In less than eight months, humanity has used up nature’s budget for the entire year with carbon sequestration making up more than half of the demand on nature, according to data available from the Global Footprint Network (GFN), an international-level think tank with offices in North America, Europe and Asia.
This year, the Water Initiatives Odisha (WIO) has joined the GFN to spread this message around the Earth Overshoot Day. The GFN tracks humanity’s demand on the planet (Ecological Footprint) against nature’s ability to provide for this demand (biocapacity).
The Earth Overshoot Day marks the date when humanity’s annual demand on nature exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. Earth Overshoot Day has moved from early October in 2000 to August 13 this year.
In simple terms, as on August 13, 2015, the humans of world have spent resources of the Earth by more than 50 per cent the Earth can renew for this year. At this rate, we would need one and half an Earth to support our current demands.
The costs of this ecological overspending are becoming more evident by the day in the form of deforestation, drought, fresh-water scarcity, soil erosion, biodiversity loss and the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The GFN data is expected to help Government policy makers to set their nation’s long-term economic performance on a favorable track.
According to the GFN data, it will take resources of double the size of India to support India at the current level of consumption. “We can’t sustain such growth models and consumption patterns anymore. We sincerely want India to take strong measures to cut its ecological footprints and go for greener growth models,” says WIO convenor Ranjan Panda. As the third largest Green House Gas (GHG) emitter of the world, we are still better than many countries in terms of our lifestyles and consumption patterns.
According to reports, Japan would need five and half a country of its size to meet consumption requirements. Similarly, China and UK would require almost three countries of their respective sizes to meet their current consumption levels.
“Majority of Indians, especially the rural folks and forest dwellers, are known for their traditional eco-friendly lifestyles. However, the urban India is growing fast in a highly GHG emitting lifestyle. India needs to learn from its villages to preserve forests, conserve water bodies and rivers and promote traditional irrigation and ecological agriculture more urgently than ever before,” urged Panda.