Edsc 350 powerpoint nenita delos santos
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Transcript of Edsc 350 powerpoint nenita delos santos
EDSC 350 ADVANCED TOPICS IN BIOLOGY FOR TEACHERS
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS OF UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
AND PHILIPPINES: A REVIEW
by Nenita S . Delos Santos
[email protected] PhD in Education major in BiologyUniversity of the Philippines – Open University
Table of Contents
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Ecological Footprint as an Indicator of Sustainability
3. The Global Context
4. Ecological Footprint of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
5. Ecological Footprint of the Philippines
6. Ecological Footprint Towards 2050
7. ConclusionsBibliography
1. Introduction
All human activities make use of ecosystem services which are putting pressure on the biodiversity that support these services.
Since the first Living Planet Report (LPR) was published in 1998, measures of the
trends in the state of global biodiversity trough the Living Planet Index (LPI) showed a decline of almost 30 percent between 1970 and 2007.
In 2002, under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) the leaders of the world’s governments commitment to significantly halt the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, adopted a suite of indicators, brought together as the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP), to provide information on biodiversity trends and assess progress toward their target.
Global Footprint Network (GFN) is a BIP Key Indicator Partner, and the Ecological Footprint has been officially adopted by the CBD to be included among its biodiversity indicators.
1. Introduction
By measuring the Footprint of a population or all of humanity we can assess our pressure on the planet, which helps us manage our ecological assets more wisely and take personal and collective action in support of a world where humanity lives within the Earth’s bounds.
Ecological Footprint (EF) is the world’s premier measure of human demand on the Earth’s ecosystems, rooted in the fact that all renewable resources come from the earth.
Conceived in 1990 by Mathis Wackernagel and William Rees, it is an accounting framework by comparing human demand against the regenerative capacity of the Earth. While not a direct measure of species populations, the Ecological Footprint provides an indicator of the pressure on ecosystems and biodiversity by measuring the competing level of ecological demand that humans place upon the biosphere.
1. Introduction
An estimate of Earth’s latest humanity’s footprint (1961-2007) is 18 billion gha or 2.7 gha per person (5). This represents an ecological overshoot of 50 percent or an equivalent of 1.5 years for the Earth to regenerate the renewable resources people use and includes the space needed for infrastructure and vegetation to absorb waste carbon dioxide (CO2). Moderate UN scenarios suggest that if current population and consumption trends continue, by the 2030s, we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support us.
2. Ecological Footprint as an Indicator of SustainabilityEcological footprint analysis is a tool that was developed to measure whether a given country or region was using resources at a rate faster than nature can regenerate them. In 2000, WWF International published the first Living Planet Report, using ecological foot printing as a way to measure human pressure on Earth and how this pressure is distributed among countries.
Since then, the methodology for calculating the Ecological Footprint has been further developed and many variations and enhancements have been described in the literature. The 4 broader categories of methodologies are the following:
1. Conventional Ecological Footprint Accounting 2. Variations of the conventional method (non input-output based) 3. Dynamic Ecological Footprint models 4. Input-output based methods
2. Ecological Footprint as an Indicator of SustainabilityConventional Ecological Footprint Accounting – basis of the current EF definition provided by GFN.
• Usually measured in global hectares which is the annual productivity of 1 hectare of biologically productive land or sea with world-average productivity.
• Use data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization on domestic production, imports, exports and yields for a number of primary and secondary products from agricultural, forestry and fisheries to calculate the apparent net consumption of a nation and associated appropriation of land.
• Experts believed that EF indicator is limited in its scope; it cannot answer how long ecological overshoot will be possible and possible for what. Hence, it is a strong communication tool but have a limited role within policy context.
3. The Global Context
Humanity’s Ecological Footprint (1961-2007)
Total Ecological Footprint by Land Type
2. The Global Context
Ecological Footprint by Country per person, 2007
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Philippines
4. Ecological Footprint of the UAE
Owing to the capitalization of its oil and gas resources, the UAE is a rapidly developing country that is investing heavily in construction, infrastructure development, provision of water, electricity and food. Apart from energy and the sun, the UAE is a hot and dry country, which extremely limited natural resources are being exhausted hence significant quantities are being imported from overseas to satisfy demand.
In the Living Planet Report 2006, based on the 2003 data, the UAE ranked as the country with the highest per capita Ecological Footprint in the world at almost 12 gha per person.
Based on the Living Planet Report 2010, the UAE out of 152 countries had the world’s highest per capita Environmental Footprint at 10.68 global hectares (gha) per person, although the data relates to the year 2007 and represents just 0.3% o f humanity’s total Ecological Footprint.
4. Ecological Footprint of the UAE
This has prompted UAE to embark on in-depth research to understand and manage its Ecological Footprint through the Al Basma Al Beeiyah Initiative (Ecological Footprint Initiative), making it as the third country in the world with similar effort that followed Japan and Switzerland (12), and the first to develop scientific achievement to address the problem.
UAE’s Al Basma Al Beeiyah Initiative (Ecological Footprint Initiative)
The initiative was launched in October 2007 through a unique partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW), Environmental Agency - Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) Emirates Wildlife Society in association with World Wildlife Fund (EWS-WWF) and the Global Footprint Network (GFN).
4. Ecological Footprint of the UAE
UAE Footprint by three players ofsociety (based on 2008 LPR data)
UAE Footprint by Land Type(based on 2008 LPR data)
Scenario A (38.4%) Scenario B (14.9%) Scenario C (11.6%)Four nuclear powerplants of capacity 1.45GW by 2021
Four nuclear powerplants of capacity 1.45GW by 2021
Four nuclear powerplants of capacity 1.45GW by 2021
15% Renewable EnergyCapacity by 2020
15% Renewable EnergyCapacity by 2020
15% Renewable EnergyCapacity by 2020
10% Carbon Capture and Sequestration by 2030
10% Carbon Capture and Sequestration by 2030
10% Carbon Capture and Sequestration by 2030
Strong Building Envelope Standard with60% reduction in cooling demand
200% increase in Electricity and Water Tarff by 2030
High End energy starequipment standard
Scenario A (38.4%) Scenario B Scenario C Indoor and outdoor water equipment standard
50% Electric Vehiclepenetration by 2030
Reverse Osmosis –installation of thirteen 60 MG desalinationplants (2018-2030)
100% TSE reuse by 2030
4. Ecological Footprint of the UAE
In Year One, the EFI focused on evaluation the usefulness of the EF indicator and its representativeness of the UAE context. This was done through data and methodology type. In Year Two, the EFI concluded that the footprint is in fact a useful representative tool for identifying the major footprint-driving sectors.
In Year Three, the EFI continued its research through the development of an electricity and water scenario model designed to show how the development of the power and water sector might affect the UAE’s EF up to 2030, and to help build lower-footprint alternative scenarios.
5. Ecological Footprint of the Philippines
From 1961, the Philippines' demand on ecological resources increased from less than its own biocapacity to more than double its domestically available biocapacity in 2002. Based on 2007 data from the GFN published in 2010, the Philippines EF was 1.3 global hectares per person which is slightly higher than the ecological deficit of 0.9 global hectares per person (6 billion in total).
Philippines Demand vs. Biocapacity (1961-2002)
5. Ecological Footprint of the Philippines
Philippines Footprint by Component (1961-2002)
From 1961, the Philippines' demand on ecological resources increased from less than its own biocapacity to more than double its domestically available biocapacity in 2002. Based on 2007 data from the GFN published in 2010, the Philippines EF was 1.3 global hectares per person which is slightly higher than the ecological deficit of 0.9 global hectares per person (6 billion in total).
5. Ecological Footprint of the Philippines
Philippines Footprint and Biocapacity (1961-2002)
Philippines Footprint by Component (1961-2002)
6. Ecological Footprint Towards 2050The 2008 Living Planet Report introduced three “solution wedges” - energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon capture and storage that could reduce the accumulation of atmospheric CO2 and therefore the carbon footprint. The Global Footprint Network has since taken this analysis a step further by creating a Footprint Scenario Calculator.
Based on the LPR 2010, land competition is likely to be a greater challenge in the future.
Efforts of agriculturalists may be balanced out by climate change or have their uptake restricted by socioeconomic factors and governance.
Cities remains to account for an ever-higher percentage in the coming years
7. Conclusions
Ecological Footprint is a powerful tool that measures the amount of biologically productive land and water area required to produce the resources an individual, population or activity consumes and to absorb the waste they generate, given prevailing technology and resource management – in snapshots. The need to standardize sub-national Footprint application methods in order to increase their comparability across studies and over time is essential. UAE Initiatives for a low EF future is commendable. Although the current EF of Philippines is considerably lower than UAE the need to overcome economic, environmental and personnel constraints in order to reduce the environmental footprint remains to be a big challenge.