1. 1
Based upon Commentary Article entitled “Measuring Sustainability: Why the
Ecological Footprint is Bad Economics and Bad Environmental Science”
by Nathan Fiala, Department of Economics, University of California
SFGS 6123: Ethics and Sustainable Policies for Science, Technology & Innovation
Lecturer: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Siti Nurani Mohd Noor
Mohd Fadhli Rahmat Fakri (SMB 110010)
Department of Science & Technology
Studies, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya

2. » Introduction: Key Points & Scene-Setting
» Moral Dilemma: Central Issue
» 4 Ethical Test:
 Harm Test
 Mother/Faith Test
 Professional /Organizational Test
 Publicity Test
» Preliminary Decision
» Factors to Reconsider
» Recommendations & Conclusion
» References 2

3. » Ecological Footprints:
A simple measure of the
sustainability of a population‟s
consumption by converting all
consumption into the land used
in production, as well as the
theoretical land needed to
sequester (seize/remove) the GHG
produced.
» Sustainability:
The ability of present
generation to meet their needs
without compromising the
ability of future generations to 3
meet theirs.

4. 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. Country A Country B
• Poor • Rich
• Inefficient food • Very efficient food
producer: imported producer: both internal
from B and for export
Resolution / Approach:
Extensive – look out for more land to produce food (used
to calculate relative biocapacity)
Intensive – increase production technology to increase
yield of food, thus not increase total land used.
HIGHLIGHT #1: EF failed to address intensive production 7
growth

8. Historical Data Other major categories of
• 1961-2006 record on EF – built up land, natural
production, yield and land resources, wood, animal
area used for all cereals by production, GHG offsetting
region (not increase much beyond
current levels: inherent
• Total World Production: value of intensive
average rate of 2.17% investment.
yearly, yield rates increasing at
2.06%/year HIGHLIGHT #2: calculating
average land usage for
• Total world land area used for housing a person: misleading
all cereal production: for future land needs
increased on average by 0.09%
each year HIGHLIGHT #3: increased
popularity of confined
• DUE TO: strategy by increasing animal feeding operations 8
production intensively (CAFOs) decreases the land
needed (more sustainable)

9. HIGHLIGHT #4: EF is a static Comparisons of Data on
concept; disability to capture Sustainability:
such issues
HIGHLIGHT #5: very minimal
According to van Kooten &
correlation between different Bulte (2000), EF fails to
measures of degradation and capture 1 of the most
HDI*, EF and carbon. important issues of
sustainability; land
HIGHLIGHT #6: the above will
imposed this issue: more
degradation
developed nations are not
associated with greater land
• HDI: Human Development Index:
degradation: lead to erroneous measuring life
arguments on sustainability of expectancy, literacy, education and
standards of living worldwide which 9
current and future consumption categorized them into 3 different groups:
patterns Developed, Developing and Under-
Developed Countries

10. » ‘Major Glitches’ of the Ecological
Footprints (EF) :
 Dominated by energy as over 50% of
EF of most high & middle income
nations is due to the amount of land
necessary to sequester GHG.
 Mis-specify current sustainability of a
system by arbitrarily determining
boundaries, esp. problematic for cross-
country comparisons.
 Misleading comparisons on the role of
technology in calculating EF.
10

11. » EF is not the BEST TOOL for
measuring sustainability due to its
failure to be inclusive (disability
to capture) of other important
indicators.
 IMMORAL: it reflects
unfairness, injustice and
„victimizing‟ those affected
parties
Economy
Social Environment 11

12. » Aims to look for power inequalities on
affected parties and try to answer the
question of DOES EF DO LESS HARM?
 Affected Parties:
Countries opting for EF as part of
their national agenda/vision
Policy makers
Farmer / Manufacturer
Animal
Ecology / Environment
12

13. » DOES EF DO LESS HARM?
Affected Parties: Harm / Injustice: Status:
1 Countries opt for EF Unsustainability issues Social Injustice
as national agenda would not be able to be
addressed efficiently:
harmful to the society-at-
large as certain policy was
driving them to more losses
in terms of environmental
degradation and
overutilization of natural
resources
2 Policy Makers Since the conception stage Misleading and
of EF, EF has been widely Inefficient Policy
‘promoted’ / ‘oversell’ as will be
one of the best tool that applied/amended
turn out to be Guideline for 13
Policy makers regarding
sustainability issues

14. » DOES EF DO LESS HARM?
Affected Parties: Harm / Injustice: Status:
3 Farmer / Both: ‘bounded’ with policy Denying their
Manufacturer which in favor of EF rights:
Farmer’s Rights
Manufacturer: their ability in (International
pursuing intensive approach Treaty on Plant
in increasing their Genetic Resources
production are simply for Food and
ignored by EF Agriculture)
4 Animal Habitat loss due to Breaching the
Unaccountable EF - animal ethics as
misleading information: they depend
possibility of entirely on
overexploitation natural
environment and
14
humankind

15. » DOES EF DO LESS HARM?
Affected Parties: Harm / Injustice: Status:
5 Ecology / Land Usage as Possible Unsustainable
Environment Calamity of Future Management of
Generation Natural
Resources could
lead to conflict
among nations
as issues of land
usage and
boundaries
becoming more
and more crucial 15

16. » Utilitarianism – EF should be able to meet the
essential requirement of providing greatest
benefits for the greatest number of people.
 According to John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism holds the concepts of
duty, obligation, and right are subordinated to, and determined
by, that which maximizes benefits and minimizes harmful
outcomes.
» Planetary Citizenship (Henderson &
Ikeda, 2004) – ID the earth as a whole and the
whole of humanity, about working towards a
collaborative instead of a competitive
world, with a re-shaped economy driven by
social and environmental need rather than
financial pressures
16

17. » Environmental Ethics on human right to
nature:
 The World Commission on Environment
and Development claims:
“All human beings have the fundamental
right to an environment adequate for their
health and well-being” (1987b:9)
Which includes basic natural givens:
air, soil, water, functioning ecosystems, hydrologic
cycles and so on.
17

18. » By assuming the role of the Counter Expert
(referring to Religious / Beliefs)
» ISLAM on Sustainable Natural Resource
Management:
 Hima (Management zones established for sustainable
natural resource use)
 Harim (inviolable sanctuaries used for protecting water
resources)
 Ihya Al-Mawat (practice of restoring neglected land)
18

19. Islam & Environment
• Productive Use of the Environment
• “Whosoever plants a tree, he will be rewarded with as much
reward as is relevant to its yields” (Bukhari).
• The Concept of Vice-Regency
• The human being, in the Islamic perspective is considered a
vicegerent of the environment and this vice regency carries
heavy responsibilities to the future.
• "Behold, your Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vice-regents on earth." (Qur’an, 2:30)
• Concept of Amanah (Trust) as Khalifah (Vicegerent)
• Main responsibility of man after he has agreed to shoulder the
task as khalifah. Thus, his amanah is to build up a civilisation for
the good of all humanity and his environment willed by the God.
• “Indeed, we offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the
mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it; but man [undertook to]
bear it. Indeed, he was unjust and ignorant” (Al-Ahzab: 72)
19

20. Islam & Environment
• Living in Harmony with Nature
• The ultimate objective of life for a Muslim is salvation
which is achieved through peace and harmony.
• "Salam, the Arabic root of the word "Islam," means
"peace and harmony". Therefore, Islamic
theologians argue that an "Islamic way of life entails
living in peace and harmony" at individual and
social as well as ecological levels (Hadith).
20

21. » CHRISTIAN*
 10 commandments of Environmental Ethic
1) Nothing that exists in this world is outside the divine
plan of creation and redemption
2) 2 fundamental: we should not reduce nature to a
mere instrument to be manipulated and exploited
AND we shouldn‟t make nature an absolute value
3) Environmental issues entails the whole planet, thus
our responsibility toward ecology extends to future
generations (sustainability)
4) We need to confirm both primacy of ethics and the
rights of man over technology; in turn we should treat
other created beings with respect
5) Nature must not be regarded as a reality that is
divine itself; it is not illicit to modify ecosystem, so
long as this is done within the context of a respect for
its order and beauty, and taking into consideration 21
the utility of every creature.

22. » CHRISTIAN*
 10 commandments of Environmental Ethic
6) Ecological questions highlight the need to achieve a
greater harmony both bet. measures designed to
foment economic dev. & those directed to preserving
ecology; vice versa.
7) We should actively work for the integral dev. of the
poorest regions: goods should be shared in a just and
charitable manner: The Principle of the Universal
Destiny of Goods
8) Collaboration (worldwide agreements) backed up by
international law, necessary to protect environment;
guided by demands of the common good.
9) Lifestyles should be oriented according to the
Principles of Sobriety, Temperance and Self-
Descipline; reforming our consumer mentality
10) A spiritual response must be highlighted, inspired as 22
such that creation is a gift from God that should be
used responsibly and with loving care.

23. Christianity &
Environment
Principle of Environmental Stewardship
• God Expects Humans to be His Stewards with Nature
Revelation 11:18. The nations were angry and your wrath has
come. The time has come for rewarding your servants the
prophets and your saints and those who reverence your
name, both small and great - and for destroying those who
destroy the earth.
• Scripture clearly states that God created, blessed, protected
and made a covenant with the different species. As stewards
of His creation, Christian believers are called to do no less. It is
their scriptural and moral duty to protect species and their
habitat.
23

24. » Buddhism
» Buddhist ethics are grounded in the truth and
experience of the Law of Dependent Co-Arising.
» Sila, or guidelines for moral action, are central to
Buddhist practice in all traditions.
» The Three Pure Precepts are vows to refrain from
actions that ignore interdependence, to make an effort
to act out of understanding of interrelationship, and to
serve all beings in the interdepending web.
» The five (Theravada) prescriptive precepts to not
kill, not lie, not steal, not abuse sexuality or intoxicants
spring from a fundamental recognition of relationship.
One aims to act as respectfully and inclusively as 24
possible toward plant, animal, and human companions.

25. » It is a wise-suggestion that ‘partnership‟ with
or being inclusive to what faiths has taught us
ever since, could help us to go a long way
towards meeting the goals of global
biodiversity conservation and even poverty
alleviation.
25

26. » The Earth Charter Initiative
 “…a declaration of fundamental ethical principles for building a just,
sustainable and peaceful global society in the 21st century….a product of a
decade-long, worldwide, cross cultural dialogue on common goals and shared
values. The Earth Charter project began as a United Nations initiative, but it
was carried forward and completed by a global civil society initiative. The Earth
Charter was finalized and then launched as a people’s charter in 2000 by the
Earth Charter Commission, an independent international entity”
 Principles #1: Respect & Care for the Community of Life
1. Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.
a. Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of
life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.
2. Secure Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future
generations.
a. Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is
qualified by the needs of future generations.
b. Transmit to future generations values, traditions, and institutions
that support the long-term flourishing of Earth's human and
ecological communities.
 Principles #2: Ecological Integrity
Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems, with
special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that
sustain life. 26
e. Manage the use of renewable resources such as water, soil, forest products, and marine
life in ways that do not exceed rates of regeneration and that protect the health of
ecosystems.
f. Manage the extraction and use of non-renewable resources such as minerals and fossil
fuels in ways that minimize depletion and cause no serious environmental damage.

27. » Scientists' Professional Code of Ethics
Among other states that:
 Act with skill and care in all scientific work. Maintain up to date skills
and assist their development in others.
 Take steps to prevent corrupt practices and professional misconduct.
 Declare conflicts of interest.
 Be alert to the ways research derives from and affects the work of
other people, and respect the rights and reputations of others.
 Ensure that their work is lawful and justified.
 Minimize and justify any adverse effect your work may have on
people, animals and the natural environment.
 Seek to discuss the issues that science raises for society. Listen to the
aspirations and concerns of others.
 Do not knowingly mislead, or allow others to be misled, about
scientific matters. Present and review scientific evidence, theory or
interpretation honestly and accurately.
Reference: http://www.dius.gov.uk/publications/science_society/file41318.pdf 27

28. » Universal Declaration of Human Rights
» Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to
seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers.
» Article 22
Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is
entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-
operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each
State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his
dignity and the free development of his personality.
» Article 27
Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the
community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and
its benefits.
28
Reference: http://www.humanrightsaction.org/hrun/english.html

29. » Accountability: refers to the
notion that people and
organizations should be held
responsible for the plans, behaviors
and foreseeable results of
commitments that they willingly
pursue.
E.g: difficulty in accessing relevant
information (i.e. lack of transparency)
often hinders accountability and
lead to misuse/confusion.
» Social Justice: fairness in the
distribution of the benefits and
burdens of social cooperation. 29

30. » Justice – ‘subjects’ (in this case all
affected parties) should be treated
according to what they entitled.
» Organized skepticism – the way our
experts/scientists work, should be made
applicable for future usage, thus it should
be open to be questioned, and let the
truth should finally rest based upon
comparison with observed fact.
30

31. » Is it SAFE to practice EF as Sustainability Issues
Measurement tool???
» EF should not be used for further usage as
a measurement tool of sustainability
(unless further improvement on the
mechanism have been made) due to its
disability (injustice and immoral nature).
31

32. » High possibility of misleading results of EF
 Those with positive EF results could in fact have a very high land degradation;
» High rates of possible land degradation
(undetected via EF)
 Faster rate of land usage, more harmful ways
» EF has its uses but it should be opened for
debate on the using of EF
32

33. » Improving / strengthening the technical knowledge and expertise
needed to be able to conduct a rigorous, consistent, reliable and
comparable EF study through lectures, providing opportunities for
relaying information and holding discussions/debates on EF
» Resolving the so-called twin issues of DATA COMPLEXITY and
TRANSPARENCY of the methodology in conducting EF: consider
training and proper medium for dissemination of information on EF to
the public
» Resolving issues of inconsistencies in the methodologies and results
calculated: thus they should working more towards
standardization, transparency and credibility by being more inclusive
towards other important indicators
» Alignment of EF accounting with the UN-SEEA: help us in
standardizing the accounting processes and improve the accuracy of
allocation; in turn make them available for further use in Input-
Output Analysis (IOA)
» Complementary indicators to monitor progress related to other
environmental issues undetected by EF: one suggestion is through 4
basket indicators on the EU‟s Resource Strategy –
EF, Environmentally-Weighted Material Consumption (EMC), Human
Appropriation of Net Primary Production (HANPP) and Land & 33
Ecosystem Accounts (LEAC)

34. » United Nations Indicator
 Developed extensive sustainability measurement
tools in relation to SD + System of Integrated
Environmental and Economic Accounting (UN-SEEA)
 system for organizing statistical data for the derivation of
coherent indicators and descriptive statistics to monitor the
interactions between the economy and the environment
and the state of the environment to better inform decision-
making.
 Subsystems of the SEEA framework elaborate on specific
resources or
sectors, including: Energy, Water, Fisheries, Land and
Ecosystems, and Agriculture.
 Try to build bridges between the accounting community and
the community of experts in each specific subject area.
˃ Reference:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/seea.asp 34

35. » Benchmarks
 Point of reference for a measurement to
assess trends and measure progress. E.g:
2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership
» Indexes
 An aggregate sustainability indicator
that combines multiple sources of data.
E.g: Consultative Group on Sustainable
Development Indices
35

36. » Metrics
 Monitorial Reference for the effect of human
on biogeochemical cycles that are critical to
life: water cycle, carbon cycle, etc.
» Auditing
 Sustainability auditing and reporting in evaluating entity
using various performance indicators: ISO
14000, Natural Step, Triple Bottom Line
Accounting, Input-Output Analysis (IOA) : widely
expanded application of EF particularly in the area of
policy formulation related to the distribution of human
appropriation to biocapacity.
» Accounting
 Attempt to include environmental costs rather than
treating them as externalities: Green 36
Accounting, Sustainable Value, Sustainability
Economics

37. » After conducting all 4 ethical
frameworks/assessment, the mechanism of EF as a tool
of sustainability measurement is IMMORAL and thus, it
should not be ‘oversell’ / disseminated to the
public, UNLESS:
 EF should be revised intensive-and-extensively by experts
of such fields by being more open and taking accounts
all criticism on EF for further improvement of the
system.
 Other options: considering other measurement tools
which suits our own conditions (because one size does
not fit all) and even better, combining them as to ensure
the nature of inclusivity of such tools can be achieved.
37

38. 38

39. Online Article:
» Environmental Ethics by Holmes Rolston, III (Blackwell Publishing, 2003)
» Ecological Citizenship and Sustainable Consumption: Examining Local Organic
Food Networks by Gill Seyfang (Journal of Rural Studies, Elsevier Ltd, 2006)
» An Analysis of the Policy and Educational Applications of the Ecological Footprint
by Dr. John Barrett et.al (SEI, 2004)
» On the Ethics of CSR – Considering the Paradigm of Industrial Metabolism by Jouni
Korhonen (Journal of Business Ethics, Kluwer Academic Publishers: 2003)
» The Ecological Footprint: A Non-Monetary Metric of Human Consumption Applied
to North America by Maged Senbel et.al (Global Environmental Change: Elsevier
Science: 2003)
» London‟s Ecological Footprint: A Review by Brook Lyndhurst (Greater London
Authority: 2003)
» A Review of the Ecological Footprint Indicator – Perceptions and Methods by
Thomas Wiedmann & John Barrett (Sustainability Journal: 2010)
39

40. Online Article / Forum / Information on Mother / Faith Test derived from:
» Buddhist contribution to environmental protection – Judge Weeramantry From
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6210
» Islam, the environment and the human future - Judge Weeramantry from
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6426
» Islam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam
» Confucian Ethics and the Environment by Li Tianchen* from The Culture Mandala, 6 no. 1. 2003. from
http://asrudiancenter.wordpress.com/2008/11/06/confucian-ethics-and-the-environment/
» Buddhism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism, http://www.buddhanet.net/e-
learning/5minbud.htm
» Acting with Compassion - Stephanie Kaza
ENVIRONMENTALLY RELEVANT PRINCIPLES OF BUDDHISM – from
http://www.dhushara.com/book/renewal/voices2/budfem.htm
» Buddhism & Environmental Protection By Ven. Sheng-yen from
http://greentheme.blogspot.com/2007/08/buddhism-environmental-protection.html
» Christian: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian
» A Christian View of the Environment by Ray Bohl from http://www.northave.org/MGManual/Environ/Envir1.htm
» The Environment and the Dao by David Wright from http://www.sacu.org/daoenv.html
40

41. Other Relevant Information:
» http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/seea.asp
» www.farmersrights.org
» http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Read-the-Charter.html
» http://bcb706.blogspot.com/2006/08/introduction-to-aztec-empires.html
» http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2011/03/finding-green-in-god/
» http://www.accaglobal.com/en/search.html?searchTerm=ecological+footprints&x=0
&y=0
» http://www.ecoeco.org/content/2011/03/on-the-policy-relevance-of-ecological-
footprints/
» http://www.gdrc.org/uem/footprints/footprints-business.html
» http://conservation.catholic.org/ten_commandments_of_the_environm.htm
» http://www.unesco.org/new/en/ethics-office/core-principles/
» http://www.asta.org/About/content.cfm?ItemNumber=745
» http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-environmental/
» http://www.dius.gov.uk/publications/science_society/file41318.pdf
Images used in this presentation found from:
 footprintnetwork.org, intermediatetoo.blogspot.com, en.wikipedia.org, glogste
r.com,epa.vic.gov.au, iugreenteams.wordpress.com, brucenguyen181.wordpres
s.com, http://candobetter.net/node/1215, joelkostka.net, foe.org.hk, youlive
41
andlearn-eoi.blogspot.com, nicholaspmiller.com, environment-clean-
generations.blogspot.com, dawahaddict.blogspot.com, dushyantsavadia.net,