<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article may be too technical for most readers to understand . Please help improve it to make it understandable to non-experts, without removing the technical details . The talk page may contain suggestions . (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article may be too technical for most readers to understand . Please help improve it to make it understandable to non-experts, without removing the technical details . The talk page may contain suggestions . (August 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The ecological footprint measures human demand on nature, i.e., the quantity of nature it takes to support people or an economy . It tracks this demand through an ecological accounting system . The accounts contrast the biologically productive area people use for their consumption to the biologically productive area available within a region or the world (biocapacity). In short, it is a measure of human impact on Earth's ecosystem and reveals the dependence of the human economy on natural capital . </P> <P> The ecological footprint is defined as the biologically productive area needed to provide for everything people use: fruits and vegetables, fish, wood, fibers, absorption of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel use, and space for buildings and roads . Biocapacity is the productive area that can regenerate what people demand from nature . </P>

A measure of human demand on the earth's ecosystems