Resource Use and Deprivation: Geographical Analysis of the Ecological Footprint and Townsend Index for England

Stephen Morse,Ioannis Vogiatzakis

doi:10.3390/su6084749

Stephen Morse, Ioannis Vogiatzakis

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su6084749

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Jul 28, 2014
Citations: 27	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Surrey, Open University of Cyprus

Abstract

The relationship between consumption and deprivation has been explored at various scales in the literature. It would be expected that increased deprivation leads to less consumption and vice versa. However, what is the form of that relationship? Evidence from international studies using the Human Development Index (HDI) and Ecological Footprint (EF) for nation states suggest that the relationship is curved such that an increase in HDI (decrease in deprivation) is linearly associated with an increase in EF (consumption and impact on the environment) up to a point but beyond that there can be widely different values for the EF for the same value of HDI. Given that deprivation and consumption within a single country can be expected to be more homogenous than that observed between countries does this result in a linear relationship between the two variables? We tested the relationship between the Townsend Index of Deprivation (TID) and EF for English regions, using fine scale data as derived from the UK Census and the Stockholm Environment Institute respectively. The results suggest that the relationship between the EF and deprivation for most English regions is markedly linear; with the level of deprivation declining with increasing EF. The picture is remarkably consistent across most of the regions and the only region where this simple picture becomes distorted is London. The paper discusses the relevance of this finding and implications for future research.

Highlights

Sustainable development has long been articulated as having three overlapping concerns of the environment, community and economics
Deprivation for most English regions is markedly linear; with the level of deprivation declining with increasing Ecological Footprint (EF)
In policy terms it is challenging to limit consumption, especially as people develop expectations for the sort of goods embodied in the Townsend Index of Deprivation (TID). Is it possible to identify an optimal value for the TID in terms of what people can expect and balance that against an EF that the planet can sustain? To date there is no evidence which suggests it is possible to use the analysis shown in this paper to “manage” a society in this way even if it was thought to be desirable

Summary

Introduction

Sustainable development has long been articulated as having three overlapping concerns of the environment, community and economics. Economic growth should not take place to the detriment of the environment and/or society as a whole, and some have argued that economic growth is not necessary or desirable in sustainable development [1]. While the relationship between economic growth and sustainable development has been hotly debated, it is certainly the case that economic growth is sought after by a large percentage of the population of any one country, not least the UK, and this has been especially apparent since the downturn in the economy as of 2008. The use of ‘real’ GDP where the value of the currency is pegged to a specific year (in this case 2005)

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