Date change: Launch of the 24th Edition Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts

Note: The event date has changed. The new date, June 5, is reflected below.

Integrating tens of millions of data points from several international data sources, researchers at York’s Ecological Footprint Initiative are providing the world with new data to assess human pressures on the environment up to and including last year. New data will detail Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity for the world, and all countries, from 1961 to the present. To announce the release of the new edition of the national accounts, the Ecological Footprint Initiative is hosting a virtual launch webinar on June 5 at 1 p.m.

Ecological Footprint measures the human demand on the environment, compared to Biocapacity which measures the regenerative capacity of the Earth’s renewable resources. The world is in ecological overshoot, with Ecological Footprint exceeding Biocapacity since 1970.  Humanity demands more of the environment than the Earth can regenerate within a year. This emphasizes the importance of measuring human pressures on ecosystems and using this data to help countries measure and achieve their Sustainable Development Goals.

Since 2018, York has produced statistics about Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity through the Ecological Footprint Initiative within the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change.  This initiative successfully received a SSHRC partnership grant to develop the International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab (IEFLL). This lab is a multi-stakeholder international partnership with academic and non-academic partners. Through IEFLL, graduate students will be trained in sustainability informatics, with experience producing future editions of the National Accounts and enhancing its methodology and applications worldwide.

Registration is required: yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CNaQ3sCdRY6AFU3xQzNlRA#/registration.