Integrated Environmental Footprint Index (IPAI)

By Danilo De Oliveira Aleixo

This book presents the main concepts of water footprint, ecological footprint, carbon footprint, virtual water and the Ipai model (Integrated Environmental Footprint Index). Ipai model covers the water, ecological and carbon footprints of heterogeneous communities of Paraíba, small, medium and large cities of Paraíba and countries by continent. With an accessible language, it analyzes deeply the indices of water, ecological, carbon and Ipai footprints.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paco e Littera
• Release date: Feb 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9788546226474

Book preview

Integrated environmental footprint index (IPAI)Integrated environmental footprint index (IPAI)Integrated environmental footprint index (IPAI)

Copyright © 2023 by Paco Editorial

All rights reserved to Paco Editorial. No part of this work may be appropriated and stored in a database system or similar process, in any form or medium, whether electronic, photocopying, recording, etc., without the permission of the publisher and/or author.

Proofreading: Talita Franco

Cover and Graphic Project: Larissa Codogno

Cover Illustration: Fábio de Brito

Translation: Cassius Soares

Print Edition: 2023

Digital Edition: 2023

Dados Internacionais de Catalogação na Publicação (CIP)

Elaborada por Bibliotecária Janaina Ramos – CRB-8/9166

Índice para catálogo sistemático

Editorial Board

Profa. Dra. Andrea Domingues (UNIVAS/MG) (Lattes)

Prof. Dr. Antonio Cesar Galhardi (FATEC-SP) (Lattes)

Profa. Dra. Benedita Cássia Sant’anna (UNESP/ASSIS/SP) (Lattes)

Prof. Dr. Carlos Bauer (UNINOVE/SP) (Lattes)

Profa. Dra. Cristianne Famer Rocha (UFRGS/RS) (Lattes)

Prof. Dr. José Ricardo Caetano Costa (FURG/RS) (Lattes)

Prof. Dr. Luiz Fernando Gomes (UNISO/SP) (Lattes)

Profa. Dra. Milena Fernandes Oliveira (UNICAMP/SP) (Lattes)

Prof. Dr. Ricardo André Ferreira Martins (UNICENTRO-PR) (Lattes)

Prof. Dr. Romualdo Dias (UNESP/RIO CLARO/SP) (Lattes)

Profa. Dra. Thelma Lessa (UFSCAR/SP) (Lattes)

Prof. Dr. Victor Hugo Veppo Burgardt (UNIPAMPA/RS) (Lattes)

Prof. Dr. Eraldo Leme Batista (UNIOESTE-PR) (Lattes)

Prof. Dr. Antonio Carlos Giuliani (UNIMEP-Piracicaba-SP) (Lattes)

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www.pacoeditorial.com.br

Lindaura de Oliveira Aleixo (in memorian)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to thank God for being such a present in my life. Besides, I would like to thank my great partners Vicente de Paulo da Silva Rodrigues, José Dantas Neto, Lincoln Eloi Araújo, João Hugo Baracuhy da C. Campos, Sonaly Duarte de Oliveira, José Bruno de Almeida, Maria Deize Aleixo, Eliel Matias Rosa, Arjey A. Hoekstra (in memorian). I am thankful to my parents Dionisio and Lindaura (in memorian), my brothers Dionisio and Delano, my wife Alessandra as well as my children Alejandro and Alexia. I am thankful to all my family, my friends, and those who direct and indirectly contributed to my qualification and made me a better human every day, becoming as my mission the eternal search for a fair and equal world.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PRESENTATION

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

1. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REVIEW

1. Sustainable development and measurement tools

2. Environment and sustainability

3. Sustainable development: a concept under construction

4. System of sustainability indicators

5. The difference between index and indicator

6. Sustainability index and indicators

7. System of environmental sustainability indicators

7.1 Water footprint

7.2 Types of water footprint

7.2.1 Direct and indirect water footprint

7.2.2 Internal and external water footprint

7.2.3 Blue water footprint

7.2.4 Green water footprint

7.2.5 Grey water footprint

7.3 Ecological footprint

7.4 Relationship between water footprint and ecological footprint

7.5 Carbon Footprint

7.6 Relationship between water footprint and carbon footprint

2. MATERIAL AND METHODS

1. Study Characterization

2. Search method

3. Population and research subjects

4. Data collection instrument

5. Definition of research variables

6. Data planning, processing, and analysis

7. Delph research as a methodology for congruence

8. Integrated environmental sustainability model

9. Validation of the Ipai model

9.1 Indigenous

9.2 Quilombola

9.3 Naturist

9.4 Fishermen

9.5 Rural Settlement

9.6 Large City

9.7 Medium-sized city

9.8 Small Town

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1. Water footprint of heterogeneous communities

1.1 Gender

1.2 Eating habits

1.3 Average family income

1.4 Components of water footprint

1.5 Detailing the water footprint of food

2. Ecological footprint of heterogeneous communities

2.1 Fish consumption

2.2 Electricity consumption

2.3 Residence area

2.4 Distance traveled by car (driver or passenger)

3. Detailing the carbon footprint (CF) in the communities analyzed in the study

3.1 Average consumption of cooking gas

3.2 Consumption of air services

3.3 Vehicle owner

3.4 Use of public transport

3.5 Bank account holder and financial services

4. The Integrated Environmental Footprint Index - Ipai

4.1 Ipai averages of heterogeneous communities

4.2 Average Ipai Countries per continent

4.2.1 Africa

4.2.2 North America

4.2.3 Central America

4.2.4 South America

4.2.5 Asia

4.2.6 Europe

4.2.7 Oceania

4.3 Global average of sustainability indicators

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

LAST PAGE

PRESENTATION

This present work is the result of several years of dedication to finding sustainable solutions for the new global challenges.

The Water Footprint represents the amount of drinking water necessary to provide consumer goods and services. The Ecological Footprint quantifies the natural resources used and the Carbon Footprint represents the number of CO2 emissions sent to the atmosphere, after the production of these consumer goods and services, also known as the family footprint.

The family footprint (Water, Ecological, and Carbon) had always been worked in isolation, and this was our greatest motivation for this study: present and validate an integrated model, called Integrated Environmental Footprints Index (IEFI)¹, that if applied to heterogeneous communities in Paraíba state, and in small, medium and large cities and in other countries in the world, it should be able to introduce approximate index to the environmental reality found in our planet.

In light of the foregoing, it is evident that human actions in the face of an unsustainable economic model are leading planet Earth to its exhaustion. Encouraging the consumerism of goods and services has been depleting natural resources, as well as emitting pollutants, and has been making the air asphyxiating and this has led to numerous socio-environmental disasters.

Contributing daily, through consumption habits that don’t respect environmental issues, is an attitude that contributes directly to an unsustainable planet with no hope of life for future generations.

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Note

1. Translator’s Note: Ipai (Índice de Pegadas Ambientais Integradas) in portuguese.

FOREWORD

In an increasingly integrated and economically globalized world, the relationship between humanity and nature has taken on significant importance, considering that all the essential elements to life and activities resulting from living are directly related to the environment.

Given the finitude of environmental resources and humanity’s intense exploration of them, we are experiencing crucial times, where changes in our standards are essential to avoid a catastrophic global environmental crisis.

The moment asks for transformation. In society, in the market, and the economy. Not for convenience or opportunity, but for real necessity. The path to this new development model is long and urgent, full of questions and challenges.

Ahead of us, we have the opportunity and the obligation to seek to build an inclusive world, ethical, environmentally sustainable, and guaranteeing the quality of life for all, from the uniqueness of everyone to the complexity of governments and public machines, through companies, organizations, entities, and social groups.

Knowing the important impact we cause on the planet, as people, organizations, etc., is fundamental to these changes because it is knowing the causes and their peculiarities that we can, thenceforth, set goals and solutions capable of redressing the adverse effects.

Thus, the Ipai Model² (Integrated Environmental Footprint index) is a very important tool for knowledge and diagnosis of the environmental impact of the most diverse socioeconomic actors, such as people, communities, cities, countries, companies, corporations, entities, public agencies, etc.

Broad and efficient, the Ipai Model addresses the source water, ecological, and carbon aspects in its method, associating them in an integrated way, allowing the manager to have a complete situational view of the environmental footprint of the business, activity, or enterprise under its management.

In addition to all the prominence that the model itself deserves, one issue, among many, that should be emphasized is its broad applicability. Residences, offices, micro, small, medium, and large enterprises, corporations, social organizations, and government entities: Everyone can, and