WE MIGHT LOOK green but we most certainly aren’t – according to a major international report examining the ecological footprint of each of the world’s nations.

Ireland has been ranked as having the 10th largest ecological footprint in the world by the Living Planet Report 2010 Ecological Footprint Index.

The report examines the consumption of natural resources and the changing state of ecosystems, in order to determine the possible consequences these factors could have on the rest of the world.

The report claims that Ireland has one of the worst records for excessive consumption of natural resources.

(Read the full report, carried out by the World Wildlife Fund.)

The report tracks the amount of biologically productive land and water available per person on the planet, which it refers to as ‘global hectares’. On average, people in Ireland consume over six global hectares each – more than double the amount used by individuals in European countries like Hungary and Romania.

The director of Friends of the Earth, Tony Lowes, spoke to the Irish Examiner, saying:

What is disappointing is that the Department of the Environment has spent more than €10 million in a campaign to encourage the nation to change its habits over the last three years.

Lowes said that the benefits of the campaign had been eclipsed by the government’s “unsustainable national policies, especially in transport and spatial planning”.