An Ecological Footprint Analysis for Australia

Abstract

An Ecological Footprint is defined as the area of land needed to produce the natural resources a population consumes and to assimilate the waste that population produces. By providing a link between consumption and lifestyle and available ecological space, the Ecological Footprint illustrates the concepts of carrying capacity and sustainability. This article presents the results of a detailed study of Australia. The results indicate the Ecological Footprint of the average Australian is approximately 6 hectares per capita. This is more than 4 times the globally available ‘fair share’, placing Australia among the top five consuming nations in the world. This result highlights the unsustainable global nature of the Australian lifestyle, particularly the level of consumption of energy and animal products, with large inequities between Western countries such as Australia, and developing countries.