recognizes outstanding achievements advancing sustainable development in Switzerland and is presented in three categories: Grand Prize, Generation Future, and Beacons of Hope.
The Grand Prize was awarded to Mathis Wackernagel, President of Global Footprint Network, in recognition of co-developing Ecological Footprint accounting and helping to bring the tool to governments and institutions across the world.
The Ecological Footprint is the world’s premier measure of humanity’s demand on nature. The Grand Prize honors life achievements of individuals or distinguished, lasting efforts of organizations, enterprises or scientific institutions that make a contribution to sustainable development.
The other two nominees for the Grand Prize were director Markus Imhoof, whose latest film, “More Than Honey,” highlighted the great economic importance of biodiversity, and Hans Rudolf Herren, who was nominated for his pioneering work in sustainable agriculture and biological pest control.
The award in the Generation Future category was given to the organization weACT, which hosts on-line organizations where teams can compete to lower their ecological footprint. Singer and writer Endo Anaconda, of the band Stiller Has, won in the Beacons of Hope category, for raising public awareness about sustainability issues.
For more information visit: http://www.natur.ch/index.php?id=962&L=0
 In January, we learned that the Swiss-based Global Journal has named us one of the world’s best 100 NGOs for the second year in a row. The honor is in part a recognition of our accomplishments over the past year.
In 2012 alone, we engaged with 18 national governments and several international institutions, conducted numerous presentations and workshops and received multiple awards (the Blue Planet Prize, the Binding Prize for Nature and the Kenneth E. Boulding Memorial Award).
In October, we highlighted the increasingly worrisome ecological debt of the Mediterranean nations at a two-day international conference in Venice, participated in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) meeting in Laos, presented to a working session on the environment in the Greek Parliament, launched a preliminary Ecological Footprint atlas of Francophone nations, conducted a workshop with the Turkish government on Competitiveness 2.0 and Ecological Footprint accounting, and met with government ministries in Colombia after a conference on sustainable tourism.
In November, we hosted Ecological Footprint training in our California office for members of the Ecuadoran Ministry of Environment, participated in a workshop with the Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and a Green Economy event in Peru, and presented at the annual conference of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) in Beirut, where our Arab Atlas of Footprint and Biocapacity was featured in the conference report, “Survival Options.”
We also completed multiple projects in Asia, including Southeast Asia’s first Ecological Footprint report (in the Philippines, see newsletter story). We launched the E-RISC (Environmental Risk in Sovereign Credit) report in London and New York City. The report demonstrates that resource constraints are material for sovereign credit analysis. See the Q&A with Bloomberg’s Gregory Elders (Senior ESG Analyst) and Curtis Ravenel (Global Head of Sustainability Initiatives).
In an era of resource constraints, how can a nation support the long-term success of its economy and the well-being of its citizens, while living within ecological limits? How will leaders react to the fact that their nation, which is in ecological deficit (occurring when the Footprint of a population exceeds the biocapacity of the area available to that population), relies upon other nations that not only are also in ecological deficit themselves but that are also dependent upon other nations that are in ecological overshoot?
These are just two questions that emerge when one examines the combined findings of recent reports on the Ecological Footprint of three Asian nations—Japan, China and the Philippines. All three nations are in ecological deficit (like most others—83 percent of humanity now lives in countries where the demand on nature’s services exceeds what local ecosystems can provide). In November, Global Footprint Network released “A Measure for Resilience: 2012 Report on the Ecological Footprint of the Philippines,” in collaboration with the Climate Change Commission of the Philippines and the French Agency for Development. It is the first such report for a Southeast Asian nation.
Global Footprint Network’s Asia Regional Director Pati Poblete and Vice President of Operations Geoff Trotter (both far right) presented the first Footprint study of a Southeast Asian nation with (from left) Elisea Gozum, the Philippines Presidential Adviser on Climate Change; Agence Francaise de Development Country Director Lucle Cabellec; France Ambassador to Philippines Gilles Garachon; Miss Earth 2011 Olga Alava; Climate Change Commission Vice Chairman Mary Ann L. Sering; and Climate Change Commissioner Naderev M. Sano. The launch took place at Malacanang Palace, the official residence of the President of the Philippines.(PNA photo Marvie A.Lloren)
The Philippines entered into ecological deficit by the 1960s, and the gap between demand and local biocapacity has been widening over time. In 2008 (the most recent year data is available), Philippine residents’ demand on nature was twice the country’s own capacity to provide biological resources and absorb its carbon emissions.
The report’s findings were presented before the Climate Change Commission, a cabinet-level stakeholder group within the Philippine national government, headed by the Office of the President and various ministries. The Commission enthusiastically and anonymously moved to adopt the findings of the report, which will be disseminated to other government agencies.
Shortly after the report launch, Climate Change Commissioner Naderev Saño represented the Philippines in Doha, Qatar, during the COP 18 climate negotiations. His impassioned plea for nations to act boldly went viral on YouTube. At the same time, his country was being hammered by Bopha/Pablo, a Category 5 super typhoon, making tens of thousands of his fellow citizens homeless and taking over a thousand lives.
“I appeal to all, please, no more delays, no more excuses. Please, let Doha be remembered as the place where we found the political will to turn things around…I ask of all of us here, if not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?” Saño said in his speech.
Mr. Saño has been a strong advocate for implementing the Ecological Footprint, understanding that it is in nations’ own interests to live within ecological limits, regardless of whether global actors take coordinated efforts.
How are the trends identified in these reports to be continued into the future, especially when combined with a growing population? There are three ways nations can run an ecological deficit: 1)by overharvesting local, domestic resources, 2)by depending on the imported biocapacity of other nations, and 3)by using the global commons for sequestering its carbon emissions.
But what does this mean if more and more nations are doing the same thing? At the very least, it means that carbon is accumulating in the atmosphere at an alarming rate and that local ecosystems are being degraded. For example, the Philippines is experiencing deforestation, declining fish stocks, and moderately to severely eroded agriculture land (according to the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture).
It can also mean that nations are putting themselves as risk as they become overly reliant on external trade partners to provide basic commodities.
For example, Japan is highly dependent on biocapacity from other nations to support its population’s needs (over a third of its total resource demand). Our 2012 Japan Ecological Footprint Report, released with WWF Japan in December, reveals that the top three nations from which Japan imports food (China, the United States and Australia) are also in ecological deficit, putting Japan at risk to food price shocks or supply disruptions. Nearly 20 percent of Japan’s total Ecological Footprint is associated with food.
Like the world as a whole, the main driver behind increases in Japan’s Ecological Footprint is carbon emissions, which equaled 64 percent of its total Ecological Footprint in 2008. By the 1990s Japan’s carbon Footprint had grown to nearly three times higher than what it was in 1961. Japan has begun to address these long-term trends; for example, it has reduced its Ecological Footprint since the mid-1990s (though it still remains high) and it adopted the Ecological Footprint as a measurement tool in 2010. It can build on this progress through innovative policy shifts.
Japan’s trading partner, China, has the largest Ecological Footprint in the world, when the total is considered. Its per capita Footprint, however, is 2.1 global hectares (gha), lower than the global average of 2.7 gha. The 2012 China Ecological Footprint Report, launched in December, reveals that this is over two times the available per capita biocapacity available within China’s borders. And it is above 1.8 gha, the biocapacity available per capita globally, which might be considered a necessary—though not sufficient—indicator of sustainability. Since the early 1970s, China’s demand on renewable resources has exceeded its ability to regenerate those resources within its own borders. China’s increasing individual consumption, largely due to a new affluent class in urban centers, has been one of the dominant drivers of higher Ecological Footprint since 2003.
Business-as-usual scenarios plus population growth projections necessarily mean these ecological deficit trends will only be exacerbated.
But by taking stock of their own resource use, nations can begin to reverse these trends. Leaders – and individuals – who understand their countries’ resources needs, limits and dependencies will be better positioned to support the long-term success of their economies and the well-being of their citizens.
Global Footprint Network - 01/18/2013 10:22 PM
Global Footprint Network is advancing the science of sustainability by engaging with governments and other institutions to measure and track their Ecological Footprint. We also know the importance of making sustainability accessible and exciting to the widest number of people. That’s why we are thrilled with the Sky Race World Cup—it provides a fresh and energetic, as well as beautiful, way to symbolize our striving towards sustainability (and ending ecological overshoot).
The Skyrace will feature twenty sailplanes that race 200-300 kilometers through spectacular and remote regions. By emphasizing our reliance on the sun and wind and the potential for further harnessing that power, the Sky Race World Cup transforms a sophisticated engine-less aerial world championship into an inspirational and fun way to envision a future where humanity thrives within ecological limits.
 Planetaire, the promoters of the Skyrace, has launched a Kickstarter campaign to create a pilot for a TV documentary series called “Wings Over Sweden” (in Swedish: Vingar över Sverige). If adopted, the series will be broadcast in Sweden and internationally, and will follow four sailplane pilots who aspire to represent Sweden in the Skyrace World Cup. Pilots race their sailplanes at speeds nearing 300 kmh, powered only by solar and wind energy.
Four non-profits dedicated to sustainability will appear in the promo film in connection with one of the four pilots, with the support of the Kickstarter community. Global Footprint Network is one of the organizations, chosen from a shortlist of twenty-two. The airing of the TV series has the potential to boost the profile of Ecological Footprint work across the world. The other non-profits are Birdlife, Green Cross and Skärgårds.
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Global Footprint Network - 01/18/2013 09:27 PM
 “Enough should be the central concept in economics,” writes Herman Daly, a Global Footprint Network advisor and one of the founders of ecological economics, in the forward to the fascinating new book, “Enough is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources.”
The book challenges the dominant thesis of contemporary economics: Growth at any cost. Authors Rob Dietz and Dan O’Neill start from the observation that the world economy, as it is currently run, is causing long-term environmental, societal and economic damage. They go on to map out alternative paths toward a steady-state economy (an economy with stable or mildly fluctuating size), one that prioritizes human well-being above growth and places economic activity squarely within ecological limits.
The authors argue compellingly that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a rather poor indicator of progress, ignoring significant aspects of human flourishing as well as externalizing costs such as air pollution or soil degradation. Several alternatives indicators to GDP are taking off. Among those mentioned in the book are the European Commission’s Beyond GDP initiative, the OECD’s Better Life Initiative, the Ecological Footprint, the Genuine Progress Indicator, the U.K.‘s Sustainable Development Indicators, the Happy Planet Index, and the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress launched by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Indeed, the Ecological Footprint is one tool for helping nations move beyond the narrow GDP-focus that is helping to exacerbate the trends of ecological overshoot over the past few decades. As the authors say, “‘We manage what we measure’ is a cliché often uttered in business boardrooms, but it rings true. You could also say that we ‘mismanage what we mismeasure.’” Insofar as we are not measuring our demand on and capacity to provide ecological resources, we are mismanaging not only our economies, but our future.
Dietz is editor of Daly News and was the first director of CASSE (Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy); O’Neill is lecturer in ecological economics at the University of Leeds and the chief economist at CASSE.
Global Footprint Network - 12/06/2012 07:55 PM
 Hundreds of delegates from across the Arab region gathered in the historic Phoenicia Intercontinental Hotel in Beirut at the end of November to discuss the Arab region’s Ecological Footprint and strategies to chart a sustainable future.
The Arab Forum for Environment and Development’s (AFED) two-day annual conference drew over 500 delegates from nearly 50 countries, including ministers, diplomats, academics and representatives from the civil and private sector. The study at the heart of this year’s conference, “Survival Options: Ecological Footprint of Arab Countries,” was released in partnership with Global Footprint Network, and is the most comprehensive survey of the condition of the Arab region’s natural environment to date. It includes the Arab Atlas of Footprint and Biocapacity, with profiles for 22 Arab nations and six sub-regions.
Lebanon’s President Michel Sleiman opened the conference, saying “Facts and figures in AFED’s report are alarming. The report should be nationally disseminated and used by all Arab countries. Its results and recommendations should be discussed by all sectors to integrate them in strategies.”
Mathis Wackernagel, President of Global Footprint Network, and Alessandro Galli, Global Footprint Network’s Senior Scientist and Mediterranean Program Director, participated in the conference. Dr. Wackernagel presented the “Survival Options” report with AFED Secretary General Najib Saab in a panel moderated by Ashok Khosla, President of the Club of Rome.
The report shows that the Arab region has been operating an ecological deficit for more than 30 years, with available biocapacity declining by more than half over the past 50 years. Today, demand for ecological resources and services in Arab league nations is more than twice what local ecosystems can produce. If all humans lived like the average resident of member nations of the Arab League, 1.2 planets would be required. Population growth has been a primary driver of these changes.
The Arab region has one of the greatest variations in Ecological Footprint and biocapacity in the world. There is a divide between small, very wealthy nations with little biocapacity on one side (like Qatar), and large, financially poor, but relatively biocapacity-rich nations (like Sudan) on the other.
Three Arab nations rank at the top of a list of highest per capita Footprints globally: Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. More than six Earths would be required if everybody lived like the average citizen of Qatar, to satisfy the level of consumption and absorption of carbon dioxide emissions. In contrast, if everyone lived like an average Yemeni, humans would require the resources and ecological services of half an Earth.
To reverse these trends, conference participants discussed the need to coordinate regionally on sustainable trade and natural resource management, and to look beyond GDP as the sole measure of performance. Other sessions discussed new paths in energy use and production, the green economy, the role of business in reducing ecological footprint, and this month’s UN climate change summit in Doha (The Eighteenth Conference of Parties, or COP 18).
At the end of the Beirut conference a set of recommendations included a call for Arab governments to reduce their Ecological Footprint and to track the demand on natural capital, with the goal to ensure economic competitiveness while strengthening ecological health. (See more conference recommendations here.)
See below for regional media coverage:
The Daily Star: Arab forum urges reduced ecological footprint
Arabian Business: MidEast seen on brink of ecological bankruptcy
AME Info: AFED Conference on Arab footprint and survival options
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Global Footprint Network - 11/19/2012 12:40 AM
Some of the economic implications of  resource constraints were introduced to the world of international finance this week in London, when Global Footprint Network and the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), in collaboration with leading financial institutions, launched the E-RISC (Environmental Risk Integration in Sovereign Credit) report at Bloomberg, a leader in global financial data.
The interactive event drew over 150 participants, including representatives from leading financial institutions, investors, asset management firms and rating agencies, including Caisse des Depots, SNS Asset Management, Standard & Poor’s, J.P. Morgan, KfW Bankengruppe, Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Barclays.
To date, tightening resource constraints and their impacts on national economies have been largely absent from financial analyses. The E-RISC report fills this gap by exploring to what extent resource and ecological risks can impact a nation’s economy and how these factors affect a nation’s ability to pay its debts.
E-RISC Press Conference at Bloomberg, with Ivo Mulder (UNEP FI), Susan Burns (Global Footprint Network), and Nick Nuttall (UNEP)
The E-RISC project analyzes five nations’ (Brazil, Japan, France, Turkey and India) natural resource-related risks over short-, medium- and long-term risk horizons, providing a simple framework to compare and rank countries. Despite having similar ratings from the three major credit rating agencies, the five nations have very different environmental risk profiles.
BusinessWeek and Financial News covered the E-RISC project and some of its key findings. For example, nations that are heavily dependent on natural resource imports may find that continued supply becomes unreliable or costly. For example, a 10 percent variation in commodity prices can lead to changes in a country’s trade balance equivalent to 0.5 percent of GDP. Further, a 10 per cent reduction in the productive capacity of soils and freshwater areas alone could lead to a reduction in trade balance equivalent to over 4 per cent of GDP.
Also yesterday, Bloomberg announced that it will now be offering Global Footprint Network’s country-level natural resource risk data (National Footprint Accounts) on all its terminals. This means that Bloomberg’s 300,000 global subscribers will have access to data that will help them integrate natural resource risk into sovereign debt, economic growth and company valuation models. The availability of Footprint data on the Bloomberg terminals is significant, as it marks a further step towards integrating—rather than externalizing—the ecological assets on which economies rely upon. Global Footprint Network will be the only provider to cover comprehensive natural resource risk data on the Bloomberg terminal.
The E-RISC and Bloomberg news came only days after Global Footprint Network won more honors for its Footprint work. The Binding Prize—one of Europe’s top environmental awards—was awarded to Global Footprint Network President Mathis Wackernagel. Previous winners include the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA), Slow Food International, and the European Greenbelt (Grüne Band Europa). The honor comes on the heels of Dr. Wackernagel formally receiving the Blue Planet Prize at a ceremony in Japan at the end of October.
 The Binding Prize has been given every year since 1986 in Liechtenstein to people chosen for their advancement of ideas in the field of nature conservation and environmental protection. Binding Foundation board member Martin Boesch, who presented the award in Vaduz on November 9, said that the Ecological Footprint concept not only helps to promote global sustainability, “but also had a dramatic and widespread media influence, eliciting environmental policy decisions.”
“Climate change is not the problem. Erosion, water scarcity, desertification and overfishing are also not. These are all just symptoms of a dominant theme: We are demanding more than the Earth can sustainably provide,” Wackernagel said in his acceptance speech. “Together with the leaders of these countries [referring to the 10+ nations that have adopted or reviewed Ecological Footprint accounting] we want to find out what this means for the future. Can the trends be turned in the right direction?”
Press conference photo credit: Xinhua News Agency
Global Footprint Network - 11/15/2012 04:48 PM
Japan’s Prince Akishino and the Asahi Glass Foundation yesterday presented the Blue Planet Prize, one of the world’s premier environmental awards, to Global Footprint Network President Mathis Wackernagel and Dr. William E. Rees, co-creators of the Ecological Footprint, and Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, who was recognized for his work in advancing our understanding of biodiversity.
Two Blue Planet Prizes are awarded annually by the Asahi Glass Foundation to individuals or organizations that make outstanding achievements in scientific research and its application in helping to solve global environmental problems. The prize is considered one of the most prestigious in the field of conservation.
Building on Rees’ earlier work on human carrying capacity, Drs. Wackernagel and Rees in the early 1990s developed the Ecological Footprint, the world’s premier resource accounting system, to track humanity’s demands on nature. Dr. Lovejoy was the first to clarify that human-caused habitat fragmentation damaged biodiversity and gave rise to environmental crises.
The prize was presented Wednesday in the Tokyo Kaikan, across from the Imperial Palace, with the Imperial Highness Prince and Princess Akishino, ambassadors and members of the Asahi Glass Foundation in attendance. The photo shows Drs. Wackernagel and Rees receiving the trophy from Asahi Glass Chairman Tetsuji Tanaka. Dr. Wackernagel has donated his $300,000 share of the prize money to Global Footprint Network to advance the Ecological Footprint work, and has invited supporters to help match the gift.
“I am convinced more than ever that it is possible to turn our economies into stewards of our planet,” Dr. Wackernagel said in his acceptance speech. “We cannot continue forever to take more from the planet than the planet can give.”
Like most nations, Japan is facing resource constraints, but is taking a greater leadership role. As an island nation relying on the importation of an increasing amount of biological resources and energy, it potentially puts itself at risk of supply disruption and/or price volatility. Japan is tackling these challenges head-on and looking closely at its Ecological Footprint.
“We are part of a fabulous community of thousands of people who have contributed to dreaming with us and who are spreading the dream and building tools and projects in order to turn an abstract idea into practice,” Wackernagel said. “Japan, through its Ministry of Environment, was among the first three countries in the world to review and then apply the Footprint, and we appreciate and encourage Japan’s leadership in this domain. The trends are moving fast, and Japan’s firm and fast engagement is essential for making the world—and Japan—a stable place.”
The first Japan Ecological Footprint Report (2009) identified areas of ecological demand and offered policy recommendations to address them. It helped fuel calls to action at both the individual and government levels. In November, WWF-Japan, in collaboration with Global Footprint Network, will launch a second, updated Footprint report for Japan.
“Japan’s leadership is essential. Japan has felt resource constraints, and has promoted climate change and biodiversity policy internationally,” Wackernagel said, referring to the nation’s leadership in climate change policy through the Kyoto Protocol and in biodiversity preservation through Nagoya Protocol. “We need more of it. In this context, Asahi Glass Foundation and its Blue Planet Prize are noble, courageous and deeply needed. I am utterly thankful for it.”
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