How does Ecological Footprinting contribute to Community Planning?
There is significant potential to use Ecological Footprinting to evaluate whether community planning and strategies are really helping to promote local sustainability. It is also a way to link the local to the global providing a unique tool that can help local authorities, their partners and the public think about what impact local actions and policies will have on the global environment.
Links to the Community Planning agenda and the activities of Strategic Partnerships are crucial. The Ecological Footprint should be linked to developing ‘sustainable’ community plans and linking to quality of life measures.
It has the potential to become a key indicator within community plans, and can help inform decision making and target setting. For example York has set a target of cutting the city’s Ecological Footprint within its Community Strategy.
If it is used within the community plan, it should in turn be linked to the core strategy of the Local Development Framework/ Planning Framework.