Determination of Ecological Footprint at the Prefectural Level in Japan from the Perspective of the Consumption of Resources and Energy

Abstract

Ecological footprint (EF) is a measure to evaluate the human impact on the earth recently. The purpose of this study is to evaluate prefectural EF values in 2010 from available energy and material consumption data. The prefectural EFs are calculated based on six categories; “forest area for assimilating CO₂”, “cropland” “fi, shing grounds”, “forest area for product paper and/or timber”, “grazing land”, and “built-up land” according to the definition by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The resulting prefectural EF values are higher in the local prefectures having heavy and chemical industries, especially in Yamaguchi, Oita, Okayama, and Hiroshima. However, the other areas relate closely to the energy and material consumption from these prefectures. Therefore, in addition, the prefectural EFs are reevaluated by employing the mean value of CO₂ amount of emission from an industry section. The difference of the EF values between 47 prefectures became small and higher EF values are found in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Okinawa, and prefectures in the Tohoku and Chugoku regions.