Analysis of Ecological Footprint at Educational Institute Scale (A Case of an Iranian High School)

Abstract

Aim: Ecological Footprint Assessment (EFA) is one of the suitable indices helping decision makers and authorities in general and environmental scientists in particular in assessing sustainable development. Schools are one of the educational institutes, where measuring this index can help in giving clear picture of the footprint of such micro-level places. We used descriptive-analysis method to assess the ecological footprint of one of the main high schools of Sanandaj City, Kurdistan, Iran. Our results indicated that the total ecological footprint of this high school is 65.6 gha, showing 0.164 gha per student (400 students) during 2011-2012 academic year. Comparing the ecological footprint of this school with the international standards showed that the maximum level of footprint belongs to food sector (35.8 gha), followed by transportation (24.4 gha). In order to reduce the footprint and its nearness to the international standard level, some measures have to be taken, for example facilitating and creating bulky transportation such as school service, changing type and composition of food materials of students, renovation or upgrading cooling and heating systems. These measures would not only result in the long-term sustainability of educational but also would help in environmental sustainability at neighbourhood micro-level and at the city macro-level. We suggested some alternatives, which their application may reduce the ecological footprint of Qasri High School from 65.5 gha to 59 gha, which is very close to the standard footprint rate (58.38 gha) for a high school.