Material footprints (MF) and the broader framework of Material Flow Accounting (MFA) have gained prominence as indicators of human pressure on the environment, particularly in policy discussions on resource efficiency and circular-economy strategies. While MF and MFA can be useful as a descriptive measure of industrial metabolism, this paper argues that they exhibit several fundamental scientific limitations that distinguish them from other widely used indicators of human demand such as carbon footprints, ecological footprints, or human appropriation of net primary productivity. These limitations arise primarily from the absence of a biophysically grounded aggregation principle and the lack of an intrinsic upper bound. As a result, material footprints are analytically weak and potentially misleading as a sustainability metric, even though they remain valuable as a throughput indicator. To address these limitations, this paper outlines strategies to reduce misuse and deploy material footprint accounting more effectively as a tool for sustainability transitions.

Haubrock (2026 Environ. Res. Lett. ) criticizes Bradshaw et al (2026 Environ. Res. Lett. 21 064023), but relies on strawman arguments, misrepresents demographic transition theory, and downplays environmental contingencies. We respond point‐by‐point to seven claims concerning (i) the interpretation of the post‐1960 decline in r as evidence of exceeded carrying capacity; (ii) use of phenomenological logistic models in a non‐stationary human system; (iii) global N as a proxy for density feedback; (iv) shared‐trend confounding in environmental correlations; (v) normative elements of ‘sustainable carrying capacity’; (vi) alleged population‐centred framing; and (vii) whether the title overstates the evidence (Haubrock 2026 Environ. Res. Lett. ). We show that demographic transition theory is primarily descriptive and does not require a declining growth rate: whether growth slows depends on the timing and magnitude of fertility–mortality gaps, which vary historically and culturally. Indeed, fertility transitions can occur at modest incomes under strong institutional and ideational influences. Haubrock’s argument here rests on an uncritical acceptance of demographic transition theory, false dichotomies between socio-economic and ecological mechanisms, and an overly restrictive interpretation of what phenomenological models infer from abundance time series. Our central result remains an abrupt, persistent shift from facilitation to strong negative r – N feedback beginning ∼1961–1962, consistent with emergent ensemble density feedback mediated by socio‐economic and environmental constraints. We clarify that subnational density inference is infeasible due to inadequate fine‐scale population data in many countries, that our environmental correlations are corroborative rather than causal and should be interpreted with appropriate time‐series cautions, and that population drivers are underrepresented in the mainstream institutions/technology‐centred literature despite strong evidence of population effects identified in IPAT/STIRPAT analyses.

The Ecological Footprint is a resource accounting tool that measures the amount of the Earth׳s regenerative capacity (or “biocapacity”) demanded by a given activity. Many human activities place demands on the planet׳s regenerative capacity, including the provision and processing of food, the construction and maintenance of housing, transportation, and the consumption of goods and services. This regenerative capacity is the materially most limiting factor for human economies. Human demands on nature compete for biologically productive space, both demand on and availability of regenerative capacity can be approximated by adding up the mutually exclusive biologically productive areas for providing these services. By comparing the amount of capacity demanded with the amount of capacity available, Ecological Footprint accounting can measure, year by year, the extent to which human demands on the biosphere exceed the biosphere׳s capacity to meet those demands. Globally, human society is currently operating in a state of overshoot, with the global Footprint exceeding global biocapacity by over 68% in 2013. This overshoot depletes the natural capital on which human society depends—reducing stocks and filling up waste sinks. Levels of Ecological Footprint and biocapacity vary widely over time and between regions and nations.

The ecological concept of human carrying capacity is necessarily complicated because human beings are the 'ultimate ecosystem engineers' who moderate the environment for their benefit. For at least the last few hundred years, human ingenuity, access to massive stocks of fossil fuels, and technological development have driven facilitation whereby increasing human abundance has promoted higher population growth rates. However, this positive relationship broke down during the 1950s, and by 1962, the global human population entered a phase where the growth rate consistently declined as population increased. The onset of this negative phase occurred 8 years before a global biocapacity deficit began in 1970. The onset of the negative phase also varies regionally, with the lowest-income and highest fertility regions entering this phase later than higher-income regions. A Ricker logistic model fitted to the negative phase predicts that the global population could reach 11.7-12.4 billion people between 2067 and 2076. The same model fitted to the facilitation phase predicts a maximum population of 2.5 billion people that Earth might be able to maintain. The negative phase also correlates strongly with the trend in global temperature anomaly, ecological footprint, and total emissions, with more of their variation explained by increasing population size rather than increasing per-capita consumption. The Earth cannot sustain the future human population, or even today's, without a major overhaul of socio-cultural practices for using land, water, energy, biodiversity, and other resources.

Environmental management is a critical challenge for many nations, including Iran, which faces environmental issues. This study introduces a comprehensive framework for environmental management and eco-development as pathways to achieving sustainable agriculture while examining the factors influencing farmers' attitudes toward this approach. The first stage involved a survey using a questionnaire administered to 423 farmers from 50 villages, selected through a multi-stage stratified random sampling. The questionnaire's face validity was confirmed by a panel of experts, and its reliability was verified through a pilot study. The second stage utilized the AHP to assess the dominant mindset of agricultural extension managers of Fars Province. The findings indicated significant differences among farmers regarding environmental awareness, social participation, adoption of green technologies, attitudes toward environmental independence strategies, and perceptions of extension service effectiveness, depending on their access to agricultural extension services. Based on these results, a model was developed integrating green technologies, environmental awareness, the consequences of conventional agriculture, village population, social participation, the effectiveness of extension services, and attitudes toward independence strategies to explain farmers' perspectives on the eco-development paradigm. The AHP results revealed that the prevailing mindset among extension managers was an economic-oriented perspective aligned with frontier economics. This perspective conflicted with the conservation-based and sustainable agricultural practices promoted within the eco-development paradigm. Therefore, a shift in agricultural managers' perspectives toward eco-development is essential for advancing sustainability. The study highlights the critical role of agricultural extension in fostering environmental management and promoting eco-agriculture as a key objective of modern extension programs.

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The European Union (EU) plans to decarbonize the region by 2050. As highlighted by the Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy, food systems are essential for this transition. Here we investigate the resource dependence and carbon emissions of the EU-27's food systems from 2004 to 2014 via an ecological footprint (EF)-extended multi-regional input-output approach, accounting for demand and supply (including trade), and considering multiple externalities. Food contributes towards almost a third of the region's EF, and appropriates over half of its biocapacity. Average reliance on biocapacity within national borders decreased, while reliance on intra-EU biocapacity increased; yet a quarter of the biocapacity for food consumption originates from non-EU countries. Despite a reduction in both total EF and food EF over the study period, EU-27 residents demand more from nature than the region's ecosystems can regenerate-highlighting the need for new or strengthened food and trade policies to enable a transformation to sustainable EU food systems.

At the XIX International Botanical Congress held in Shenzhen, China, in July 2017, the delegates unanimously adopted the Shenzhen Declaration on Plant Sciences in an effort to accelerate the contributions made by plant scientists for the benefit of the world′s changing society. This paper discusses what has been accomplished concerning plant conservation since the Shenzhen Declaration. Beyond the problems we faced in 2017, the global Covid pandemic and the war have presented new challenges. With the massive ecological overshoot, the number of malnourished people globally has increased. Most threats to vascular plants have increased generally over these 6 years, while the responses of the botanical community to them have continued to proceed at a relatively slow pace. Although international cooperation is needed to combat the grave challenges we face, the ease of such collaboration has decreased substantially in recent years. Certainly, rapid deforestation, especially in the tropics, and our ineffective approaches to mitigate climate change will lessen the effectiveness of our strategies to slow extinction. Indeed, our blindness to the reality of ecological overshoot and misperceptions concerning sustainability are accelerating extinction and thus destabilizing social structures and civilization. As an example, conservation in China faces serious challenges with biodiversity loss, but botanical gardens and seed banks there offer hope on ex situ conservation. The botanical and other scientific communities can contribute by drawing the attention of fellow citizens to the gravity of the problems that we face and by being actively engaged in providing solutions and carrying them forward to action.

This comprehensive Dictionary brings together an extensive range of definitive terms in ecological economics. Assembling contributions from distinguished scholars, it provides an intellectual map to this evolving subject ranging from the practical to the philosophical.

Ecological Footprint and biocapacity accounting is a widely-used ecological accounting framework which tracks human demand against the biosphere's rate of regeneration. However, current national assessments do not yet include carbon-dense peatlands, hindering the evaluation of peatland biocapacity contributions. Also, the economic efficiency of peatland restoration is understudied and needed to inform land use decisions. We provide the first assessment of Scotland's biocapacity and add peatlands as a novel land type. We then project the biocapacity impacts in 2050 of current peatland restoration targets and various alternative management scenarios. Finally, we estimate the cost per tonne of greenhouse gas abated of various peatland restoration scenarios, and compare this with estimates of afforestation mitigation costs from the literature. Our results show that Scotland's per-person biocapacity exceeds the UK average by a factor of three. However, despite covering 25% of land area, peatland biocapacity increases Scotland's biocapacity total by only 2%, while the Carbon Footprint of degraded peatlands increases Scotland's ecological deficit by 40%. Current peatland restoration targets of the Scottish Government are estimated to reduce the national ecological deficit by only 9% in 2050. The cost-effectiveness of peatland restoration is context-dependent, and extremely cost-effective methods are applicable to peatland areas far exceeding current government restoration targets. Our findings provide land managers with evidence in favour of increased peatland restoration, both in terms of boosting biocapacity, and economic cost-effectiveness.