Assessment of the Ecological Footprint of an Average Household in the Vladimir Region

Karen Oganesovich Karapetyan, and Tatiana Anatolievna Trifonova

¹Vladimir State University named after Alexander and Nikolay Stoletovs, 87 Gorky str., Vladimir, Russia, 600000 ²Lomonosov Moscow State University 1, Leninskiye Gory str., Moscow, Russia, 119991

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/1972

ABSTRACT: A study for defining ecological footprint of an average household characterizing a detailed profile of materials and energy resources consumption by household members has been made. The direct calculation method with the "Ecological Footprint Calculator" software was used in the work. Peculiarities of ecological footprint distribution by consumption categories, and their load on various types of bioproductive earth surface have been found. The biological capacity of the Vladimir Region has been assessed in detail. The analysis of the Ecological Footprint measurement results showed that out of the six consumption categories analyzed, food and transportation have the greatest share. Although forests cover about 55% of the territory of the Vladimir region, they satisfy only half of the total demand for this type of bioproductive surface. The demand for arable land and infrastructure has been satisfied. A considerable ecological deficiency has been detected in the region, since the obtained ecological footprint value is 5.8 gha/person, which is almost twice the estimated biocapacity of the Vladimir region. The maximum load on ecosystems is the carbon footprint, which amounts to over half of the value of the ecological footprint of the region. In turn, half of the carbon footprint is created by the households using transport.

KEYWORDS: ecological footprint; household; material and energy resources; biocapacity of the territory

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