National biocapacity and ecological footprints are derived from data provided by the Global Footprint Network according to the productive area of land required to provide a society with its resources and absorb its waste. Biocapacity is a "measure of the amount of biologically productive land and sea area available to provide the ecosystem services that humanity consumes." 1Ecological footprints are a "measure of the demand populations and their activities place on the biosphere in a given year, given the prevailing technology and resource management." 2 The total footprint is reached by adding data for food, energy, forest products, urban area and waste. Where ecological footprints exceed biocapacity it means those nations (shown in red) draw resources from and distribute waste to regions beyond their own national territory. Where ecological footprints are within the biocapacity of the nation's territory (shown in green) it means that said nation is living within its means in terms of its national landscape.
In an ideal and sustainable world all nations would have ecological footprints smaller than their biocapacity, but because nations are political not ecological units and because globalism enables the planetary distribution of resources, what ultimately matters is the relationship between the planet's total biocapacity and its total ecological footprint.
1 Michael Borucke, et al., "Accounting for demand and supply of the biosphere's regenerative capacity: The National Footprint Accounts' underlying methodology and framework," Ecological Indicators24 (2012): 518-533. Available at http://www.footprintnetwork.org/images/article_uploads/NFA_Method_Paper_2011.pdf
2 ibid