THE ANALYSIS OF THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF MAJOR DIET TYPES

Abstract

Humans are the element of the natural food networks; however, their position is quite specific due to consumption of bigger volumes of natural resources than it is necessary for their survival. It is also true in case of food consumption: wrong diet, globalization and fashion trends make people eat more food that is not local. The aim of the survey is to assess the ecological footprint of major diet types and current situation with food consumption and its environmental value in Ukraine. The analysis of statistical data shows that a citizen of a developed country requires an ecological area of about 6.1 gha with 30–40 % intended for food, while the world average amount is 2.7 gha. But different types of diet produce different ecological footprint and different impacts on the environment. The environmental impacts of meat production are the most intensive and include generation of waste, water consumption, habitats destruction, greenhouse gases emissions and soil pollution. On the other hand, vegetarian diet is not enough to make the food system sustainable without improvement of agricultural practices, renewable energy introduction and implementation of principles of sustainability into all spheres of life. Ukrainians have moderate financial and physical access to food according to the world statistics. Being forced to spend 50–55 % of monthly budget on food, they consume too much fat and sugar, and too little fruit, vegetables, dairy and fish. Big volumes of food bought and eaten, especially meat, are considered to be the reflection of prosperity. In order to analyze the current situation with nutrition patterns, the survey is conducted among the students. The results show that food is bought in supermarkets without consideration of its ecological status and almost half of students adhere to meat based diet. Most respondents are not willing to change their diet types. Thus, we may assume that in the future the pressure on the environment from food production and consumption will grow in Ukraine. Therefore, now it is necessary to work on prevention of food losses, and educating people how they can reduce their food footprint by minor behavioral changes.

Keywords

• biocapasity; environmental impacts of agriculture; human trophy level; diet footprint; food losses