Abstract The Ecological footprint accounting is a resource accounting tool that is used to track the sustainability of human systems. In this paper, we present a new approach to calculate the Ecological Footprint metrics at different geographic scales using Net Primary Productivity data. Our study focuses on the town of Afourar, Morocco, as a case study examined at three different scales; national, regional, and provincial scale. In contrast with other studies, our footprint accounting results are expressed in what we have called territorial hectares. The accounting results show that geographic scale has a significant influence on the footprint model, where three cases of sustainability were found. This implies that the efforts to maintain the sustainability of territories are more important at some scales than others. We argue that the relationship between sustainability and geographic scale is both strong and complex and that sustainability is a spatially relative concept. Therefore, we conclude that multi-scale analysis is crucial for making sustainable decisions and management policies.

中文翻译：

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生态足迹核算：基于净初级生产力的多尺度方法

摘要 生态足迹核算是一种资源核算工具，用于跟踪人类系统的可持续性。在本文中，我们提出了一种使用净初级生产力数据计算不同地理尺度的生态足迹指标的新方法。我们的研究重点是摩洛哥的 Afourar 镇，作为在三个不同尺度上检验的案例研究；国家、区域和省级规模。与其他研究相比，我们的足迹核算结果以我们所说的领土公顷数表示。核算结果表明，地理尺度对足迹模型有显着影响，其中发现了三个可持续性案例。这意味着保持领土可持续性的努力在某些尺度上比其他尺度更重要。我们认为可持续性与地理尺度之间的关系既牢固又复杂，可持续性是一个空间相关的概念。因此，我们得出结论，多尺度分析对于制定可持续决策和管理政策至关重要。