Māris kļaviņŠ, azamat azizov, JĀnis zaļoksnis environment, pollution, development: the case of uzbekistan

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 12.5.2.  Contemporary society’s ecological footprint
The area of productive land available to the human population 
of our planet is only 2.1 hectares per person. However, the annual 
average ecological footprint per person worldwide is 2.7 hectares, 
and this means that our planet’s ecoproductivity is being consumed 
faster than it can regenerate. We live in nature’s debt.
Industrially developed countries with a comparatively smaller 
number of population are responsible for most of these pressures 
because the average ecological footprint in the high income countries 
is 6.4 ha
g
/per capita, while in the developing countries it amounts 
on average to 2.2 ha
g
/per capita, which is just slightly more than 
the globally available amount (2.1 ha
g
/per capita). In the developing 
countries  (approximately  2.4  billion  inhabitants)  the  ecological 
footprint is even smaller – only 1.0 ha
g
/per capita. Such differences 
in the ecological footprint distribution can also be observed at the 
regional level.
Population (millions)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0
Ecological footprint (ha
g 
/per capita)
North America
Europe (EU)
Europe (outside EU)
Latin America and the Caribbean Islands
Middle East and Central Asia
Asia
Africa
The  largest  ecological  footprint  (9.5  ha
g
/per  capita)  is  in  the 
United Arab Emirates and the USA (9.4 ha
g
/per capita), where the 
consumption of non-renewable resources is the biggest. The smallest 
ecological footprint belongs to Afghanistan (0.48 ha
g
/per capita) and 
Malawi (0.47 ha
g
/per capita). None of the extremes is sustainable as, 
in the first case, more resources are consumed than available, while 
the second extreme is related to poverty and inability to satisfy basic 
human needs for food, safety and dwelling.
To  satisfy  all  the  needs  of  a  citizen  of  the  USA,  9.4  ha
g
 are 
required. Strikingly, if all the people of the world consumed such an 
amount of natural resources, we would need 5 planets. Although the 
average ecological footprint of the EU population is much smaller – 
4.7 ha
g
/per  capita,  it  exceeds  the  global  bioproductivity  twice 
(2.1 ha
g
/per capita) and the bioproductivity of the European Union