The impact of the population of Sweida Governorate on their environment using the (GFN) Ecological Footprint Program

Abstract

Recently, there has been a growing global interest in the environment and climate change, which pose challenges affecting the lives of current and future generations amid increasing consumption of natural resources.

The concept of the ecological footprint has emerged to assess the impact of humans on nature, as it measures the sustainability of lifestyle and its impact on natural resources by comparing resource consumption with the Earth's ability to renew them.

This study aims to understand the extent of the impact of the increased demand for environmental resources in Sweida Governorate as a result of population growth and economic and urban expansion, and its relationship to the rise in indicators of the ecological footprint per capita, and to study the relationship between these indicators and factors of consumption and land use.

The study concluded that there were no significant spatial differences in general according to the type of consumption of the administrative units in the study area. The consumption rate was close between the governorate's regions.

There was an increase in the value of food footprint index, the shelter index, and the transportation and shopping index.

There was almost a similarity in the size of the environmental consumption footprint between males and females of the study sample. The age group ≥ 29 years distinguished by the highest total consumption. The carbon footprint rate resulting from the growth of energy consumption in the study area also increased. To reduce the amount of the environmental footprint in the coming years, it is necessary to reduce energy consumption and rationalize the use of water, and to move towards using public transportation, and to use to manufacturing some needs at home or to move towards buying local goods instead of imported ones.