A sustentabilidade ecológica do consumo em Minas Gerais: uma aplicação do método da pegada ecológica [The ecological sustainability of consumption of Minas Gerais's population: an application of the ecological footprint method]

Despite concerns about sustainable development being very intense, there are few attempts to measure it among sub-national units in Brazil. In order to contribute to filling this gap, this paper aims to provide an ecological sustainability assessment for the consumption of Minas Gerais’s population in 2008 based on the calculation of its ecological footprint. The analysis draws upon the most recent contributions for this methodology based on comparisons between its local impact and global availability of resources. We concluded that in absolute terms the demand for natural capital in the state is less than its capacity. Nonetheless, in terms of per capita consumption it places significant pressure on global availability of natural capital because, if the global population were to consume the equivalent of an average person from Minas Gerais, there would need to be 2.64 planet Earths to sustain such a consumption level.