Application of Ecological Footprint Method in Environmental Sustainability Assessment (Case Study: Gorgan County)

Cities have been developing since the Industrial Revolution. growth of cities had many Influences on the environment. As a result of the increase in incompatible effect of the urban growth, United Nations considered the necessity for sustainable development issues in cities and that became agenda for governance and planners. One of the key elements of sustainable development is that humans live in the range of biological capacity. Ecological Footprint Method have been used for Measuring Sustainability of Great Cities like London, Santiago and Liverpool. This paper examines the ecological footprint of Gorgan County. It tries to answer the question whether the Ecological Environment of Gorgan county support basic needs of its population? This paper has been done by descriptive method. The findings of this study show that the ecological footprint of the city of Gorgan in food consumption, waste, transport, electricity, natural gas heating, water and housing was 1.24 hectares. The lowest amount of ecological footprint is for the land of waste disposal and the highest amount is for electricity power. Since the environmental capacity of Iran is 0.81 hectares and calculated ecological footprint of Gorgan is 1.24 hectares, that means Gorgan Ecological Footprint is 1.53 times more than the average capacity of Iran and 1.92 times more than the average capacity of Gorgan county. By comparing the biological capacity and the ecological footprint, it can be seen that Gorgan has ecological deficit. In other words, Gorgan environmental carrying capacity has crossed and If current consumption trends continue in the future, the natural environment cannot meet the needs of the population, and greater support area for their consumption needs must be provided. Therefore, the most logical solution to reduce the ecological footprint of humans on Earth, is to reduce the amount of per capita consumption, and this is only possible with the participation of citizens and trying to reform the consumption pattern.