An increasing pressure over environment

Source: WWF-France et Redefining Progress

The urban ecological footprint

The ecological footprint is a measurment of  human demand on Earth’s ecosystems in terms of global hectares (gha)/per person. One hectare represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate the resources a human population consumes and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste

IN 2003, Earth’s biocapacity was 11,2 bn gha, corresponding to 1,8 gha per person – but the average ecological footprint was 2,2 gha.

Two-thrid of the Earth’s ecosystems are now severely damaged, mainly because of the urban consumption and waste treatment.

It is a general knowledge that the urbanization will endure. But the water depletion and the long-distance water transport’s high enery cost could stall the urban growth. For instance, 400 cities in China are already facing chronic water shortages.

France and Paris’s example

France’s ecological footprint has increased by 48% in less than 40 years. In the meantime, population has only increased by 27%. Since 1961, built lands have increased by 59%, which is a clear sign of urbanization and of a more intense road networking.

The most important augmentation comes from the energy footprint, which is the area that is needed to absorb the country’s CO2 emissions. This footprint has more than doubled since 1961 (+134%, and stands alone for 58% of France’s total ecological footprint). These findings put an emphasis on France’s obvious necessity to diminish its ecological footprint.

Paris’s area is 10 539 hectares for a population of 2,15 million. A Parisian’s ecological footprint reaches 12 838 000 gha, which exceeds their biocapacity by 313 times (41 000 gha, 0,02 gha per person). This result shows the weight of the ecological footprint on Paris’s environment, given that the city is enterly dependent on an external procurement for ressources and waste absorbtion.

Biodiversity

France, including overseas departments, ranks 5^th regarding endangered species with 263 species, whereas USA has 831 endangered species, Australia has 488, Indonesia has 388 and Brazil has 274. France is the 9^th country in terms of endangered plant species.

The 5 main causes for the disappearance of biodiversity are directly occuring in France (metropole and overseas):  degradation of natural environments, overexploitation of natural ressources, invading species introduction, pollutions, climate change.