WWF Documentation

Figure 1: Species populations decreasing. The Living Planet Index shows average trends in populations of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine species worldwide. It declined by about 40 per cent from 1970 to 2000.
The Humanity's Ecological Footprint Chart tracks human demand on the planet's resources.

Figure 2: Human demand on biosphere increasing. The Ecological Footprint measures people's use of renewable resources. Humanity's Ecological Footprint is shown here in number of planets, where one planet equals the total biological productive capacity of the Earth in any one year. In 2001, humanity's Ecological Footprint was 2.5 times larger than in 1961, and exceeded the Earth's biological capacity by about 20 per cent. This overshoot depletes the Earth's natural capital, and is therefore possible only for a limited period of time.

Figure 3: A comparison of each region's footprint with its biocapacity shows whether that region has an ecological reserve or is running a deficit.  Note that even with its considerable biocapacity, North America has the largest per person deficit with the average person using 3.7 global hectares more than the region has available.  The European Union (EU) is next with a per person deficit of 2.6 global hectaires.  At the other extreme is Latin America with ecological reserves of 3.4 global hectares per capita, the average person's footprint is only about one third of the biocapacity available in the region per person.