IPBES core glossary

Sustainable use is defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity since 1992 as “the use of components of biological diversity in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity, thereby maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations.” This assessment notes that sustainable use is also an outcome of social-ecological systems that aim to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functions in the long term, while contributing to human well-being. It is a dynamic process as wild species, the ecosystems that support them and the social systems within which uses occur, change over time and space. This assessment notes the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability as identified by the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and its Sustainable Development Goals.

Any system that is designed to produce high yields but with careful management and selection of inputs to reduce harm to the environment. It includes development and use of crop and animal varieties better suited to their environment, use of new technology for pest and disease control and for input management.

See Shifting cultivation.

See 'Shifting cultivation'.

Swidden farming, also known as shifting cultivation or milpa in Latin America, is conventionally defined as an agricultural system in which temporary clearings are cropped for fewer years than they are allowed to remain fallow.

A long-term interaction between two species that can often have mutual benefit for both species (IUCN, 2012a).

See trade-off.

The interaction or cooperation of two or more organisms, organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

Synthesis reports further distil and integrate materials drawing from assessment reports, are written in a non‑technical style suitable for policymakers and address a broad range of policy-relevant questions. They are to be composed of two sections: a summary for policymakers, and a full report.

Synthesis reports further distil and integrate materials drawing from assessment reports, are written in a nontechnical style suitable for policymakers and address a broad range of policy-relevant questions. They are to be composed of two sections: a summary for policymakers, and a full report.

Adopted as a working definition definition by the Convention on Biological Diversity AHTEG on Synthetic Biology, Synthetic biology was defined as “a further development and new dimension of modern biotechnology that combines science, technology, and engineering to facilitate and accelerate the understanding, design, redesign, manufacture and/or modification of genetic materials, living organisms and biological systems”.

Collation and critical analysis of multiple research studies or papers, using a structured methodology.

The complex, integrated interactions of living beings (including humans), such as the cultural attributes of communities, socio-economic conditions and biophysical variables.

A social or religious custom prohibiting or restricting a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or behavior.

A choice by people of a desired contemporary or future outcome.

A condition that maximizes the desired mix of ecosystem services.

Scenarios that start with the definition of a clear objective, or a set of objectives, specified either in terms of achievable targets, or as an objective function to be optimized, and then identify different pathways to achieving this outcome (e.g. through backcasting).

See “scenarios”.

Variety of species or other taxonomic categories (IUCN, 2012a).

A category applied to a group in a formal system of nomenclature, e.g. species, genus, family etc. (plural: taxa).

Technical papers are based on the material contained in the assessment reports and are prepared on topics deemed important by the Plenary.

A Technical Summary is a longer detailed and specialized version of the material contained in the summary for policymakers.

Tele-coupling refers to socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances. It involves distant exchanges of information, energy and matter (e.g. people, goods, products, capital) at multiple spatial, temporal and organizational scales.

Transboundary acquisition of land.

Relates to the environmental interactions between climatic systems over considerable distances.

A statistical association between climate variables at widely separated, geographically-fixed spatial locations. Teleconnections are caused by large spatial structures such as basin-wide coupled modes of ocean-atmosphere variability, Rossby wave-trains, mid-latitude jets and storm tracks, etc.

Socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances. It involves distant exchanges of information, energy and matter (e.g. people, goods, products, capital) at multiple spatial, temporal and organizational scales.

Refers to socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances. It involves distant exchanges of information, energy and matter (e.g. people, goods, products, capital) at multiple spatial, temporal and organizational scales.

Telecoupling refers to socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances. It involves distant exchanges of information, energy and matter (e.g. people, goods, products, capital) at multiple spatial, temporal and organizational scales.

Telecoupling refers to the phenomenon that natural or anthropogenic processes in one part of the globe have an effect on a distant part of the world (Friis et al., 2016). This concept thus enables the description of flows and impacts between globally distant places in a common language. Synonym in the literature is global inter-regional connectedness.

Comprised of two properties: 1) temporal extent - the total length of the time period of interest for a particular study (e.g. 10 years, 50 years, or 100 years); and 2) temporal grain (or resolution) - the temporal frequency with which data are observed or projected within this total period (e.g. at 1-year, 5-year or 10-year intervals).

Measurements or other observations reported along a time series.

The act, fact, manner, or condition of holding something in one’s possession, as real estate or an office; occupation.

An agreement between an individual or group to land and residential property, which is governed and regulated by a legal and administrative framework includes both customary and statutory systems.

Tenure systems define who can use which Nature’s contributions to people, for how long and under what conditions. Three related aspects of tenure offer a comprehensive understanding of the term. They include (1) tenure as a set of rights, (2) key responsibilities in relation to tenure, and (3) enabling conditions that facilitate governance of tenure. From this combined perspective, tenure is understood as the combination of a set of specific rights that connect the resource users with various aspects of the resource and puts the control and decision-making power in their hands. These rights span social, ecological, economic, and political aspects of tenure, and help provide directions to moving toward effective governance. Rights are connected with responsibilities that range from the duties of the users to maintain the resource to the duties to be performed by the state, and those jointly by both. The exercise of tenure rights can only be possible if certain conditions are meaningfully met because they offer the much required social, ecological, and political environment for the operationalization of tenure rights, performance of the tenure related duties, and necessary security and protection against tenure violations. From an integrated social-ecological (human-environmental) systems perspective, tenure is defined as relationships (also interactions and connections) between people (the users) who seek tenure and between the people (users) and the environment (includes the resource) to which tenure is being sought. Governance of tenure is then about the manner in which these host of relationships, interactions, and connections are addressed and promoted. Tenure in the context of sustainable use of wild species is not a static concept and, therefore, can be best understood as a process and its governance as continuous.

Any agent that causes an abnormality following fetal exposure during pregnancy.