Ecological footprint of European countries
Indicator Assessment
Prod-ID:
IND-161-en
Also known as:
SEBI 023
Created 23 Feb 2015
Published 31 Mar 2015
Last modified 16 Jul 2019
12
min read
This is an old version, kept for reference only.
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Topics:
Biodiversity — Ecosystems
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The total ecological footprint for the EU-28 countries increased rapidly during the 1960s and 70s, and has remained relatively constant since the 1980s. The region’s total biocapacity, however, has changed very little since 1961. The picture is similar for the EEA-33 countries.
The pan-European ecological footprint has been increasing almost constantly since 1961, while biocapacity (1) has decreased. This results in an ever larger deficit, with negative consequences for the environment within and outside Europe. (1) The capacity of ecosystems to produce useful biological materials and to absorb waste materials generated by humans, using current management schemes and extraction technologies.
Key messages
The total ecological footprint for the EU-28 countries increased rapidly during the 1960s and 70s, and has remained relatively constant since the 1980s. The region’s total biocapacity, however, has changed very little since 1961. The picture is similar for the EEA-33 countries.
The pan-European ecological footprint has been increasing almost constantly since 1961, while biocapacity(1) has decreased. This results in an ever larger deficit, with negative consequences for the environment within and outside Europe.
(1) The capacity of ecosystems to produce useful biological materials and to absorb waste materials generated by humans, using current management schemes and extraction technologies.