1. EDSC 350
ADVANCED TOPICS IN BIOLOGY FOR TEACHERS
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS OF UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
AND PHILIPPINES: A REVIEW
by Nenita S . Delos Santos
nenita.delossantos@cardno.com
PhD in Education major in Biology
University of the Philippines – Open University

2. Table of Contents
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Ecological Footprint as an Indicator of Sustainability
3. The Global Context
4. Ecological Footprint of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
5. Ecological Footprint of the Philippines
6. Ecological Footprint Towards 2050
7. Conclusions
Bibliography

3. 1. Introduction
All human activities make use of ecosystem services which
are putting pressure on the biodiversity that support these
services.
Since the first Living Planet
Report (LPR) was published in
1998, measures of the trends in the state of global
biodiversity trough the Living Planet Index (LPI) showed a
decline of almost 30 percent between 1970 and 2007.
In 2002, under the auspices of the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) the leaders of the world’s governments
commitment to significantly halt the rate of biodiversity loss
by 2010, adopted a suite of indicators, brought together as
the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP), to provide
information on biodiversity trends and assess progress
toward their target.
Global Footprint Network (GFN) is a
BIP Key Indicator Partner, and the
Ecological Footprint has been
officially adopted by the CBD to be
included among its biodiversity indicators.

4. 1. Introduction
By measuring the Footprint of a population or all of
humanity we can assess our pressure on the
planet, which helps us manage our ecological assets
more wisely and take personal and collective action in
support of a world where humanity lives within the
Earth’s bounds.
Ecological Footprint (EF) is the world’s premier measure
of human demand on the Earth’s ecosystems, rooted in
the fact that all renewable resources come from the earth.
Conceived in 1990 by Mathis Wackernagel and William
Rees, it is an accounting framework by comparing human
demand against the regenerative capacity of the Earth.
While not a direct measure of species populations, the
Ecological Footprint provides an indicator of the pressure
on ecosystems and biodiversity by measuring the
competing level of ecological demand that humans place
upon the biosphere.

5. 1. Introduction
An estimate of Earth’s latest humanity’s footprint (1961-2007)
is 18 billion gha or 2.7 gha per person (5). This represents an
ecological overshoot of 50 percent or an equivalent of 1.5
years for the Earth to regenerate the renewable resources
people use and includes the space needed for infrastructure
and vegetation to absorb waste carbon dioxide
(CO2). Moderate UN scenarios suggest that if current
population and consumption trends continue, by the
2030s, we will need the equivalent of two Earths to support
us.

6. 2. Ecological Footprint as an Indicator of
Sustainability
Ecological footprint analysis is a tool that was
developed to measure whether a given country or
region was using resources at a rate faster than
nature can regenerate them. In 2000, WWF
International published the first Living Planet
Report, using ecological foot printing as a way to
measure human pressure on Earth and how this
pressure is distributed among countries.
Since then, the methodology for calculating the Ecological
Footprint has been further developed and many variations
and enhancements have been described in the literature.
The 4 broader categories of methodologies are the following:
1. Conventional Ecological Footprint Accounting
2. Variations of the conventional method (non input-output based)
3. Dynamic Ecological Footprint models
4. Input-output based methods

7. 2. Ecological Footprint as an Indicator of
Sustainability
Conventional Ecological Footprint Accounting – basis of the
current EF definition provided by GFN.
• Usually measured in global hectares which is the annual
productivity of 1 hectare of biologically productive land or
sea with world-average productivity.
• Use data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organization
on domestic production, imports, exports and yields for a
number of primary and secondary products from
agricultural, forestry and fisheries to calculate the apparent
net consumption of a nation and associated appropriation of
land.
• Experts believed that EF indicator is limited in its scope; it
cannot answer how long ecological overshoot will be
possible and possible for what. Hence, it is a strong
communication tool but have a limited role within policy
context.

8. 3. The Global Context
Humanity’s Ecological
Footprint (1961-2007)
Total Ecological
Footprint by Land Type

9. 2. The Global Context
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Philippines
Ecological Footprint by Country per person, 2007

10. 4. Ecological Footprint of the UAE
Owing to the capitalization of its oil and gas
resources, the UAE is a rapidly developing country that
is investing heavily in construction, infrastructure
development, provision of water, electricity and food.
Apart from energy and the sun, the UAE is a hot and
dry country, which extremely limited natural resources
are being exhausted hence significant quantities are
being imported from overseas to satisfy demand.
In the Living Planet Report 2006, based on the
2003 data, the UAE ranked as the country with
the highest per capita Ecological Footprint in
the world at almost 12 gha per person.
Based on the Living Planet Report 2010, the UAE out of 152
countries had the world’s highest per capita Environmental
Footprint at 10.68 global hectares (gha) per
person, although the data relates to the year 2007 and
represents just 0.3% o f humanity’s total Ecological
Footprint.

11. 4. Ecological Footprint of the UAE
This has prompted UAE to embark on in-depth
research to understand and manage its Ecological
Footprint through the Al Basma Al Beeiyah Initiative
(Ecological Footprint Initiative), making it as the third
country in the world with similar effort that followed
Japan and Switzerland (12), and the first to develop
scientific achievement to address the problem.
UAE’s Al Basma Al Beeiyah Initiative (Ecological
Footprint Initiative)
The initiative was launched in October 2007
through a unique partnership with the Ministry
of Environment and Water
(MOEW), Environmental Agency - Abu Dhabi
Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI)
Emirates Wildlife Society in association with
World Wildlife Fund (EWS-WWF) and the Global
Footprint Network (GFN).

12. 4. Ecological Footprint of the UAE
UAE Footprint by three players of UAE Footprint by Land Type
society (based on 2008 LPR data) (based on 2008 LPR data)
Scenario A (38.4%) Scenario B (14.9%) Scenario C (11.6%) Scenario A (38.4%) Scenario B Scenario C
Four nuclear power Four nuclear power Four nuclear power Indoor and outdoor
plants of capacity 1.45 plants of capacity 1.45 plants of capacity 1.45 water equipment
GW by 2021 GW by 2021 GW by 2021 standard
15% Renewable Energy 15% Renewable Energy 15% Renewable Energy 50% Electric Vehicle
Capacity by 2020 Capacity by 2020 Capacity by 2020 penetration by 2030
10% Carbon Capture 10% Carbon Capture 10% Carbon Capture Reverse Osmosis –
and Sequestration by and Sequestration by and Sequestration by installation of
2030 2030 2030 thirteen 60 MG
Strong Building 200% increase in desalination
Envelope Standard Electricity and Water plants (2018-2030)
with60% reduction in Tarff by 2030 100% TSE reuse by
cooling demand 2030
High End energy star
equipment standard

13. 4. Ecological Footprint of the UAE
In Year One, the EFI focused on evaluation the
usefulness of the EF indicator and its
representativeness of the UAE context. This was
done through data and methodology type.
In Year Two, the EFI concluded that the footprint is in
fact a useful representative tool for identifying the
major footprint-driving sectors.
In Year Three, the EFI continued its research
through the development of an electricity and
water scenario model designed to show how the
development of the power and water sector might
affect the UAE’s EF up to 2030, and to help build
lower-footprint alternative scenarios.

14. 5. Ecological Footprint of the Philippines
From 1961, the Philippines' demand on ecological
resources increased from less than its own
biocapacity to more than double its domestically
available biocapacity in 2002.
Based on 2007 data from the GFN published in
2010, the Philippines EF was 1.3 global hectares
per person which is slightly higher than the
ecological deficit of 0.9 global hectares per
person (6 billion in total).
Philippines Demand vs.
Biocapacity (1961-2002)

15. 5. Ecological Footprint of the Philippines
Philippines Footprint by
Component (1961-2002)
From 1961, the Philippines' demand on ecological
resources increased from less than its own biocapacity
to more than double its domestically available
biocapacity in 2002.
Based on 2007 data from the GFN published in 2010, the
Philippines EF was 1.3 global hectares per person which
is slightly higher than the ecological deficit of 0.9 global
hectares per person (6 billion in total).

16. 5. Ecological Footprint of the Philippines
Philippines Footprint and Biocapacity (1961-2002)
Philippines Footprint by
Component (1961-2002)

17. 6. Ecological Footprint Towards 2050
The 2008 Living Planet Report introduced three
“solution wedges” - energy efficiency, renewable
energy and carbon capture and storage that could
reduce the accumulation of atmospheric CO2 and
therefore the carbon footprint. The Global
Footprint Network has since taken this analysis a
step further by creating a Footprint Scenario
Calculator.
Based on the LPR 2010, land competition is likely to
be a greater challenge in the future.
Efforts of agriculturalists may be balanced out by
climate change or have their uptake restricted by
socioeconomic factors and governance.
Cities remains to account for an ever-higher
percentage in the coming years

18. 7. Conclusions
Ecological Footprint is a powerful tool that measures
the amount of biologically productive land and water
area required to produce the resources an
individual, population or activity consumes and to
absorb the waste they generate, given prevailing
technology and resource management – in snapshots.
The need to standardize sub-national Footprint
application methods in order to increase their
comparability across studies and over time is
essential.
UAE Initiatives for a low EF future is commendable.
Although the current EF of Philippines is considerably
lower than UAE the need to overcome
economic, environmental and personnel constraints in
order to reduce the environmental footprint remains to
be a big challenge.