Abstract
In this study, the carbon emission and ecological footprint (EF) from resource consumption and waste generation in Tangail municipal area (TMA) of Bangladesh were estimated, and the ecological sustainability status of the area was also assessed by calculating biocapacity. Data were collected from 180 households covering 18 wards of the TMA. Households, 10 from each ward, were selected considering different income groups and a questionnaire survey was conducted to gather information about their monthly consumption patterns of energy, food, water, goods, and services along with waste generation for the year 2016. The calculated total carbon emission from different carbon uptake factor was 433,235.302 tons CO2, while the highest (271,451.471 tons CO2) carbon emission was derived from natural gas consumption and the lowest (380.083 tons CO2) was observed from water consumption. Carbon uptake land was the major combined sector contributing to total EF (51.79%), whereas cropland was found as the single sector contributing to high footprint figure (47.13%) in TMA. The study found that the EF increases not only with resource consumption and waste generation, but also with household size (p < 0.01) and income (p < 0.01). Total EF and biocapacity of the area were found as 2.21 and 0.08 gha/capita, respectively, while the ecological deficit was estimated as 2.13 gha/capita which may have both direct and indirect impacts on human health. The study concluded that EF of TMA exceeds its biocapacity by almost twenty-eight (28) times. The study recommended to set annual targets, to reduce EF at household levels by awaking people about how much they are consuming, its environmental impacts and subsequent effects on their health.
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Authors are thankful to the officials of Tangail municipal authority, Bangladesh, for providing us necessary data and extending their cooperation throughout the study period.
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Tusher, T.R., Pondit, T., Hasan, M., Latif, M.B., Binyamin, M. (2020). Impacts of Resource Consumption and Waste Generation on Environment and Subsequent Effects on Human Health: A Study Based on Ecological Footprint Analysis. In: Singh, R., Srinagesh, B., Anand, S. (eds) Urban Health Risk and Resilience in Asian Cities. Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1205-6_11
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