After researching multiple countries on Global Footprint Network’s Open Data Platform, Slovenia popped out to me as very interesting. After a financial crisis in 2008, which brought Slovenia’s gha (global hectares) to an all-time high, the country was able to recover and bring their gha to an all-time low in 2013-2014. In addition, the Ecological Footprint of Slovenia has decreased 5.7% overall (Footprint Network).
The following image shows the financial crisis’s environmental impact as it brought Slovenia’s ecological footprint to an all-time high of 5.8 gha (Open Data Platform).
Data from 2014 shows that Slovenia has been able to drop their ecological footprint to 4.6 gha per person (Open Data Platform).
The decrease of ecological footprint in Slovenia is mostly due to the increase in carbon Footprint and forest product Footprint (Global Footprint Network). Slovenia has only started working with the Global Footprint Network in 2018, so they are pretty self-sufficient in restoring and preserving their environmental impact. However, their financial crisis was a big reason of the spike in gha in 2008 and recovering from that definitely was able to diminish their economic footprint.
The help from the Global Footprint Network after noticing that their economic footprint was on rise after 2013 and showed no signs of decreasing. Shown by Open Data Platform, in 2017, Slovenia’s footprint rose to 4.8 gha (shown below), which was not as high as it was in 2008, but still was cause for concern and some extra help.
Although Slovenia’s global footprint is on the lower side, they are still considered well over their biocapacity per person and the Global Footprint Network gave the government 4 policy recommendations (Global Footprint Network).
- Energy efficient urban planning, including net-zero buildings
- Transition to low carbon renewable energy systems
- Prioritize forest management to preserve biocapacity
- Prioritize regenerative agriculture to enhance cropland biocapacity
Works Cited
Global Footprint Network. (2020, August 31). Slovenia. Global Footprint Network. Retrieved January 28,2021, from https://www.footprintnetwork.org/2020/08/31/slovenia/.
Open Data Platform, data.footprintnetwork.org/#/?