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A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT OF RURAL-URBAN HOUSEHOLDS IN DISTRICT SWAT

Ecological footprint (EF) measure how much productive land area is required for producing the products and resources consumed and the waste generated by humans. The problem of ecological overshooting is being faced by many developing countries like Pakistan. According to the Global Footprint Network, Pakistan is one of the ecologically in deficit countries list i.e we are consuming more than the available biocapacity with us. The ecological footprint of Pakistan in 2012 was 0.8 Gha per capita and biocapacity 0.4 Gha per capita. This is high time to think that whether we are living within our ecological limits and how fast humans are depleting the earth’s biosphere. With this background, the present study aims to estimate the ecological footprints at households’ level taking into account the food, housing, transportation, consumer goods and services in district Swat. Besides, the drivers of the ecological footprint and their impact on the ecological footprint was also estimated. This study used primary data which was collected through questionnaire designed by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). To support the analysis, additional information has also been collected through the self-designed questionnaire. The information obtained were converted into EF though calculator of SEI. The analysis was extended to rural and urban areas of district Swat. The study used a sample of 1063 households from 7 tehsils of district Swat. The sample size was proportionally allocated to rural and urban areas of the each tehsil. Accordingly, 744 and 319 households were selected from rural and urban areas respectively. The descriptive statistics alongwith regression model was used for the analysis. The findings revealed that carbon footprint is the major contributor to total EF. The rural households have higher EF than urban households. However, the ecological overshooting is observed in both rural and urban areas. The major influencing factors of the EF in district Swat are income, household size, education, location, (rural or urban), type of food used, fuel consumption, renewable sources of energy, solid waste, home type and size. Based on findings, it is recommended that the households should be encouraged to use renewable sources of energy in homes to reduce their EF. Particularly, the use of solar energy in the large houses should be ensured. The resources use needs to be monitored to reduce ecological overshooting. The waste generated needs to be properly recycled. The increasing carbon footprint should be controlled through sustainable practices in vehicles use and electric appliances at home. The households should be given environmental awareness and education through various means to reduce EF. Keywords:Ecological footprint