From ecological footprint to ecological handprint

Ecological footprint refers to the land and water area that human population needs for its consumption.

However, the ecological footprint is not designed to include the related conditions of human development — issues such as poverty, literacy, access to education, and other aspects of human rights and social justice. The ecological handprint on the other hand expands on the footprint theory by bringing together the interrelated goals of sustaining the biological integrity of the planet and ensuring a sufficient quality of life for the human population.

United Nations has developed a separate Human Development Index (HDI) to measure the social and economical development. Of course the indicators of ecological footprint and human development can be combined to see how well nations are performing in these two dimensions as Global Footprint Network's human development initiative shows. The ecological handprint goes further by highlighting that problems related to human well-being as well as those related to nature's well-being cannot be separated and that these problems can often best be solved by interrelated approaches. The handprint analyses positive impacts on the ecological, economical and social aspects of sustainability rather than the negative effects on global resources.