Sustainable diets and biodiversity

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by a manufacturing system: measured in m 2 or
global hectares.
The Ecological Footprint is an indicator used to esti-
mate the impact on the environment of a given popu-
lation due to its consumption; it quantifies the total
area of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems required
to provide in a sustainable manner all the resources
utilized and to absorb (once again in a sustainable
way) all the emissions produced. The Ecological Foot-
print measures the quantity of biologically productive
land and water required to both provide the resources
consumed and absorb the waste produced.

The calculation methodology is identified by the Global
Footprint Network and includes the following com-
ponents in the calculation:

• Energy Land, represents the forest area required to
  absorb the carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuel
  burning and power for the production of that good;


• Cropland, represents the area of cultivated land

necessary for the production of food and other

non-edible resources of plant origin (cereals, fruit,

vegetables, tobacco, cotton etc.);

• Grazing Land, represents the area required to
  produce food and non-edible resources of animal
  origin (meat, milk, wool etc.);


• Forest Land, represents the land, either cultivated
  or wild,utilized for the production of wood-based
  products;


• Built-up Land, represents the land occupied for
  the construction of roads, homes and other infra-
  structures;


• Fishing Ground, represents the marine and fre
  shwater surface area required for fisheries.

The Ecological Footprint is thus a composite indicator

which, through conversion and specific equivalences,

measures the various ways in which environmental

resources are utilized through a single unit of meas-

ure, the global hectare (gha).

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