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Page 1: Ecological Footprint of Mediterranean countries · Mediterranean’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, 1961-2010 •Ecological Footprint of consumption (EF C) grew by 54%, mainly

Ecological Footprint of Mediterranean countries: A focus on food resource’s access and utilization

Alessandro Galli, PhD 2nd SDSN Mediterranean Conference

05-06 March 2015, Siena | Italy

Page 2: Ecological Footprint of Mediterranean countries · Mediterranean’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, 1961-2010 •Ecological Footprint of consumption (EF C) grew by 54%, mainly

ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT: ASSESSING COUNTRIES’ ECOLOGICAL BALANCE SHEET

SUPPLY = BIOCAPACITY How much bioproductive area is available to us?

DEMAND = ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT How much bioproductive area

do we use?

Page 3: Ecological Footprint of Mediterranean countries · Mediterranean’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, 1961-2010 •Ecological Footprint of consumption (EF C) grew by 54%, mainly

Mediterranean’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, 1961-2010

• Ecological Footprint of consumption (EFC) grew by 54%, mainly due to the increase in the carbon Footprint component (+158%)

• Biocapacity (BC) decreased by 21%: population growth outstripped productivity gains

• Regional BC now supplies ≈41% of the resources and services demand

• EFP exceeded BC since early ‘60s

Page 4: Ecological Footprint of Mediterranean countries · Mediterranean’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, 1961-2010 •Ecological Footprint of consumption (EF C) grew by 54%, mainly

ECOLOGICAL BALANCES: NATIONAL FOOTPRINT VS. NATIONAL BIOCAPACITY

1961 2008

Page 5: Ecological Footprint of Mediterranean countries · Mediterranean’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, 1961-2010 •Ecological Footprint of consumption (EF C) grew by 54%, mainly

WHAT IS DRIVING THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF MED COUNTRIES?

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gha

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GFC

Government

Miscellaneous goods and services

Restaurants and hotels

Education

Recreation and culture

Communication

Transportation

Health

Furnishings, household equipment androutine household maintenanceHousing, water, electricity, gas andother fuelsClothing and footwear

Alcoholic beverages, tobacco andnarcoticsFood and non-alcoholic beverages

• Main drivers of the regional Footprint in 2010 were food consumption (≈35%), transportation (≈28%) and housing (≈9%).

• The share of food Footprint ranges from as low as 20% (Slovenia) to as high as 70% (Morocco).

• Food is a basic need, on which family budgets are first spent.

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2

3

Page 6: Ecological Footprint of Mediterranean countries · Mediterranean’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, 1961-2010 •Ecological Footprint of consumption (EF C) grew by 54%, mainly

SI

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EG

AL TN MA

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1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000

Ecolo

gical Foo

tprin

t of fo

od

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sum

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Food Supply (kcal per capita per day)

HOW EFFICIENT MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES ARE IN PROVIDING FOOD TO ITS RESIDENTS?

Most efficient food Footprint globally observed

FAO-estimated minimum daily dietary energy requirement

Page 7: Ecological Footprint of Mediterranean countries · Mediterranean’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, 1961-2010 •Ecological Footprint of consumption (EF C) grew by 54%, mainly

FOOD FOOTPRINT OF MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES, IN 2010

• Protein-intensive food products (e.g., meat and dairy) have an higher footprint (per kcal) than plant-based food products.

• Egypt (and Slovenia) high calorie provision and low Footprint is due to low protein diet and high crop productivity (decreasing dependence on imported food)

• Portugal (and Malta) high Footprint is due to a protein-intensive diet rich in fish (44% of food Footprint) and meat products

(16%).

Page 8: Ecological Footprint of Mediterranean countries · Mediterranean’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, 1961-2010 •Ecological Footprint of consumption (EF C) grew by 54%, mainly

• Food is a substantial share of Mediterranean countries’ overall resource requirements

• The main drivers are dietary habits on the consumption side – protein-rich diets place a higher demand on natural resources – and land productivity on the production side (a high level of local food production reduces use of fossil fuels for imports).

• Population growth and a shift towards a protein-based diet are likely to increase the pressure on resource provisioning ecosystem services

CONCLUSIONS

• The overall high resource requirements of Portugal for food are driven by dietary habits, which favor a protein-based diet. Egypt, on the other hand, has a plant-based, less resource-intensive diet.

• Food is one of the few basic human needs and thus resource appropriation due to its consumption can only be shifted to a small extent.

• As such, future food security need efficiency improvements as well as reduction of food waste and promotion of healthier and less resource-intensive

diets.

Page 9: Ecological Footprint of Mediterranean countries · Mediterranean’s Ecological Footprint and biocapacity, 1961-2010 •Ecological Footprint of consumption (EF C) grew by 54%, mainly

Thank you

For more information please visit:

http://www.footprintnetwork.org/med

Alessandro Galli, PhD Director Mediterranean-MENA Program

Global Footprint Network [email protected]