Island State - an ecological footprint analysis of the Isle of Wight

"If everyone lived like the population on the Isle of Wight, we would need nearly 2½ planets."

This was one of the conclusions of Island State - an ecological footprint analysis of the Isle of Wight which was carried out by Best Foot Forward, the Environmental Policy and Management Group of the T.H. Huxley School at Imperial College and the Isle of Wight Council. The project explored a methodology for the measurement of natural resources usage and linked this with environmental aspects of sustainability.

Firstly data was collected and analysed to determine the Island’s consumption of energy and materials. The throughput of these was examined to understand the volume and nature of the material and energy flows and waste arisings. Secondly, using this consumption data and other relevant data sets, an Ecological Footprint Analysis of the Isle of Wight was conducted to demonstrate the pressures that the Island’s population places on the local and global environment thereby providing a measure of ecological sustainability. Finally, scenarios were proposed for reducing the Ecological Footprint of the Island, whilst maintaining or enhancing the quality of life for visitors and residents.

The main results of the project were:

• The Isle of Wight population ‘consumed’ 753,368 tonnes of materials in 1998/99. This represents 5.8 tonnes per capita. The largest single category of materials consumed was bulk stone, aggregates etc (368,838 tonnes or nearly 3 tonnes per capita of which about two-thirds was imported).

• The majority (around 3.5 tonnes per capita) of these consumed materials were retained in the economy, primarily as buildings. Around 1 tonne per capita was disposed of as solid waste. The rest were transformed into air emissions or disposed of as liquid waste.

• 33,337 tonnes (250 kg per capita) of domestic waste was sent to landfill. 43% of domestic waste is diverted from landfill by recycling, composting and incineration for energy recovery. This is significantly higher than the national average diversion rate of 18%.

• 108,951 tonnes (838 kg per capita) of commercial waste was collected, of which 97% went to landfill, either for landfill cover and restoration (66,403 tonnes – 61%) or disposal (39,074 tonnes – 36%). There is little data available on sectoral commercial waste arisings.

• The per capita Ecological Footprint of the Isle of Wight for 1998/99 was 5.15 hectares. Of this, 0.68 hectares is attributable to the tourist population and 4.47 hectares to Island residents. This is greater than the global average Ecological Footprint for 1998/99 of around 2.28 hectares per capita. It is also greater than the global average ‘earthshare’ of available bioproductive land for 1998/99 of around 1.87 hectares per capita, which includes 12% of available land allocated to biodiversity.

• If the Isle of Wight was to be self sufficient or bio-regionally sustainable whilst maintaining current lifestyles and technologies, the Island would need to be about 2¼ times its actual size, or the population would need to reduce consumption by 56%.

• A combination of currently feasible local food production, waste recovery and waste minimisation initiatives, renewable energy generation and energy efficiency measures could reduce the Island’s per capita Ecological Footprint by up to 0.47 hectares per capita, i.e. by over 10% of the resident population’s Footprint.

Other documents

• Agenda 21 strategy
• Renewable Energy Strategy