IPBES core glossary

Water stress occurs in an organism when the demand for water exceeds the available amount during a certain period or when poor quality restricts its use.

The upper surface of the zone of ground water.

The ratio between effective water use and actual water withdrawal. In irrigation, it represents the ratio between estimated plant water requirements (through evapotranspiration) and actual water withdrawal.

A plant that is a pest (q.v.) in a particular circumstance.

See 'Social welfare'.

The provision of a minimal level of well- being (q.v.) and social support for all citizens.

Consensus from a comprehensive meta- analysis7 or other synthesis, or multiple independent studies that agree.

Human well-being is a state in which there is opportunity for satisfying social relationships and where human needs are met, where one can act meaningfully to pursue one's goals and where one enjoys a satisfactory quality of life”.

A perspective on a good life that comprises access to basic materials for a good life, freedom and choice, health and physical well-being, good social relations, security, peace of mind and spiritual experience.

A perspective on a good life that comprises access to basic resources, freedom and choice, health and physical well-being, good social relationships, security, peace of mind and spiritual experience. Human well-being is a state of being with others and the environment. Well-being is achieved when individuals and communities can act meaningfully to pursue their goals and everyone can enjoy a good quality of life. The concept of human well-being is used in many western societies and its variants, together with living in harmony with nature, and living well in balance and harmony with Mother Earth.

A perspective on a good life that comprises access to basic resources, freedom and choice, health and physical well-being, good social relationships, security, peace of mind and spiritual experience. Well-being is achieved when individuals and communities can act meaningfully to pursue their goals and can enjoy a good quality of life. The concept of human well- being is used in many western societies and its variants, together with living in harmony with nature, and living well in balance and harmony with Mother Earth. All these are different perspectives on a good quality of life.

A perspective on a good life that comprises access to basic resources, freedom and choice, health and physical well-being, good social relationships, security, peace of mind and spiritual experience. Well-being is achieved when individuals and communities can act meaningfully to pursue their goals and can enjoy a good quality of life. The concept of human well-being is used in many western societies and its variants, together with living in harmony with nature, and living well in balance and harmony with Mother Earth. All these are different perspectives on a good quality of life.

A perspective on a good life that comprises access to basic resources, freedom and choice, health and physical well-being, good social relations, security, peace of mind and spiritual experience. Human wellbeing is a state of being with others and the environment. Wellbeing is achieved when individuals and communities can act meaningfully to pursue their goals and everyone can enjoy a good quality of life.

A perspective on a good life that comprises access to basic resources, freedom and choice, health and physical, including psychological, well- being, good social relationships, security, equity, peace of mind and spiritual experience. Well-being is achieved when individuals and communities can act meaningfully to pursue their goals and can enjoy a good quality of life. The concept of human well-being is used in many western societies and its variants, together with living in harmony with nature, and living well in balance and harmony with Mother Earth. All these are different perspectives on a good quality of life.

(Also called modern science, Western scientific knowledge or international science) is used in the context of the IPBES conceptual framework as a broad term to refer to knowledge typically generated in universities, research institutions and private firms following paradigms and methods typically associated with the scientific method consolidated in Post-Renaissance Europe on the basis of wider and more ancient roots. It is typically transmitted through scientific journals and scholarly books. Some of its central tenets are observer independence, replicable findings, systematic scepticism, and transparent research methodologies with standard units and categories.

(Also called modern science, Western scientific knowledge or international science) is used in the context of the IPBES conceptual framework as a broad term to refer to knowledge typically generated in universities, research institutions and private firms following paradigms and methods typically associated with the ‘scientific method’ consolidated in Post-Renaissance Europe on the basis of wider and more ancient roots. It is typically transmitted through scientific journals and scholarly books. Some of its central tenets are observer independence, replicable findings, systematic scepticism, and transparent research methodologies with standard units and categories.

(Also called modern science, Western scientific knowledge or international science) is used in the context of the IPBES conceptual framework as a broad term to refer to knowledge typically generated in universities, research institutions and private firms following paradigms and methods typically associated with the ‘scientific method' consolidated in Post-Renaissance Europe on the basis of wider and more ancient roots. It is typically transmitted through scientific journals and scholarly books. Some of its central tenets are observer independence, replicable findings, systematic scepticism, and transparent research methodologies with standard units and categories.

Also called modern science, Western scientific knowledge or international science, and used in the context of the IPBES conceptual framework as a broad term to refer to knowledge typically generated in universities, research institutions and private firms following paradigms and methods typically associated with the scientific method consolidated in Post-Renaissance Europe on the basis of wider and more ancient roots. It is typically transmitted through scientific journals and scholarly books. Some of its central tenets are observer independence, replicable findings, systematic scepticism, and transparent research methodologies with standard units and categories.

Areas that are subject to inundation or soil saturation at a frequency and duration, such that the plant communities present are dominated by species adapted to growing in saturated soil conditions, and/or that the soils of the area are chemically and physically modified due to saturation and indicate a lack of oxygen; such areas are frequently termed peatlands, marshes, swamps, sloughs, fens, bogs, wet meadows, etc.

species that are able to maintain viable populations across a range of environments leading to a large range size. Widespread species are likely to experience a large range of ecological and climatic conditions within their range. A large niche width – based on the current distribution of a species – seems to be a general pattern in widespread species

Wild foods are food products obtained from non-domesticated species.

See 'Natural habitat'.

See “Natural habitat”.

Wild meat is defined as meat for human consumption derived from wild species.

A pollinator that can live without human husbandry. Some may depend on agricultural settings for survival.

Wild species related to crops, including crop progenitors.

Wild species refers to populations of any species that have not been domesticated through multigenerational selection for particular traits, and which can survive independently of human intervention that may occur in any environment. This does not imply a complete absence of human management and recognizes various intermediate states between wild and domesticated. This assessment excludes feral and introduced populations.

Wild species watching is defined as a non-extractive practice where humans observe, and in some cases interact, with wild species in their natural environment in a way that does not involve the harvest or removal of any part of the organism. Wild species watching activities vary greatly in the level of wild species involvement, ranging from photographing animals from afar to more invasive practices of habituating, feeding and touching animals (UNEP/CMS, 2006, p. 2006). Wild species watching also is an economically important segment of nature-based tourism.

Ecosystems, landscapes and seascapes with a very low degree of human influence, at present with full recognition that they are often inhabited and managed by people, and have been so for centuries or millennia, often at low population densities, and therefore their native biodiversity and ecological and evolutionary processes have not been reconfigured by human drivers to a significant degree. Not all areas designated as wilderness conform to this definition, especially in Europe where abandoned agricultural areas ‘managed’ by ‘wild living’ large herbivores are also called wilderness. Some wilderness areas in the world show transition to cultural landscapes with low human influence.

Estimate of the amount people are prepared to accept in exchange for a certain state or good (e.g. WTA for protection of an endangered species).

Estimate of the amount people are prepared to pay in exchange for a certain state or good (e.g. WTP for protection of an endangered species).

the stated price that an individual would accept to pay for avoiding the loss or the diminution of an environmental service

Increasing dominance of shrubs in grasslands and trees in shrublands.

A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area which is selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance, and is legally protected by international treaties. The sites are judged important to the collective interests of humanity.

Defined by the connections between networks of concepts and systems of knowledge, values, norms and beliefs. Individual person's worldviews are moulded by the community the person belongs to. Practices are embedded in worldviews and are intrinsically part of them (e.g. through rituals, institutional regimes, social organization, but also in environmental policies, in development choices, etc.). See also Perceptions; Concepts; Reality in this Glossary.

Defined by the connections between networks of concepts and systems of knowledge, values, norms and beliefs. Individual person's worldviews are moulded by the community the person belongs to. Practices are embedded in worldviews and are intrinsically part of them (e.g. through rituals, institutional regimes, social organization, but also in environmental policies, in development choices, etc.). See also Perceptions; Concepts; Reality.