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PLANET EARTH: SOME FIGURES...
The total area of our planet covers around 51 billion hectares, of which less than 15 billion hectares are global landmasses. To simplify the complex classifications of data available on the different types of ‘Earth’ use, we find that the biologically productive land per capita world-wide is 0.25 hectares for arable land, 0.6 hectares for pasture, 0.6 hectares for forest and 0.03 hectares for built-up land, totalling 1.5 hectares per global citizen and 2 hectares if we also include sea coasts. Not all that space is available for human use, as room has also to be given to the 30 million fellow species with which humanity shares this planet.

Considering that world consumption has expanded at an unprecedented pace over the 20th century, with private and public consumption expenditure reaching $24 trillion in 1998, it is easy to conclude that the average footprint is more than 35 percent larger than the space available, humanity’s consumption is exceeding what nature can regenerate.


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