Ask someone to name the biggest threats to biodiversity and they will likely mention climate change or plastic pollution before they mention population size. Colcom Foundation’s resource materials push back on that instinct, framing overpopulation as a root driver of ecological problems people usually blame on other causes. Central to this argument is the concept of an ecological footprint, defined by the Global Footprint Network as the amount of biologically productive land and water required to produce everything a population consumes and absorb the waste it generates using current technology and resource management practices.

When Demand Outpaces Supply

When that footprint grows larger than the biocapacity available to support it, the result is what researchers call biocapacity overshoot, an ecological deficit that forces a population to draw down natural assets or release carbon waste faster than the planet can process it. The 2021 Dasgupta Review, an economic analysis commissioned by the UK Treasury, found that humanity currently draws on natural capital at a pace 1.6 times faster than Earth can regenerate it, a gap Colcom Foundation cites as evidence that current consumption patterns cannot continue indefinitely without consequences for future generations of Americans and people worldwide.

Colcom Foundation’s grantmaking treats footprint reduction as inseparable from land protection. Every acre placed under a conservation easement or acquired outright adds to the biocapacity side of the ledger, while public education grants aim to slow growth on the demand side of that equation. The foundation directs this combined approach toward Pennsylvania watersheds and forests as well as national conservation partners, arguing that closing the gap between footprint and biocapacity requires action on both fronts at once rather than treating either one as sufficient by itself. Reforestation and habitat restoration grants add further capacity to that ledger over time, while public education grants slow the pace at which new demand accumulates each year. Refer to this article for related information.

Find more information about Colcom Foundation on https://waterlandlife.org/land-conservation/colcom-revolving-fund-for-local-land-trusts/