Limit Exceeding Day, which means the day when the world’s 1-year natural resources are consumed, changes every year depending on the resources that the world can produce and the consumption of people.
According to the information compiled from the GFN data, while the world’s natural resources and human resource consumption have been calculated since 1961, humanity consumed more than the world could produce for the first time in 1971. The first Overshoot Day was observed on 25 December that year.
Except for 2020, when the use of natural resources decreased due to the restrictions during the Kovid-19 epidemic process, the Overshoot Day corresponded to an earlier day almost every year. Humanity has owed a total of 19 years of ecological resources to the future due to the limit exceedances made so far.
JULY 28, EARLIEST DATE OF ALL RECORDED SO FAR
July 28, recorded as Overshoot Day this year, was the earliest date ever recorded. In 2022, the year in which the world’s one-year resources ended the fastest, natural resources were exhausted 156 days early.
The GFN’s data, based on United Nations statistics, reveal that humans will have used 75 percent more natural resources in 2022 than ecosystems can replenish. According to this, people will have consumed not 1 but 1.75 planets this year.
TURKEY’S LIMIT EXCEEDED DAY 22 JUNE
Brazil with 1.8 billion global hectares (gha), China with 1.3 billion gha, USA with 1.1 billion gha and Russia with 979 million gha are the leading countries in terms of biocapacity, namely natural resources. However, the overshoot days in these countries also correspond to the dates before the end of the year.
Brazil’s overshoot date is August 12, China’s is February 6, and the US is March 13.
Ranking 19th among world countries with its biocapacity of 107 million gha, Turkey’s limit exceeding day was 22 June.
Among all countries, the Cook Islands, one of the South Pacific countries, lead the poorest countries in terms of biocapacity with 24.4 thousand gha, followed by two Caribbean islands, Barbados with 53.4 thousand gha and Saint Lucia with 58.3 gha.
Out of a total of 185 countries, only 51 countries have biocapacity reserves, while the remaining 134 are facing resource shortages. These countries, which make up 72 percent of the world’s population, consume more natural resources than they produce.
IT IS POSSIBLE TO REVERSE THE TRADITION
In the statement made by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), it was stated that the Overshoot Day could be postponed with minor changes. Emphasizing that one of the most effective measures that can be taken is to reduce the use of automobiles, the statement said, “If the carbon footprint caused by automobile use is reduced by 50 percent and one third of this distance is covered by public transportation and the rest by walking or cycling, the World Limit Overshoot Day can be postponed for 13 days.” evaluation was made.
In the statement, it was stated that if the food waste in the world is reduced by half, the Limit Exceeding Day can be moved forward by 13 days.
“We can slow down this trend by reclaiming the forests we lost in this period when we are struggling with extreme temperatures and increasing forest fires. If 350 million hectares of forest area is regained all over the world, we can delay this date for 8 days. This means that with every 45 million hectares of forest area to be reclaimed, we can slow down this trend. It means that the date can be delayed by 1 day.”
Aslı Pasinli, General Manager of WWF Turkey, whose views are included in the statement, said, “The climate crisis, which we have begun to feel intensely in our country with drought on the one hand and floods on the other, requires the authorities to take quick and determined steps.” made his comment. (AA)