Technical Report

Ecological Footprints of New Zealand and its Regions 2003-04

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Abstract

This report estimates ecological footprints, that is the total amount of productive land (as measured in global hectares) required to support a given population, for New Zealand and its sixteen regional council areas for the year 2003-04. The concept of the ecological footprint was developed by Wackernabel and Rees (1996) in the early 1990s and it is increasingly being used as an indicator of sustainability performance. The most recent official global footprint estimates are published in the Global Footprint Networks’ Living Planet Report (Hails, 2006). An input-output methodology based on the one developed by Bicknell et al. (1998), and extended by McDonald and Patterson (2003, 2004), is used in this report to calculate the ecological footprints of New Zealand and its regions. New Zealand’s Ecological Footprint The New Zealand ecological footprint is calculated to be 22.9 million global hectares (gha) for 2003-04. This represents the total amount of land needed to sustain the New Zealand population in 2003-04 according to its estimated levels of consumption. By comparison, New Zealand’s 1997-98 ecological footprint was calculated to be 19.9 million gha. This represents an annual average geometric growth of 2.4 percent. The footprint consists of inputs of agricultural land (6.5 million gha), forest land (2.1 million gha), built-up land (1.8 million gha) and of so-called energy land (5.9 million gha). The biocapacity of New Zealand is estimated to be 58.2 million gha. This excludes National Parks, Forest Parks and other non-productive land. On this basis, the ecological footprint of the New Zealand population occupies 39.4 percent of its biocapacity. An analysis of the Balance of Trade for New Zealand indicates that a further role of the New Zealand economy is to provide land-based ecological capital to the rest of the world. Overall, through the export of mainly agricultural products (meat, dairy, wool), but also horticultural products, forestry products and to a lesser extent some manufacturing products, New Zealand exports embodied land to other countries amounting to 15.5 million gha. This means that, in embodied land terms, about 60 percent of the production of the New Zealand economy is channelled into local consumption and the remaining 40 percent into products for exports. In comparison, the land embodied in imported products such as food, motor vehicles, computers, textiles and raw materials for industry is much smaller at 7.5 million gha. The per capita footprint for New Zealand is calculated to be 5.65 gha per person. The United States (+69.7 percent), Canada (+24.7 percent) and Australia (+16.1 percent) all had higher per capita ecological footprints than New Zealand. These differences can be explained by the higher income, higher levels of material affluence and consumption in these countries. There are however a number of countries that have higher per capita income (per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP)) than New Zealand, but somewhat surprisingly have lower ecological footprints per capita: France (-0.35 percent), United Kingdom (-1.06 percent), the Netherlands (-22.3 percent) and Japan (-23.0 percent). There appears to be a greater ‘decoupling’ between economic growth and the ecological footprint in these countries, seemingly due to higher population densities, diet, lifestyle factors, and uptake of eco-efficient technologies, all of which reduce the use of embodied land. Regional Ecological Footprints Most of this report is devoted to detailed and systematic analysis of the ecological footprints for the sixteen regional council areas in New Zealand, as measured in local (actual) hectares (lha). The regional footprint results are recorded in local, rather than global, hectares due to a severe paucity of data by land type relating regional land productivities to global equivalents. Further conceptual development of the footprint concept and significant empirical work is required before this will be achieved. The largest regional ecological footprint is Auckland’s at 2.0 million lha, which is not surprising given that it has the largest population of any region in New Zealand. Auckland makes up 24.9 percent of the New Zealand ecological footprint. Canterbury is a clear second with an ecological footprint of 1.4 million lha that makes up 17.2 percent of New Zealand’s ecological footprint. Although Canterbury has a similar sized population to Wellington, its higher per capita footprint gives it a much larger footprint than Wellington’s of 0.8 million lha. Waikato (0.8 million lha) also has a similar sized footprint to Wellington. Although population is the main determinant of size of these ecological footprints, the per capita footprint is important and varies according to regional differences in land productivity, consumption patterns, the nature of the regional economy, the degree of urbanisation and population densities. In per capita terms, Marlborough and Otago have the highest footprints at respectively 3.74 lha and 3.30 lha. These findings are however more an artefact of low agricultural land productivity rather than of differences in material consumption and resource use. West Coast (2.83 lha), Hawkes Bay (2.67 lha), Canterbury (2.66 lha), Southland (2.49 lha) and Gisborne (2.45 lha) all have relatively high footprint per capita. Once again, these regions have lower than average agricultural land productivities. These region do not necessarily consume more products and resources per capita, but rather require more land to produce the same amounts. Manawatu-Wanganui (2.26 lha), Tasman (2.18 lha), Waikato (2.07 lha), Taranaki and (2.07 lha) all have ecological footprints per capita near the New Zealand average of 1.97 lha. With similar land productivities the per capita footprint differences of these regions primarily due to differences in consumption patterns. Northland (1.74 lha), Wellington (1.70 lha), Bay of Plenty (1.64 lha), Auckland (1.52 lha) and Nelson (1.47 lha) have the lowest per capita footprints. These regions, with the exception of Northland, are among the most urbanised in New Zealand. Urban settlements are characterised by higher density housing, lower land requirements for wholesale and retail trade and business services, and more efficient use of land for transport network use – all of which reduce the footprint per capita.

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... Several methods have been advanced for calculation of the EF. Refer to, for example, Wackernagel and Rees (1996), Folke et al. (1997), Bicknell et al. (1998), Wackernagel et al. (1999), Loh (2000, van Vuuren and Smeets (2000), McDonald and Patterson (2003, and so on. Although each of these methods has its own peculiarities and insights, many have their roots in the work of Wackernagel and Rees (1996). ...
... McDonald and Patterson (2003 have used an input-output framework to trace land embodied in interregional trade. Additionally, Patterson and McDonald (2002) have also used an input-output framework to calculate various ecological multipliers for the New Zealand tourism industry. ...
... The method presented assumes the reader is familiar with the technical and mathematical aspects of input-output analysis. If not, the reader is directed to McDonald and Patterson (2003) where a step-by-step example is available. ...
Technical Report
This report estimates the Ecological Footprint (EF) of Waitakere City for the years ending March 1998 and March 2004. The EF is an estimation of the amount of productive land and water required to support a given population. This method has gained popularity over recent years and is increasingly being used as an indicator of sustainability.
... 3. Ecological footprint calculations can be made from the accounts, using input-output methods developed by Bicknell et al. (1998), Ferng (2001), and McDonald & Patterson (2003. ...
... The land intensity data in EcoLink are only obtainable for 1997/98 so no trends can be firmly established for land. Nevertheless, data obtained from McDonald & Patterson (2003) indicate a rate of change in land intensity (ha/$) of about 1% per year reduction, and this figure was used in this analysis. The average rate of change in these intensities estimated from the historical data series (for land and water) was used to project future rates of change for 1997-2007. ...
... EcoLink does have data for 1997/98 but not for 1994/95. Crude estimates on data provided by McDonald & Patterson (2003) indicate that the changes are likely to be very small, probably about 1% decrease per year. ...
... From these regional input -output matrices, interregional flows of commodities were established using an optimization model, which in turn enabled the ecological interdependencies to be tracked and quantified. In this paper, the Auckland region (New Zealand's most populous region) is used as a case study example to highlight the regional-level ecological interdependencies-a more detailed region-by-region analysis is outlined in a recent report by McDonald and Patterson (2003). ...
... Fully worked examples of how to calculate each of the three components of regional Ecological Footprints are outlined in a recently published report by McDonald and Patterson (2003). In Section 4.4 of our current paper, we only outline how to calculate the land appropriated from other regions component (b 1 + b 2 + . . . ...
... Similarly, no adjustments are made for differences in biological productivity between land types when aggregating-i.e., no equivalence factors are applied. The results presented here are aggregated to facilitate comparison with earlier studies by Bicknell et al. (1998) and McDonald and Patterson (2003). ...
Article
Bicknell et al.'s [Ecological Economics 27 (1998) 149] input–output methodology is extended to investigate the Ecological Footprints and interdependencies of 16 regions in New Zealand. There is a particular focus on the Auckland region as a case study example of the application of the methodology. Auckland, New Zealand's primate city, was found to have the largest regional footprint of 2.32 million ha (20% of New Zealand's footprint). However, on a per capita basis it had the second lowest footprint of all regions at 2.00 ha per person. The footprint analysis was extended to demonstrate how Auckland was ecologically dependent on other regions, particularly the Waikato region. The footprints of other New Zealand regions are reported, along with international comparisons. The paper also reviews the theory and practice of Ecological Footprinting, as well as commenting on various methodological issues that have arisen in the calculation of Ecological Footprints.
... This finding is not surprising given the large extent of New Zealand's ecosystem service base, coupled with the nation's comparatively small population. The significance of ecosystem services to the New Zealand economy is obvious in the very nature of the economy, which has evolved as a net supplier of ecological capital to the world (MCDONALD and PATTERSON, 2003a). Nevertheless, with the exception of the nationwide study of PATTERSON and COLE (1999a) and smaller regional studies of PATTERSON and COLE (1999b) and MCDONALD and PATTERSON (2003b), little effort in New Zealand has been directed at acknowledging and evaluating the value of ecosystem services to the nation. ...
... Region's footprint, where it was found that the Auckland Region was a significant appropriator of embodied land from other regions and nations (MCDONALD and PATTERSON, 2003a). 18. ...
Article
Full-text available
Patterson M. G., Mcdonald G.W. and Smith N. J. Ecosystem service appropriation in the Auckland Region economy: an input-output analysis, Regional Studies. This paper assesses the appropriation of ecosystem services by the Auckland Region economy in New Zealand. A novel application of environmental input-output analysis is used to trace biophysical interdependence within the regional economy. The methodology provides a step-by-step procedure for tracing the appropriation of various ecosystem services, using infinite regress chains displayed as appropriation chain diagrams. Critical dependencies on ecosystem services are revealed throughout the economy through case studies of two selected industries, namely air transport and business services.
... Ferng (2001) perfecciona la metodología de Bicknell introduciendo la utilización de multiplicadores compuestos que permiten agrupar los resultados de la HE por tipo de superficie. Este mismo autor (Ferng, 2002) A pesar de que la utilización de técnicas input-output para el cálculo de la HE presenta ciertas limitaciones (Bicknell et al., 1998, McDonald et al., 2003o McDonald et al., 2004) -sobre todo las relativas a la homogeneidad (cada sector produce un único bien), linealidad (rendimientos constantes) y precio único (todos los sectores pagan el mismo precio para un determinado producto)-también tiene importantes ventajas (McDonald, 2003) pues resulta un método más exhaustivo y sistemático, evita la doble contabilidad y es matemáticamente más riguroso. Por otra parte el uso de técnicas input-output en el cálculo de la HE permite la construcción de modelos E3 (energy-economy-environment) que permiten simular los efectos de diferentes escenarios en la evolución de la HE. ...
... Ferng (2001) perfecciona la metodología de Bicknell introduciendo la utilización de multiplicadores compuestos que permiten agrupar los resultados de la HE por tipo de superficie. Este mismo autor (Ferng, 2002) A pesar de que la utilización de técnicas input-output para el cálculo de la HE presenta ciertas limitaciones (Bicknell et al., 1998, McDonald et al., 2003o McDonald et al., 2004) -sobre todo las relativas a la homogeneidad (cada sector produce un único bien), linealidad (rendimientos constantes) y precio único (todos los sectores pagan el mismo precio para un determinado producto)-también tiene importantes ventajas (McDonald, 2003) pues resulta un método más exhaustivo y sistemático, evita la doble contabilidad y es matemáticamente más riguroso. Por otra parte el uso de técnicas input-output en el cálculo de la HE permite la construcción de modelos E3 (energy-economy-environment) que permiten simular los efectos de diferentes escenarios en la evolución de la HE. ...
Article
Resumen: La huella ecológica (HE) es un indicador ambiental que mide la superficie biológicamente productiva necesaria para producir los bienes y servicios que consume una determinada región y absorber los residuos que genera. A pesar de ser un indicador ampliamente utilizado, presenta ciertas limitaciones metodológicas que complican su utilización. Cabe señalar, entre otras, el tratamiento que la metodología hace de la energía contenida en los bienes y servicios consumidos y las dificultades de cálculo de la HE a escala subnacional. Este trabajo presenta una metodología alternativa de cálculo que trata de dar respuesta a ambos problemas. En primer lugar se utilizan técnicas input-output para determinar la HE asociada a la energía contenida en los bienes y servicios. Estos resultados son relacionados con el consumo final. La utilización conjunta de estos resultados y de estadísticas regionales de gasto permiten el cálculo de la HE a escala subnacional. Esta metodología ha sido aplicada a España y sus Comunidades Autónomas (NUTS-2). Abstract: The ecological footprint (EF) is an environmental indicator that measures the biologically productive area needed to produce the goods and services that a region consumes and to absorb the waste the region generates. In spite of being a widely used indicator, it presents some methodological limitations that make its application difficult. Among others, these include difficulties in estimating the footprint of embodied energy in goods and services and problems to calculate the EF at subnational levels. In this paper we develop an alternative methodology to solve these problems. We use input-output techniques to account the footprint of embodied energy in goods and services. We also relate these footprints to final consumption. Finally, we use these results together with regional expenditure statistics to estimate the EF at subnational level. In this case it has been applied to the Spanish case and all its autonomous regions (NUTS-2).
... Although input-output tables are usually presented in monetary terms, authors such as Daly (1968), Isard (1968), Ayres and Kneese (1969), Leontief (1970) and Victor (1972) demonstrated that biophysical information on resource use and residual generation may also be considered in an input-output framework. More recently, authors such as Bicknell et al. (1998), Ferng (2001, and McDonald and Patterson (2003 have shown how input-output analysis may be used to generate ecological footprints. In this paper, the concept of ecological footprinting is extended to incorporate not only land, but also other scarce resources and residual wastes. ...
... Fourth, it avoids methodological problems such as double counting and partial coverage of impacts. Moreover, the assumptions and limitations of input-output analysis are well understood and documented; see for example, Richardson (1972), Miller and Blair (1985) and, in the context of ecofootprinting, Bicknell et al. (1998), and McDonald and Patterson (2003. ...
Article
The goal of sustainability is to have levels of resource use and waste assimilation sufficient to maintain a good quality of life for citizens, yet be within environmental carrying capacities. In countries with ageing populations, consumption is constrained by the lower incomes of retired people, and therefore, prospects exist for reductions in resource use and pollutant outputs. The extent of this effect is investigated in this study. This paper uses a new approach to quantify, by age cohort, patterns of resource use and residual generation in New Zealand. These use patterns are then projected to 2051 to see what happens as the population ages. Results indicate that resource use and waste production decline as more people enter the 65+ age group. Gains, however, are diminished by the smaller percentage of young people who have the lowest per capita requirements. Projected growth in population numbers swamp any reductions from ageing effects, even when allowances have been made for future technical change.
... The extent of the environmental impact of the food and fibre industries is difficult to quantify. Ecological Footprint calculations of New Zealand as a whole by McDonald and Patterson (2003) indicate that New Zealand is one of only three developed countries living within its ecological carrying capacity (alongside Canada and Australia). While New Zealand may have this distinction, the demands of resource supply and waste absorption placed on nature by the food and fibre industries in New Zealand are high. ...
Conference Paper
The production and processing of primary products is the basis of the New Zealand economy and has been for the last 150 years. Over time the food and fibre industries that have contributed to our economic welfare have had a significant ecological impact. The dependence of New Zealand's economic and social well-being on these industries means there is a need to find ways in which these industries can operate sustainably. Sustainable outcomes require an understanding of both the physical demands our economy places on the natural resources of the nation and the extent to which these demands can be changed. Resource appropriation and eco-efficiency measures are ways environmental impact can be estimated. This paper reports the methodology and preliminary findings from the first phase of the Ecological Footprint Plus programme. This programme will construct a physical input-output table (PIOT) for New Zealand to enable the development of a comprehensive understanding of the direct and indirect impacts of the food and fibre sector. Data are input at a detailed and disaggregated level for the key primary sectors and at a more aggregated level for the other sectors of the economy. The Ecological Footprint Plus programme aims both to measure throughputs and to provide the catalyst necessary for the changes required to ensure the sustainable production of New Zealand's primary output. Preliminary analyses for the Forestry and Logging and Sheep and Beef Farming sectors are given for use of water, land, and energy as well as emissions of carbon dioxide.
... Moreover, there is another kind of life-cycle assessment based on the tables and input-output analysis (IO-LCA) which, in spite of its many advantages also has several limitations (Bicknell et al., 1998;Ferng, 2001;McDonald and Patterson, 2003;Wiedmann, 2009;Wiedmann and Lenzen, 2006;Carballo Penela, 2009); namely the high level of specialization required which restricts it to the mere academic field and makes it inaccessible to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This methodology is not commonly used by countries or corporations that want to know their carbon footprint. ...
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Cement is one of the most widely used construction materials in the world. Its characteristics, physicochemical properties and manufacturing process have long been the object of study. However, at this moment in time, the production of this basic construction material still accounts for 5% of worldwide emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere. Thus, in this age of the ongoing battle against climate change, cement alone has become a key objective to which measures must be applied to mitigate the negative impact of this material on the environment. This article evaluates the sustainability of a cement industry by using one of the most rigorous tools currently in existence – the Composed Method of Financial Accounts (MC3) in its second version V.2.0. The study is based on the analysis of three model plants: (A) a conventional integral plant, (B) a grinding plant, and (C) an integral plant which has introduced the best available techniques or BAT into the manufacturing process. Therefore, the two most common scenarios in today's market (A and B) can be compared with another plant of the same size (C) in which CO2 emissions are reduced thanks to the application of BAT. Lastly, the results are compared in each case study, establishing a diagnosis of weaknesses and opportunities for each production system as well as specific measures for action to be applied to each link in the chain that makes up the production process. Also computed is the amount in tons of CO2 generated in the manufacture of one ton of cement. This value is of great use in the application of other methodologies such as LCA, or in the feedback of the MC3 methodology used here.
... See, e.g, Leontieff (1973).9 To obtain more information on the use of this methodology also refer, for example, to Hubacek and Giljum(2003);McDonald and Patterson (2003),Wiedmann et al. (2006),Wiedmann et al. (2007), or Ferng (2002 who proposes a new analysis framework to estimate the energy EF applying input-output analysis.10 See Doménech (2006).11 ...
Article
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Article
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Technical Report
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Technical Report
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Chapter
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Article
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Article
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Article
Bicknell et al.'s [Ecological Economics 27 (1998) 149] input–output methodology is extended to investigate the Ecological Footprints and interdependencies of 16 regions in New Zealand. There is a particular focus on the Auckland region as a case study example of the application of the methodology. Auckland, New Zealand's primate city, was found to have the largest regional footprint of 2.32 million ha (20% of New Zealand's footprint). However, on a per capita basis it had the second lowest footprint of all regions at 2.00 ha per person. The footprint analysis was extended to demonstrate how Auckland was ecologically dependent on other regions, particularly the Waikato region. The footprints of other New Zealand regions are reported, along with international comparisons. The paper also reviews the theory and practice of Ecological Footprinting, as well as commenting on various methodological issues that have arisen in the calculation of Ecological Footprints.
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The ecological footprint (EF) has received much attention as a potential indicator for sustainable development over the last years. In this article, the EF concept has been applied to Benin, Bhutan, Costa Rica and the Netherlands in 1980, 1987 and 1994. The results of the assessment are discussed and used to discuss the current potential and limitations of the EF as a sustainable development indicator. The originally defined methodology has been slightly adapted by the authors, who focus on individual components of the EF (land and carbon dioxide emissions) and use local yields instead of global averages. Although per capita and total land use differs among the four countries, available data suggest increasing land use in all four countries while per capita land use decreases. The EF for carbon dioxide emissions increases for all four countries in both per capita and absolute terms. Differences in productivity, aggregation (of different resources) and multi-functional land use have been shown to be important obstacles in EF application — depending on the assessment objective. However, despite the obstacles, the study concludes that the EF has been successful in providing an interesting basis for discussion on environmental effects of consumption patterns, including those outside the national borders, and on equity concerning resource use.
Article
This paper argues that perceptual distortions and prevailing economic rationality, far from encouraging investment in natural capital, actually accelerate the depletion of natural capital stocks. Moreover, conventional monetary analyses cannot detect the problem. This paper therefore makes the case for direct biophysical measurement of relevant stocks and flows, and uses for this purpose the ecological footprint concept. To develop the argument, the paper elaborates the natural capital concept and asserts the need of investing in natural capital to compensate for net losses. It shows how the ecological footprint can be used as a biophysical measure for such capital, and applies this concept as an analytical tool for examining the barriers to investing in natural capital. It picks four issues from a rough taxonomy of barriers and discusses them from an ecological footprint perspective: it shows why marginal prices cannot reflect ecological necessities; how interregional risk pooling encourages resource liquidation; how present terms of trade undermine both local and global ecological stability; and how efficiency strategies may actually accelerate resource throughput. Affirming the necessity of biophysical approaches for exploring the sustainability implications of basic ecological and thermodynamic principles, it draws lessons for current development.
Article
Sustainable development has become a primary objective for many countries throughout the world since the late 1980s. A major difficulty associated with sustainable development objectives, however, is the absence of reliable indicators to measure progress towards the goal of sustainability. The ‘ecological footprint’ provides an estimate of the land area necessary to sustain current levels of resource consumption for a given population. On an aggregate basis, the ecological footprint may be compared with the amount of ecologically productive land available to give an indication of whether consumption patterns are likely to be sustainable. This paper proposes the use of a modified form of input–output analysis to calculate the ecological footprint. The input–output approach provides a consistent means of calculating an ecological footprint using data collected as part of the system of national accounts in most developed countries. In addition, it makes explicit the link between the level of economic activity in a country and its corresponding impact on the environment. An application of this methodology to New Zealand indicates that it takes 3.49 has of ecologically productive land per year to sustain the average New Zealander’s current level of consumption.
Article
The goal of sustainability is to have levels of resource use and waste assimilation sufficient to maintain a good quality of life for citizens, yet be within environmental carrying capacities. In countries with ageing populations, consumption is constrained by the lower incomes of retired people, and therefore, prospects exist for reductions in resource use and pollutant outputs. The extent of this effect is investigated in this study. This paper uses a new approach to quantify, by age cohort, patterns of resource use and residual generation in New Zealand. These use patterns are then projected to 2051 to see what happens as the population ages. Results indicate that resource use and waste production decline as more people enter the 65+ age group. Gains, however, are diminished by the smaller percentage of young people who have the lowest per capita requirements. Projected growth in population numbers swamp any reductions from ageing effects, even when allowances have been made for future technical change.
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