Issue: Pressures created by human settlements on the environment - General
This is an issue under the Human settlements theme of the Data Reporting System.
Why we need to know about this issue
Human settlements exert pressure on the environment by extracting resources from it and by generating wastes and emissions. As population grows and human settlements expand the demands for resources as well as the amount of wastes generated increase.
Indicators
- HS-74 Australia's ecological footprint
The ecological footprint is a tool used to measure ecological sustainability and tracks past and present demands made by people on the earth’s renewable natural resources. It tracks how much a settlement, country or humanity as a whole consumes and compares this amount to the resources nature can provide. More precisely, it shows how much biologically productive land and water area a given population occupies to produce all the resources it consumes and to absorb its waste, using prevailing technology. The global Ecological Footprint changes with population size, average consumption per person, and resource efficiency.
Related issues
All pressures issues across all themes are relevant.
Key
Links to another web site
Links to data in the DRS
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