footprinting

Any of several techniques for the identification of a member of a class of things, based on some distinguishing feature.

An assessment of the ecological impact of human activities.

We review and summarise those studies that holistically assess the impact of human activities, in the sense that impacts are not restricted to the home, city, or territory of the individuals, but instead are counted irrespective of where they occur. Such an assessment perspective is usually referred to as consumption-based accounting, or footprinting.