The Ecological Footprint is an environmental accounting tool that assesses pressure on natural resources. The thesis comprises applying the ecological footprint with a new perspective by using the top-down approach to track the Ecological Footprint of 19 coastal cities in the Mediterranean region.
Under the adage “think globally, act locally”, the objective is to compare the natural resource consumption between cities sharing ecological characteristics substantially similar and then present solutions aiming towards exceeding the ecological deficit that the region are going through.
Using household expenditures, the ecological footprint per person per consumption category and per land use is calculated in this work. This allows revealing resource intensive categories, tracking resource requirement over years, and detecting deviation from the national level consumption’s. The study of the variation of the ecological footprint with individual spending is treated, in order to determine the relationship between income and environmental impact. Finally, a survey of policies in place in the analyzed cities is conducted to highlight the similarities and/or differences between existing policies in some areas and the results of the ecological footprint, as well as identify area where policies are more successful in reducing resource’s demand.
| Date | 22 Sept 2016 |
|---|
| Original language | French |
|---|
| Awarding Institution | - École de technologie supérieure
|
|---|
| Supervisor | Claudiane Ouellet-Plamondon (Supervisor) |
|---|
Baabou, W. (Author),
Ouellet-Plamondon (Supervisor),
22 Sept 2016Student thesis: Master's thesis › Master in Engineering: Environmental Engineering