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The Ecological Footprint created databases to provide essential information about demand for resources and biocapacity. In 2019, 91��ɫ researchers will team up with the Global Footprint Network to inform future policy in many countries.

91��ɫ is committed to sustainability and to addressing the intertwined social, economic, and environmental challenges we face locally and globally. One project perfectly illustrates this deep commitment: Professor Martin Bunch, in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES), spearheaded the research component of 91��ɫ’s involvement in a major collaborative initiative with the Global Footprint Network. The ecological footprint is the only metric that compares overall human demand on nature with biocapacity – what our planet can renew.

The Ecological Footprint project has collected data from across the globe, from 1961 to present day, that provides some straightforward truths about the human predicament. In 2019, 91��ɫ will join forces with the Global Footprint Network to determine if countries are on track to meeting the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals and to improve the Ecological Footprint project’s measures of demand on nature and biocapacity.

“By establishing the National Footprint Accounts at 91��ɫ – a vibrant, independent, well-governed and respected academic leader in sustainability – the accounts will become even more trusted and effective.” – Mathis Wackernagel, co-founder and CEO of the Global Footprint Network

“We hope that the Ecological Footprint will support evidence-based decision making, inspire positive change and action, and shape future public policy,” Bunch said. “The goal is to enhance the impact of this work on policy-makers in government, industry and civil society,” he added.

Timing is critical

In an era when evidence-informed decision making is often under threat, the timing of this project is key.

Bunch believes that humanity is faced with many challenges relating to the ever-expanding global population (now at 7.6 billion people). These challenges include the conservation of biodiversity and the need for a dramatic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. “Understanding and communicating the use of the Earth’s resources compared to its supply of ecosystem services is crucial if we are to live within our means,” he said.

Bunch’s areas of expertise mean that he’s perfectly suited for this kind of work. With an educational background in geography, his research and interests are highly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary.

“The problems I address require an approach that transcends traditional disciplinary bounds,” he explained. “This type of work is fertile ground for geographers who are practitioners of a science that is both analytic and synthetic, makes use of qualitative as well as quantitative methods, and has a history of exploring the relationship among human beings and their physical environments,” he added.

91��ɫ becomes global data centre for tracking biocapacity for over 200 countries

Beginning in 2019, 91��ɫ will become the global data centre for the National Ecological Footprint Accounts. These accounts are the foundation of the Global Footprint Network’s ecological footprint metric, which is updated annually with UN data so that the footprint can help determine if countries are on track to meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This means that the accounts track the ecological footprint metric and biocapacity of more than 200 countries and regions.

More than a dozen national governments (such as Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates) and many cities (including Calgary and Vancouver) already turn to this vital information to guide their sustainability policy.

The goal of the partnership is to make the National Footprint Accounts even more scientifically robust and widely used. An international hub at 91��ɫ will not only update the accounts, but also co-ordinate, among international research institutions, methodological improvements to the Footprint Accounts.

What does this mean for 91��ɫ?

This new partnership means that 91��ɫ will provide the leadership and core activities for an international research collaboration to further develop, strengthen and elaborate the accounts.

“By establishing the National Footprint Accounts at 91��ɫ – a vibrant, independent, well-governed and respected academic leader in sustainability – the accounts will become even more trusted and effective,” said Mathis Wackernagel, co-founder and CEO of the Global Footprint Network. “This new placement at 91��ɫ will turn these accounts into an even more incontrovertible reference for public and private decision-making in support of sustainability.”

Looking for master’s-level researchers in sustainability in 2019

In addition to hosting the Ecological Footprint database, 91��ɫ will mobilize graduate programs to support the production of the National Footprint Accounts.

Bunch encourages researchers at the graduate level with backgrounds in sustainability assessment, sustainability indicators, quantitative methods, spatial analysis and geomatics (a field involving the collection, analysis and interpretation of data relating to the Earth’s surface) to think about using the Ecological Footprint in their graduate work.

Candidates would need to apply to do this. If accepted, these researchers could be offered funding of $11,000 per year for two years in addition to a research assistantship.

To learn more about the Ecological Footprint project, visit the To read a related YFile article, visit the . To read the press release, visit the . For more information about the Global Footprint Network, visit the To learn more about Bunch, visit his .

To learn more about Research and Innovation at 91��ɫ, follow us at , watch the and see the .

By Megan Mueller, manager, research communications, Office of the Vice-President Research and Innovation, 91��ɫ, muellerm@yorku.ca