WSSD ArticleWales Adopts Ecological Footprint to Lead Nations Towards SustainabilityEarth Day Network and Redefining Progress are publicizing the Welsh commitment to sustainability at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. “With all the political worries around the WSSD, we want to highlight the hopeful examples like Wales. Wales has made more serious commitments than I have seen from any other nation,” says Mathis Wackernagel Co-Inventor of the Ecological Footprint. Rt. Hon. Simon Upton, Chair of the OECD Roundtable on Sustainable Development, and Rt. Hon. Rhodri Morgan, First Minister for Wales shared their enthusiasm for the idea of using the Ecological Footprint as a way to measure nations’ progress towards sustainability at Earth Day Network’s Ecological Footprint side event at the WSSD. The Ecological Footprint measures the amount of ecologically productive area necessary to provide the resources people consume and to absorb their waste. The Footprint then can be compared to the area that exists on the planet. “Many forget that basic requirements for sustainability are specific and measurable. For instance, humanity needs to live within the Earth’s biological capacity,” says Wackernagel. First Minister for Wales, Rhodri Morgan informed the audience of the WSSD Ecological Footprint event that three years ago Wales attained broader self-governance and governmental jurisdiction over environmental decision-making. Morgan announced that Wales belongs to a unique group of one or two other states in the world that have enshrined governmental responsibility “to promote sustainable development in everything they do” as a constitutional principle. It is, therefore, within the government’s mandate to find a way to measure DO progress on sustainable development. Wales is using the ecological footprint as a tool to assess progress on sustainable development. Through the ecological footprint Wales identifies problem areas that need intervention. Rhodri Morgan said that Wales made an assessment of their ecological footprint and came out 20% below the EU average. Now, Morgan says, they can ask “where do we want to be when we do it again in 3 years time” and “what aspects can we improve upon?” In his concluding remarks Morgan expressed his hope that Wales “Can improve its Ecological Footprint performance and meet the mandate laid out by the Welsh constitution.” Rhodri Morgan described the Ecological Footprint as a tool for governments, which shows “where you are in relation to other countries and to show where we should spend money on making improvements.” Earth Day Network organized an Ecological Footprint event as part of its worldwide Ecological Footprint campaign that was launched for Earth Day, 22 April 2002. The Earth Day Network consists of 5,000 members in 184 countries. Network members range from grassroots community groups to government agencies. Earth Day Network members have taken up the Ecological Footprint campaign across the world in countries from Nigeria to Taiwan. This campaign encouraging citizens’ across the globe to look at ways they can reduce their consumption minimizing their use of natural resources and lesson their contribution to environmental problems. “Just in the last 5 month, over 100,000 people around the world have checked their Ecological Footprint and engaged in the Earth Day campaign to reduce humanities Footprint” says Kathleen Rogers from Earth Day Network. Current assessments show that the Ecological Footprint of humanity is 20 percent larger than the Earth’s biologically productive area. This means that humanity, overall, is using resources and faster than Earth can regenerate them. By Sierra James Earth Day Network
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