[Dec 2007, Volume 4 Quarterly Issue] Pdf File size - The IIPM Think ...

T.R.Manoharan,
Senior Coordinator, Forest Programme,
WWF-India,New Delhi
India’s Growing Ecological Footprint: Exploring
Past And Future Changes
"There is enough for everybody’s
need, but not enough
for anybody’s greed."
-Mahatma Gandhi
Introduction
A high economic growth is essential for
India to ensure improved living conditions
of its citizens, which majorly consists of
poor and marginalized sections. The nation
possesses only 2.2 per cent of the land
mass but home to 16 per cent of world
population and 27 percent of world’s poor.
Despite its low per capita income, India is
presently the world’s tenth largest economy
in terms of GDP. The economy is
growing at 7 to 8 per cent per annum since
2003 and is targeted to grow at 9 per cent
or above during 2007-12 (Planning Commission,
2006; World Bank, 2007). To
achieve this target, increased use of bioresources-
both within the country and
elsewhere is inevitable.
Available estimates show that humanity’s
ecological footprint (demand on ecosystems)
has exceeded the bio-capacity of
the planet by late 1980s and the over shoot
is accumulating ever since. It is pointed
out that world is following unsustainable
path of development and the growing ecological
debt is a major factor. Presently,
we are using 30 percent more resources
than the planet can regenerate (In other
words, 1.3 planets). The global footprint
network estimates ecological debt day for
every year to create awareness on how humanity’s
consumption patterns are depleting
the planets bio-resources . In 2007,
the ecological debt day was October 6. By
that day the humanity has consumed total
amount of new resources that the planet
can produce this year. Ecological debt day
marks the day when we begin to live beyond
our ecological means. If we continue
the current path of development, the
ecological debt day will come earlier in
every year. Several options are available
now to minimize the risk of accumulated
ecological debt (WWF, 2006; UNEP,
2007). India, being one of the fastest
growing economies in the world with more
than one billion people, can play a crucial
role to address this global challenge. It is
possible to minimize the ecological footprint
of the nation while continuing higher
economic growth and efforts to attain
high human development.
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