Biocapacity is defined as:

• A. A region's maximum population size.
• B. The rate of carbon sequestration by forests.
• C. The amount of land and sea area a population requires to supply resources and absorb wastes.
• D. A measure of economic wealth.

Answer: (C)

Biocapacity is about the productive capacity of the environment to meet a population’s needs and absorb its wastes. It measures the amount of land and sea area a population requires to supply resources and to assimilate waste, including things like food, timber, and carbon emissions. This is why the definition fits: it directly accounts for how much productive area exists and how it is used to support people.

This isn’t the same as how large a population could be in the long term (carrying capacity), nor is it about a single ecosystem service like how quickly forests can sequester carbon, nor is it a measure of economic wealth. For context, if a country’s biocapacity per person is less than its per-person footprint, it means the country is drawing on resource and waste-absorbing capacity beyond what its environment can sustainably provide.