ASSESSMENT OF ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT HABITS OF RURAL HOUSEHOLD IN SOLAN DISTRICT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
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Date
2021-11
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UHF,NAUNI
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The study entitled “Assessment of Ecological footprint habits of rural household in solan district
of Himachal Pradesh was carried out during 2020- 2021 in selected villages in order to assess the
ecological footprint which showed the load of different component namely electricity, water, food, solid
waste, transportation, material , imposed by the households on the environment. The ecological footprint
of households in two blocks of Solan district viz Solan and Kandaghat was observed as 398.580,
262.400, 380.465, 253.651, 280.594, 331.595, 359.700, 338.350, 230.773, 266.920 gha respectively .
The average ecological footprint of the two blocks were 315. 137 and 305.467gha. Highest EF
(315.137gha) was noticed for Solan block having households with large population and lower ( 305.467)
for kandaghat block having households with lesser population as compare to solan block. The villages
of kandaghat registered the higher sustainability as compare to the Solan block. Food and Electricity
components registered the highest contribution towards the EF of the households. Village wise,
Oachghat village occupied the highest ecological footprint (398.58gha) and Kalhog, the lowest
(230.773gha). The maximum per capita ecological footprint (15.210gha) was exhibited by Majghaon and
minimum (6.345gha) by jatoli. Component wise, the highest ecological footprint (15.80 gha) for
electricity component was observed for kadhar village and lowest (7.40gha) for Mahi. For water
component, the maximum EF (0.002gha) was observed for shamti and lowest (0.0009gha) for kayari
village. Accordingly for material component, village kalhog registered highest (0.073gha) EF and
0.012gha for kadhar village. In solid waste component, village kalhog exhibited maximum (0.990gha)
EF, whereas the village oachghat showed the minimum value (0.378gha). For transportation component,
Kadhar village showed the maximum ecological footprint (0.24gha) and kawarag, the minimum
ecological footprint (0.10gha). The food component, Oachghat village registered highest EF (390.0gha),
and kalhog the minimum (218.00gha). For some of the component like electricity, solid waste, food
calculated ecological footprint was found above the International Standards, except for water and
transportation. Kadhar village showed highest sustainability as compare to the other villages and
Oachghat village the least. Strategies must be obtained to reduce the ecological footprint for the
sustainable utilization of resources and to sustain our lifestyles for future. To reduce the ecological
footprint people should be encouraged to adopt: a) to reduce the food wastage. b) Use public
transportation instead of private vehicle. c) Turn off the electronic devices when not in use d) Consume
lesser amount of water. e) Reduse, Reuse, Recycle the waste, paper material