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AFP

Humanity will have consumed on August 1 the set of resources that nature can renew in one year and will live "indebted" for five months, according to the Global Footprint Network.

August 1st is the "date on which we will have used all the trees, the water the fertile soil and the fish that the Earth can bring us in one year", explains Valérie Gramond . WWF, linked to the Global Footprint Network, who recalled that this date comes sooner.

"We will also have emitted more carbon dioxide than forests can absorb," adds Gramond. "We would currently need the equivalent of 1.7 planet to meet our needs," said the WWF in a statement.

August 1st is the earliest date since the beginning of the "Earth Overcapacity Day" in the early seventies. Then, the resources were exhausted on December 29, while last year, this date had already been advanced until August 3.

Since then, "the depletion of resources has accelerated because of excessive consumption and waste of food," says Gramond, who recalls that in the world one-third of the food ends up in a trash can.

This waste of natural resources varies from country to country. "We have different responsibilities because small, sparsely populated countries like Qatar or Luxembourg have a very important ecological footprint," says Pierre Cannet of WWF.

If all humanity lived like the Qataris or the Luxemburgers, "Day of the Overcapacity of the Earth" would take place on 9 and 19 February respectively. On the other hand, in a country like Vietnam, this date does not take place until December 21st.

"We must go from an alarm call to a call for action," defended Pierre Cannet, concerned about the increase in CO2 emissions the year last, after three years of stability.

On the site of the "Earth overcapacity day", several solutions are proposed to reverse the current trend: rethink the model of cities, boost renewable energy, reduce food waste and excessive consumption of meat and limit the growth of the population.

Anyone can calculate their ecological footprint on http://www.footprintcalculator.org/.