It is a standardized measure of demand for natural capital that may be contrasted with the planet's ecological capacity to regenerate.It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area necessary to supply the resources a human population consumes, and to assimilate associated waste.
Using this assessment, it is possible to estimate how much of the Earth (or how many planet Earths) it would take to support humanity if everybody followed a given lifestyle.
The next drawing shows the ecological footprint. The extent of the human demand in hectares per person. It is measured by looking at resources needed to provide raw materials plus land on which to build and to absorb CO2 from burning fossil fuels.
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