Bio-capacity deficit is alarming us all and purportedly is the reason for Covid too. Researchers from various groups of institutes like the Global Footprint Network, Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory, Munashinge Institute for development, and Missouri Botanical Garden. They conducted an extensive survey for countries for the period 1980 and 2017 and found shocking results. They found that nearly 72% of the world’s population resides in bio-capacity deficit countries. And have below-average incomes. Their paper revealed shocking insights and was published in the journal Nature Sustainability. It is said that the planet is facing an alarming bio-capacity crisis. And the global demand is exceedingly high than the supply of global bio reserves.
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What is a bio-capacity deficit?
Bio-capacity about the said stats is defined as the capacity of an environment to replenish its resources. It is important to maintain these resources to sustain its population. Replenishment of groundwater and reforestation are a few good examples of it. Another example could be an island that always has enough fish to feed its inhabitants. But when an environment fails to maintain this balance and is unable to feed its human population, it is called a bio-capacity deficit.
What do the stats say?
The team of researchers found that our planet is already running under huge stress for a while now. As of 1980, the global demand was 119%, which is way more than the planet’s capacity to replenish its system. And as of 2017, the same data stands with a whopping figure of 173%. This very transparently shows the further increase in the ever-increasing global demand. The data is adequate to gauge the situation where humanity is heading. And it also reveals that 72% of the world’s population is earning below-average income. While it was 57% in 1980 compared a lot lesser compared to what it is now.
The pain points of this research are that the wealthier countries have better bio-capacity than poorer countries. And support populations much better than other regions of the world.
The worst-hit countries with food-crisis
As IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) reports, the worst affected countries in the world are Sudan, Yemen, Congo, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Nigeria, Haiti, and also Venezuela. It is alarming and dismal to note that with such rates, poorer countries may soon hit even a harder food crisis. And humanity may have to suffer like never before.
