Ecological footprint - The Ecological Footprint is the area of land and water it takes for a human population to generate the renewable resources it consumes and to absorb the corresponding waste it generates, using prevailing technology. In other words, it measures the "quantity of nature" that we use and compares it with how much "nature" we have.

Biocapacity - serves as a lens, showing the capacity of biosphere to regenerate and provide for life. It allows researchers to add up the competing human demands, which include natural resources, waste absorption, water renewal, and productive areas dedicated to urban uses. As an aggregate, biocapacity allows us to determine how large the material metabolism of human economies is compared to what nature can renew.

Global hectare (gha) - a biologically productive hectare with world average productivity. Because each unit of space harbours a different portion of the global regenerative capacity, each unit is counted proportional to its global biocapacity share. For this reason, hectares are adjusted proportionally to their productivity and are expressed in global hectares.

Cropland - the most bioproductive of all the land-use types and consists of areas used to produce food and fibre for human consumption, feed for livestock, oil crops, and rubber. The cropland Footprint includes crop products allocated to livestock and aquaculture feed mixes, and those used for fibres and materials. Due to lack of globally consistent data sets, current cropland Footprint calculations do not yet take into account the extent to which farming techniques or unsustainable agricultural practices may cause long-term degradation of soil.

Forest land - provides for two competing services: the forest product Footprint, which is calculated based on the amount of lumber, pulp, timber products, and fuel wood consumed by a population on a yearly basis; and the carbon Footprint, which represents the carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels in addition to the embodied carbon in imported goods. The carbon Footprint component is represented by the area of forest land required to sequester these carbon emissions. Currently, the carbon Footprint is the largest portion of humanity’s Footprint.

Fishing grounds - fishing grounds Footprint is calculated based on estimates of the maximum sustainable catch for a variety of fish species. These sustainable catch estimates are converted into an equivalent mass of primary production based on the various species’ trophic levels. This estimate of maximum harvestable primary production is then divided amongst the continental shelf areas of the world. Fish caught and used in aquaculture feed mixes are included.

Grazing land - used to raise livestock for meat, dairy, hide, and wool products. The grazing land Footprint is calculated by comparing the amount of livestock feed available in a country with the amount of feed required for all livestock in that year, with the remainder of feed demand assumed to come from grazing land.

Builtup land - built-up land Footprint is calculated based on the area of land covered by human infrastructure: transportation, housing, and industrial structures. Built-up land may occupy what would previously have been cropland.