Ecological Footprint Approach Research Articles

Associating environmental quality, human capital, financial development and technological innovation in 19 middle-income countries: A disaggregated ecological footprint approach

The influence of human capital accumulation and technological innovation on the environment is one of the most significant topics in the environmental literature. The main goal of this research is to examine the influence of human capital (HC), technological innovation, and financial development (FD) on the ecological footprint (EF) and its subcomponents for 19 middle-income countries from 1980 to 2016. To this end, the study employs the cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL) method. Empirical evidence reveals that economic expansion upsurges aggregated the EF, while HC and FD reduce ecological pollution. Technological innovation does not have a statistically significant impact on the EF. The findings of the study imply that the increase in technological progress does not contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) for middle-income countries, while HC and FD play an environmentally friendly role. Therefore, to minimize the negative impact of economic development on the environment, policymakers in middle-income countries should encourage FD, allocate resources to promote HC development, and use environmental awareness programs as a tool to achieve the SDGs.

Goat production and sustainability in Latin America & the Caribbean: A combined productive, socio-economic & ecological footprint approach

The sustainability of the goat production systems (GPS) must consider the quantification not only of the ecological footprint (ECOLF) but the carbon (CF), the blue water (BWF) footprints, their economic & social interactions, weighed by their economic value (EV). Our working hypothesis states that the GPS-ECOLF in Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC) (i.e., EVCF + EVBWF) is lower than their economic footprint (ECONF) across years (1998–2018). Although LAC made a frugal contribution (3%; 36.2 M head) to the world goat census, three LAC countries highlight because of their goat inventory; Brazil (31%), Mexico (24%) & Argentina (13%). In 2020, the LAC-GPS-EV was € 592.4 M (USD 766.4 M), generating 761.7 Kt of milk, 125.8 Kt of meat, 4866.5 total emissions of CO2eq, consuming 102.4 Mm3 blue water. The total annualized LAC-goat production (i.e., meat + milk) during 1998–2018 averaged 820.2 Kt y−1, with a global increase of 24%, highlighting Brazil & Mexico (≈ 50%). The leading goat milk producers were Brazil (36%; 254 Kt y−1), Jamaica (25%; 172 Kt y−1) & Mexico (22%; 155 Kt y−1), for goat meat production stood out Mexico (33%; 41 Kt y−1), Brazil (24%; 30 Kt y−1); far beyond Argentina (7 Kt y−1), Haiti (6 Kt y−1), and Peru (6 Kt y−1). Regarding the LAC-GPS Environmental Impact (EI), the higher the goat inventory, the greater the EI; the main contributors to the CF were Brazil (28%; 1276 Gg y−1) & Argentina (12%; 556 Gg y−1). As the BWF of LAC-GPS in 1998 was 86.92 Mm3, it increased to 102.37 Mm3 in 2018, a general increase of 18%, with annualized increases of 97.05 Mm3. The highest BWF occurred in Mexico (35%), Brazil (20%), and Jamaica (14%); they accounted for 69% of the BWF generated by the LAC-GPS. Regarding the ECONF/ECOLF of the GPS-LAC, the ECOLF represented 93.6% of the ECONF-GPS. Moreover, whereas the EVCF implied 16.3%, the EVWFP constituted 77.3% of the ECOLF-LAC-GPS. Lastly, LAC-GPS generated an annualized average of 116,795 minimum wages, led by Mexico (83,804) and far beyond Brazil (33,227) & the Caribbean (24,428). Remarkably, during the analyzed 20-yr period, the LAC-GPS generated a total of 2335,900 minimum wages across the LAC regions. Our results highlight that as multidimensional and resilient species, goats can perform under marginal production systems successfully. They display a refined physiological and behavioral plasticity, generating essential commodities (i.e., milk, meat, leathers, & fibers) mainly based on eco-friendly well as social-responsible production schemes. Thus, goats emerge as part of a sustainable future as they can reassess areas unsuitable for commercial agriculture and provide ecosystem services to society. Hence, it is crucial to reexamine the paybacks generated by goats based on the extensive use of pastures & rangelands, with non-direct human competition, especially under the complicated scenario of climate change and supporting the livelihoods of the goat-producers and their families.

Sheep production and sustainability in Latin America & the Caribbean: A combined productive, socio-economic & ecological footprint approach

Currently, the sustainability of the planet is threatened mainly by the excessive extraction of resources from ecosystems to meet the needs of a growing and more demanding human population. Although products of animal origin are an essential source of protein for humans and have shown great growth due to the increasing demand worldwide, this sector contributes significantly to the anthropic environmental impact (EI). Certainly, animal production faces important challenges to promote food security, but it is required to improve its eco-environmental performance. Therefore, it is essential to generate comprehensive EI evaluations considering the carbon footprint (CF), the blue water footprint (BWF), economic footprint (E$F), social footprint (SF) and their interactions. We aimed to quantify the economic value (EV) generated by sheep production systems (SPS) in Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC) and compare it with the EV of both CF + BWF, across 1998–2018. The variables analyzed were deflated to their 2011 value in euros, indicating the value also in USA-dollars (USD). LAC reported an annual average of 80.84 million sheep, 305.84 kt of meat, 147.95 kt of wool, and 89.34 kt of milk. When comparing the EV-SPS [930.34 M€ (1203.67 MUSD)] with the EV-BWF [590.03 M€ (763.38 MUSD)]; 1.09 m3 H2O kg meat-milk-wool protein [MMWP] + EV-CF [168.06 M€ (217.44 MUSD)]; 69.56 kg CO2eq kg−1 MMWP−1], a positive balance was observed. In fact, the EV of the ecological footprint (EF) signified 81.49% of the EV-SPS, coupled with an interesting socio-economic effect since it has the potential to generate a basic annual income for 217,686 families, which are essentially distributed in marginal-rural areas in the LAC-countries. Our results confirm that SPS-LAC are highly eco-efficient considering their sophisticated adaptation to transform forages, generally of low quality, into animal protein (i.e. meat-milk-wool) with an undisputable high biological value. Such a scenario, based on a low ecological footprint (i.e. CF & BWF) coupled with a positive socio-economic impact, undoubtedly promote the sustainability of SPS-LAC. The last generating a positive impact not only on the generation of sheep products (i.e. meat, milk, wool) under a clean, green and ethical context, but promoting the well-being of the sheep-producer and his family.

A Study on Sustainable Development of Island Economy Based on Ecological Footprint Approach - A Case Study of Changhai County, Liaoning Province

The ecological footprint method, as one of the methods to evaluate sustainable development, has been widely used at home and abroad. This paper adopts the ecological footprint analysis method, introduces the ecological footprint model and ecological carrying capacity model, accounts for the data based on 2015-2019 statistics, quantitatively calculates the data of the economic development of the island, and explores the economic, social and ecological sustainable development of Changhai County, so as to provide reference for other island economic development models.

Investigation of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for the MINT countries: the ecological footprint approach

Investigation of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis for the MINT countries: the ecological footprint approach

Mapping National Environmental Sustainability Distribution by Ecological Footprint: The Case of Italy

The paper proposes a possible way of spatially representing sustainability in Italy. For this purpose, the ecological footprint approach was used as a methodological framework to assess the level of sustainability of the 8092 Italian municipalities. For each municipality, the exploitation of ecosystem services, assessed by the ecological footprint indicator, and the corresponding availability of biological capacity, associated to an indicator, have been calculated and compared, thus generating a map representing the relative sustainability of Italian municipalities. The results show a very scattered distribution of ecological balance, wherein unsustainable conditions characterize more than 60% of the territory and almost 95% of the Italian population. Despite the limitations of the methodology and some assumptions regarding the ecological footprint assessment at the municipality level, the study represents an attempt to produce an innovating tool that, based on an operational definition of sustainability, can represent natural resource exploitation at the local level, and provide useful information to address coherent and targeted environmental policies of sustainability.

Ecological sustainability of Gerbangkertosusila Region based on ecological footprint approach for the land use controlling

Gerbangkertosusila region is a prime mover of regional economic activity within East Java Province and even the national level. The impetus for economic growth has an impact on the carrying capacity of the environment. Thus, to achieve sustainable development goals, it is necessary to conduct a study of environmental carrying capacity which is related to the maximum capacity/entropy that can be utilized by the human being. An ecological footprint approach is an approach of the environmental carrying capacity to identify the components of natural resource consumption, waste, and availability of natural resources in each type of land use. Carbon footprint which is the biggest part of the ecological footprint has a relation with CO2 emission production, which influences climate change mitigation. The purpose of this study was to formulate land use control policies based on the ecological footprint approach. The analysis method consists of three phases. First, the calculation of biological capacity was based on the availability level of natural resources. Second, the calculation of an ecological footprint was based on the consumption level of natural resources. The final phase was sustainability calculation to get the result to accommodate the population consumption within the region. The finding showed that Mojokerto City, Surabaya City, and Sidoarjo Regency were regions which a deficit in terms of ecological sustainability. The rest regions within the Gerbangkertosusila region were considered regions that are experiencing a surplus. It has a surplus of 87,424,615 gha or equal to 9.13 gha/capita.

A Proposal for Measuring In-Use Buildings’ Impact through the Ecological Footprint Approach

To reduce the environmental impact of the construction sector, sustainable strategies for managing the in-use phase of buildings must be integrated urgently. Current green certifications present several limitations and, in particular, do not help determine where to focus for reducing the environmental demand of buildings. Among existing indicators, the ecological footprint (EF) is the most useful for assessing the buildings’ environmental performance through impact sources that reveal the over-consumption of resources. The present paper expands EF by taking into account the role of human behavior in over-consumption, and thus the efficiency in buildings’ use. After comparing ecological footprint with the existing green certifications, the paper demonstrates how a new integrated ecological footprint assessment can describe the impact of built-up, energy consumption, water consumption, material consumption, food and drink, mobility, waste generation, recycling potential, and occupants in the environmental efficiency of a building. The application of a case study demonstrates the reliability and the effectiveness of the model and shows that the estimated ecological deficit reflects not only the consumption of energy and materials, but also the behaviors of building users. This highlights the need for integrating a sustainable culture in the users of buildings.

Assessing the environmental sustainability of local agricultural systems: How and why

This paper focuses on the quantitative assessment, on a local scale, of the environmental sustainability of agricultural activities. To compare the supply and demand of natural resources in a local agricultural system, a methodology based on the ecological footprint approach was adopted. The condition of (strong) sustainability of an agricultural system is established through an ecological balance where the availability of natural capital, expressed in terms of biocapacity (BC), is compared to its demand by agricultural activities, expressed as ecological footprint (EF). The viability of this methodology was tested in the agricultural area of Viterbo municipality (central Italy).The results of this study provide interesting points of departure for further research regarding the possibility of defining an agricultural production system as “sustainable” and of introducing a regional sustainability brand as a key for local development.

A qualitative analysis of geo-environmental pressure caused by economic growth in China from 1995 to 2016

Qualitative evaluation of the geo-environmental pressure and its variations caused by economic activities has become increasingly important for promoting the geo-environmental management and balancing economic growth and environmental goals. Economic activities exert pressure on the geo-environment through material inputs resulting from resource development and material outputs resulting from waste emission. The geo-environmental pressures can be measured according to the amount of material flow per unit bio-productive land area. A geo-environmental pressure assessment index system and an assessment method are established by coupling material flow analysis with ecological footprint approach. The geo-environmental pressures in China from 1995 to 2016 were calculated and analysed using the method. The material input from the geo-environment to the economy was on the rise as a whole, and the material output from the economy to the geo-environment was transiting from a rising trend to a stable, and then a declining trend. After 10 years of rapid growing, on the national scale, the geo-environmental pressure exerted by the economy had a tendency of stabilizing at a high level and then turning downward. Large differences in material inputs and material outputs can be observed among 31 provincial districts due to various natural backgrounds and varying paces of economic development. Altogether, material flows in the eastern region were higher than the other regions. Centered on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the geo-environmental pressure decreased spatially from east to west and from north to south. From 1997 to 2013, the geo-environmental pressure increased to varying degrees on a provincial scale. The geo-environmental pressure in the eastern region was high but declined a little in recent years, while the geo-environmental pressure in the western region was relatively low but rose rapidly.

An ecological footprint approach for cropland use sustainability based on multi-objective optimization modelling

Croplands are heterogeneous in productivity and their sustainable use holds a prominent place in supporting a virtual society-economy-ecology-environment circle. This study developed a model for the evaluation of cropland use sustainability by integrating the revised ecological footprint model with multi-objective optimization. The model enabled to gain insights into changes of the supply-demand balance of cropland use ecologically from a planning perspective, and also enables policy makers to determine the optimal patterns of cropland use in order to reconcile contradictions between multiple dimensions in agroecosystems, such as resource utilization, economy, society, and environment. The model was demonstrated by solving a real-world problem of cropland use management in Heilongjiang Province, northeast China. Results of demonstration were found to be satisfactory for generating sustainable cropland use patterns in promoting the equilibrium of water use efficiency, net economic benefit, land resource allocation equity, and greenhouse gas emissions. Then, whether various cropland use patterns were ecologically safe based on crop ecological footprint and crop ecological carrying capacity were determined. The status and scenario-based trend of cropland use sustainability provided alternatives for policy makers to allocate cropland efficiently and sustainably. The model is applicable for similar planting-centered regions with limited land and water resources.

Biecological Carrying Capacity of Forest and Land in Manokwari Regency, West Papua Province

Manokwari Regency has high environmental risks due to the high rate of population growth and increased migration. This condition could affect the biocapacity of forest and land resources as well as the ecological footprint that could fulfill the needs of the community in the Manokwari Regency. This study aimed to assess the bioecological carrying capacity of forest and land, changes in forest cover, and projecting the bioecological carrying capacity for the next 50 years in the Manokwari Regency. A quantitative descriptive approach based on secondary time series data analysis and land cover dynamics analysis was used. The ecological footprint approach was carried out by calculating the ecological footprint, biocapacity, and bioecological carrying capacity. The results showed that the bioecological carrying capacity in 2017 in Manokwari District decreased compared to 2012. Forest degradation tended to decrease at a rate of 372 ha/year. However, deforestation increased at a rate of 1,298 ha/year. The results indicated that the policy of converting forests to permanent non-forest lands in the last five years was very massive. The projected bioecological carrying capacity in the next 50 years showed that forest and land in Manokwari District tend to be overshoot.Keywords: bioecological carrying capacity, change in land use, forests, land, Manokwari

Ecological Security Assessment Based on Ecological Footprint Approach in Hulunbeir Grassland, China.

Hulunbeir grassland, as a crucial ecological barrier and energy supply base in northwest China, suffers from a fragile ecological environment. Therefore, it is crucially important for Hulunbeir grassland to achieve the sustainable development of its social economies and ecological environments through the evaluation of its ecological security. This paper introduces the indexes of the ecological pressure index (EPI), ecological footprint diversity index (EFDI), and ecological coordination coefficient (ECC) based on the ecological footprint model. Furthermore, the Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model was applied to analyze the main driving factors of the change of the ecological footprint. The results showed that: The ecological footprint (EF) per capita of Hulunbeir grassland has nearly doubled in 11 years to 11.04 ha/cap in 2016, while the ecological capacity (EC) per capita was rather low and increased slowly, leading to a continuous increase of per capita ecological deficit (ED) (from 5.7113 ha/cap to 11.0937 ha/cap). Within this, the footprint of fossil energy land and grassland contributed the most to the total EF, and forestland and cropland played the major role in EC. The EPI increased from 0.82 in 2006 to 1.25 in 2016, leading the level of ecological security to increase from level 3 (moderately safe) to level 4 (moderately risky). The indexes of the EFDI and ECC both reached a minimum in 2014 and then began to rise, indicating that Hulunbeir steppe’s ecological environment, as well as its coordination with economy, was considered to be worse in 2014 but then gradually ameliorated. The STIRPAT model indicated that the main factors driving the EF increase were per capita GDP and the proportion of secondary industry, while the decrease of unit GDP energy consumption played an effective role in curbing the continuous growth of the EF. These findings not only have realistic significance in promoting the coordinated development between economy and natural resource utilization under the constraint of fragile environment, but also provide a scientific reference for similar energy-rich ecologically fragile regions.

Ecological sustainability level of Surabaya City based on ecological footprint approach

Surabaya is the second largest metropolitan city in Indonesia and is a growth point in East Java. Rapid economic growth and population growth due to urbanization have a negative impact on the sustainability and environmental sustainability resulting in the emergence of environmental issues such as decreasing land productivity and environmental pollution. In an effort to realize sustainable development, development must pay attention to the carrying capacity of its environment. Therefore, in this study a study was conducted using an ecological footprint approach by identifying the components of consumption and emissions resulting from human activities (ecological footprint). Furthermore, identification of the constructed productivity of each type of land such as agricultural land, forestry land, fishery land and constructed land is recorded as a component of natural resources availability (biocapacity). The difference arising from the calculation of consumption and availability of resources will indicate the level of ecological sustainability in Surabaya. The surprising results obtained from this study indicate that Surabaya’s sustainability level is already at a deficit level with a biocapacity value of 35,665 Gha and an ecological foot of 139,242 Gha. Such a far-reaching difference in value, where the ecological footprint value is almost four times that of biocapacity, should be the basis of early warning to stakeholders that development with sustainable regional concept is urgent to be initiated concretely.

Ecological Footprint and Ecosystem Services Models: A Comparative Analysis of Environmental Carrying Capacity Calculation Approach in Indonesia

Calculation of environmental carrying capacity can be done by various approaches. The selection of an appropriate approach determines the success of determining and applying environmental carrying capacity. This study aimed to compare the ecological footprint approach and the ecosystem services approach for calculating environmental carrying capacity. It attempts to describe two relatively new models that require further explanation if they are used to calculate environmental carrying capacity. In their application, attention needs to be paid to their respective advantages and weaknesses. Conceptually, the ecological footprint model is more complete than the ecosystem services model, because it describes the supply and demand of resources, including supportive and assimilative capacity of the environment, and measurable output through a resource consumption threshold. However, this model also has weaknesses, such as not considering technological change and resources beneath the earth’s surface, as well as the requirement to provide trade data between regions for calculating at provincial and district level. The ecosystem services model also has advantages, such as being in line with strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of ecosystem services, using spatial analysis based on ecoregions, and a draft regulation on calculation guidelines formulated by the government. Meanwhile, weaknesses are that it only describes the supply of resources, that the assessment of the different types of ecosystem services by experts tends to be subjective, and that the output of the calculation lacks a resource consumption threshold.

Ecological security assessment based on ecological footprint approach in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China

Recently, researcher have been extensively using ecological footprint to quantitatively measure human pressure on ecosystems. This paper put forward ecological tension index (ETI), ecological occupancy index (EOI) and ecological economic coordination index (EECI) to evaluate ecological security of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region between 1995 and 2010. The results came as follows. (1) The ecological footprint of BTH region was increased, while the carrying capacity (biocapacity) of the terrestrial ecosystem was decreased. This led the region to a serious ecological deficit that was increased by 1.77 times. (2) ETI level of the region was found very risky. EOI level fluctuated from poor to moderately poor, indicating that rapid economic development has pressurized the ecosystem. EECI level indicated a very poor coordination between economic development and ecosystem conservation. (3) As to the indices results for sub-regions, ETI level in Tianjin was evaluated very risky, in Beijing it was changed from risky to very risky, while in Hebei it was changed from very risky to risky. EOI level in Beijing was changed from moderately poor to poor, keeping poor for long time. However, the EOI level in Tianjin and Hebei was found opposite to Beijing. It was changed from poor to moderately poor. While EECI level of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei was found very poor, meaning economic development and ecosystem conservation are maintained imbalanced. This study finally concludes that whether the whole region or the sub-regions, their existing development patterns were unsustainable, and ecological security situation was serious.

The environmental sustainability of national cropping systems: From assessment to policy impact evaluation

The European political framework of the last decade aims to drive agriculture towards economic and environmental sustainability. Thus, European institutions have paid great attention to environmental impact assessment and to the definition of a complex indicator capable of restoring the multidimensional nature of environmental sustainability.In this work, a possible methodology for assessing the environmental sustainability of European national cropping systems by a synthetic indicator is provided. More specifically, the environmental impact of agriculture is assessed through a synthetic indicator, whose definition is based on a methodological improvement of the ecological footprint approach, which quantifies the balance between exploitation and availability of natural resources used in agriculture.The analysis shows how national cropping systems can contribute to Europe’s environmental impact through agriculture. To assess an eventual relationship between agriculture’s environmental performance and the ability to support more sustainable agriculture at the national level, the results are then compared with the subsidies for agro-environmental measures provided by the second pillar of the CAP. In addition, the synthetic indicator chosen for the study, giving the possibility of quantifying the dynamic of the environmental impact of agriculture between two different periods, permits the analysis of the possible causes that may have generated the observed changes.The implications of this approach should stimulate new reflections on the significance of the ecological relationships embodied into agricultural production and the environmental role of farmers.

An ecological footprint approach to environmental–economic evaluation of farm results

Farmers' cultivation choices affect the natural cycles of crops and impact their production. By assessing the farming activities, as influenced by crop types, land suitability and cultivation choices, the effectiveness of agricultural practices in terms of environmental impact can be evaluated. The study of the relationships between agriculture, environment and economic performance should be deepened, by considering the connection between agricultural activities and the use of natural resources beyond the economic issues, which are often taken as the unique or, at least, the main goal of human activities.The aim of this paper is to assess and to analyse in a comparative way the environmental and economic results of a crop production system at farm level.The methodology for the evaluation of environmental performance is based on a modified version of the Ecological Footprint account, used to measure the demand for natural resources linked to the farm's operations, which is compared with the Biocapacity of the crop system itself. The economic performances are assessed by means of crops' analytical budgets.The results provided by the case study analysis show that the considered farm cropping system reports an overall positive ecological balance (+2.4gha) together with an acceptable gross margin (16,200€). It emerges that crops with negative environmental performances sustain farm income, while the crops with a positive ecological balance bring a very limited contribution to economic profitability.Such results lead to some considerations about the importance of carefully considering the trade-off between economic and environmental consequences of farming activities in order to drive farmers towards a more sustainable behaviour.

Reckoning perverse outcomes of resource conservation policies using the Ecological Footprint

Spatially expanding economies threaten the status of basic natural resources. In particular, wildlife habitats rarely benefit. Apart from protected areas, political-economic decision-making is ill-prepared to accommodate wildlife habitats with standard valuation methods. In some cases habitat loss is an inadvertent outcome of resource conservation policies intended to lower resource consumption.We recognize the term resource conservation as multifaceted, with a range of meanings from protecting wildlife habitats to efficiently allocating and using materials and energy. Resource conservation policies that spur economic benefits may produce unwanted outcomes. This is partly because linkages between economic and conservation goals seem tangential. Moreover, relevant information is imperfect and predictive tools are limited. This is particularly true for land converting impacts, which are often addressed after the fact, not during policy formulation, and can lead to successive resource degradation.We argue for the need to calculate the positive and negative land converting impacts from resource conservation policies that may expand the economy. Using the Ecological Footprint (EF) approach, we tested for potentially perverse outcomes of an existing resource conservation policy. In doing so, we conceptually mapped linkages among economic sectors to their cumulative effects of converting land. We assume an inverse relationship between economic expansion and land conservation.A New York State energy efficiency incentive program was tested using recent data from all tracked economic sectors. The economic data were converted in a series of steps from dollar values to energy units, to carbon dioxide emissions, and ultimately expressed in hectares of net land conversion. A policy scenario was compared to a reference scenario (no resource conservation policy), and the results anticipate a net gain in conserving land (0.6% reduced conversion). We interpret this as a potentially proportional offset favoring wildlife habitat retention. Two sensitivity analyses demonstrated that the policy’s impact on conserving land depended on both the affected economy’s scale (tripling reduces the estimated benefit to 0.2%), and the level of economic expansion that followed (doubling leads to a net loss of wildlands).This novel use of the EF approach may serve as a model for a more general approach to assessing a broader class of policies. It may also hold promise toward developing tools that can better examine well-intentioned resource conservation policies with uncertain outcomes. Our hope is that work like this can lead to better sets of tools for examining critical ecological–economic linkages for improved policy design.

Arahan Optimasi Penggunaan Lahan Melalui Pendekatan Telapak Ekologis di Kabupaten Gresik

<p class="Abstract">Daya dukung lingkungan Kabupaten Gresik mengalami ketidakseimbangan dalam mewadahi setiap peningkatan kegiatan akibat pertumbuhan penduduk dan perubahan guna lahan yang semakin intensif. Ditandai dengan adanya ketidakseimbangan antara <em>supply</em> daya dukung lingkungan dan konsumsi sumber daya alam dimana perubahan penggunaan lahan di Kabupaten Gresik berakibat pada kerusakan ekologis seperti penurunan produktivitas lahan, krisis air, bencana banjir, dan pencemaran lingkungan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui komponen daya dukung optimasi penggunaan lahan di Kabupaten Gresik. Metode yang digunakan adalah melalui pendekatan telapak ekologis dimana dapat diukur tingkat konsumsi sumber daya alam dan kemampuan lahan dalam menyediakan kebutuhan konsumsi tersebut dalam satuan lahan global hektar (gha). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa biokapasitas Kabupaten Gresik mencapai 319.179,6 gha yang banyak tersebar di wilayah periurban. Prosentase biokapasitas tertinggi pada jenis lahan pertanian sebesar 53.92%. Meskipun demikian biokapasitas tersebut tidak sebanding dengan konsumsi telapak ekologis yang mencapai 1.63 juta gha terutama pada wilayah urban akibat tingginya populasi dan aktivitas kegiatan. Hal ini memperkuat kondisi ketidakseimbangan daya dukung lingkungan di Kabupaten Gresik yang sudah mengalami defisit ekologis sebesar 1.04 gha/kapita. Semua jenis lahan mengalami kondisi deficit dan hanya jenis lahan peternakan yang mengalami kondisi surplus sebesar 0.05 gha/kapita. Hasil pemetaan kondisi defisit ekologis menunjukkan bahwa optimasi penggunaan lahan perlu dilakukan dengan penerapan pembangunan kota kompak (<em>Compact City</em>) sehingga pembangunan mudah dikendalikan dan terjadi efisiensi penggunaan energi. Selain itu juga perlu penerapan sistem agropolitan melalui peningkatkan produktifitas lahan pada wilayah peri urban sebagai <em>supply</em> sumber daya utama di wilayah Kabupaten Gresik.</p>