Household Level Consumption and Ecological Stress in an Urban Area

Abstract

Rapid urbanization and human consumption are continuously threatening the balances of natural environmental systems. This study investigated the increasing stress on the natural environment from household consumption at the neighborhood level. We collected and analyzed household-level data of Ward 24 of the Khulna City Corporation (KCC) area to quantify and represent household consumption and entrenching stresses on the natural environment. We followed the component and direct method to determine the ecological footprint (demand). We also derived the biocapacity (supply) from the available bioproductive lands of the study area. Thus, the gap between demand and supply was identified and represented as a stress area through a Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping technique. We found that the per capita ecological footprint accounts for Ward 24 were about 0.7161 gha/capita for the year 2015. Moreover, the biocapacity for the same year was determined as 0.0144 gha/capita for Ward 24. The ecological demand for the household-based consumption of Ward 24 exceeded its ecological capacity by 49.73 times. We found that Ward 24 would require an area that was 162 times larger in order to support the present level of resource demand and waste sequestration. These study findings can play an essential role in policy formulation, ensuring the practices of environmental justice at the local scale.