Glossary definitions

Built-up infrastructure, health facilities, knowledge (including indigenous and local knowledge systems and technical or scientific knowledge, as well as formal and non- formal education), technology (both physical objects and procedures), and financial assets among others.

Built-up infrastructure, health facilities, or knowledge - including indigenous and local knowledge systems and technical or scientific knowledge - as well as formal and non-formal education, technology (both physical objects and procedures), and financial assets. Anthropogenic assets have been highlighted to emphasize that a good quality of life is achieved by a co-production of benefits between nature and societies.

Built-up infrastructure, health facilities, or knowledge - including indigenous and local knowledge systems and technical or scientific knowledge - as well as formal and non-formal education, technology (both physical objects and procedures), and financial assets. Anthropogenic assets have been highlighted to emphasize that a good quality of life is achieved by a co-production of benefits between nature and people.

Built-up infrastructure, health facilities, or knowledge - including indigenous and local knowledge systems and technical or scientific knowledge - as well as formal and non-formal education, work, technology (both physical objects and procedures), and financial assets. Anthropogenic assets have been highlighted to emphasize that a good quality of life is achieved by a co-production of benefits between nature and people.

See 'Anthrome'.

Drivers associated with human actions/activities that drive changes in biodiversity and ecosystems.

Impacts resulting from human activities.

Areas of Earth's terrestrial surface where direct human alteration of ecological patterns and processes is significant, ongoing, and directed toward servicing the needs of human populations for food, shelter and other resources and services including recreation and aesthetic needs.

Caused or influenced by humans.

A concept or construct generated by humans. While it can be argued that all principles and preferences are anthropogenic (human-generated), this does not mean they are all anthropocentric (human-centred).

Aphotic zone is the portion of a lake or ocean where there is little or no sunlight. It is formally defined as the depths beyond which less than 1% of sunlight penetrates.

(see Beekeeping).

Approval of the Platform's outputs signifies that the material has been subject to detailed, line-by-line discussion and agreement by consensus at a session of the Plenary.

The farming of aquatic organisms, including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants, involving interventions such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators, to enhance production. (In contrast, aquatic organisms which are exploitable by the public as a common property resource, are classed as fisheries, not aquaculture).

The farming of aquatic organisms, including fish, mollusks, crustaceans and aquatic plants, in both inland and coastal areas, and involving some form of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators, etc. Farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated.

A semi-liquid mixture, typically of fine particles of manure, cement, or coal suspended in water.

A body of permeable rock which can contain or transmit groundwater.

adj. Pertaining to land that can be farmed.

In the context of scenarios, an over-arching scenario that embodies common characteristics of a number of more specific scenarios.

Those in which water availability severely constrains ecological activity.

A region is arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Environments subject to arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic.

A chronic reduction in soil moisture caused by an increase of mean annual temperature or a decrease in yearly precipitation.

Article 8(j) states that each contracting Party of the Convention on Biological Diversity shall, as far as possible and as appropriate, subject to national legislation, respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and promote their wider application with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices and encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of such knowledge innovations and practices.

One of 4 regions defined in the IPBES framework and includes 62 countries or territories from five subregions, namely Oceania (American Samoa*, Australia, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands*, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia*, Guam*, Hawai’i*, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia*, New Zealand, Niue*, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn Island*, Samoa, Solomon Islands, *Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna, and oceanic and sub-Antarctic islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans*), South-East Asia (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Viet Nam), North-East Asia (China, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Japan, Mongolia, and Republic of Korea), South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), Western Asia (Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine (State of), Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen). *Overseas territory.

Assessment reports are published outputs of scientific, technical and socioeconomic issues that take into account different approaches, visions and knowledge systems, including global assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services with a defined geographical scope, and thematic or methodological assessments based on the standard or the fast-track approach. They are to be composed of two or more sections including a summary for policymakers, an optional technical summary and individual chapters and their executive summaries. Assessments are the major output of IPBES, and they contain syntheses of findings on topics that have been selected by the IPBES Plenary.

Assessment reports are published outputs of scientific, technical and socioeconomic issues that take into account different approaches, visions and knowledge systems, including global assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services with a defined geographical scope, and thematic or methodological assessments based on the standard or the fast-track approach. They are to be composed of two or more sections including a summary for policymakers, an optional technical summary and individual chapters and their executive summaries. Assessments are the major output of IPBES, and they contain syntheses of findings on topics that have been selected by the IPBES.

Assessment reports are published outputs of scientific, technical and socioeconomic issues that take into account different approaches, visions and knowledge systems, including global assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services with a defined geographical scope, and thematic or methodological assessments based on the standard or the fast-track approach. They are composed of two or more sections including a summary for policymakers, an optional technical summary, and individual chapters and their executive summaries. Assessments are the major output of IPBES, and they contain syntheses of findings on topics that have been selected by the IPBES Plenary.

Published outputs of scientific, technical and socioeconomic issues that take into account different approaches, visions and knowledge systems, including global assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services with a defined geographical scope, and thematic or methodological assessments based on the standard or the fast-track approach. They are to be composed of two or more sections including a summary for policymakers, an optional technical summary and individual chapters and their executive summaries. Assessments are the major output of IPBES, and they contain syntheses of findings on topics that have been selected by the IPBES Plenary.

Published outputs of scientific, technical and socioeconomic issues that take into account different approaches, visions and knowledge systems, including global assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services with a defined geographical scope, and thematic or methodological assessments based on the standard or the fast-track approach. They are composed of two or more sections including a summary for policymakers, an optional technical summary and individual chapters and their executive summaries. Assessments are the major output of IPBES, and they contain syntheses of findings on topics that have been selected by the IPBES Plenary.

Within the context of IPBES - published assessments of scientific, technical and socio-economic issues that take into account different approaches, visions and knowledge systems, including global and regional assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and thematic or methodological assessments.

Also known as assisted migration or managed relocation, is the act of deliberately moving plants or animals to a different habitat. The destination habitat may have either historically held the species or it may not have hosted the species, but the habitat provides the bioclimatic requirements to support it. Assisted colonization may also supplement an existing population in a site where their numbers are dwindling. This is especially the case where the assisted species are unable to disperse at a rate which keeps pace with the shifting bio-climatic, bio-physical envelope.

The tendency for plant (or pollinator) species with few links to interact with pollinator (or plant) species with many links. In mutualistic networks, such as pollination, nestedness (q.v.) is often asymmetrical with specialists of one group (plants or pollinators) linked to the generalists of the partner group (pollinators or plants).

Soil water content useable by plants, based on the effective root penetration depth.

The condition of having two different alleles at a gene locus.

Land-based climate change mitigation strategy based on maintaining and expanding global forest area, and thus the carbon uptake of forest ecosystems in biomass and soil.

Land normally used for production and left to recover for part or all of a growing season (more in the case of swidden agriculture).

Family forestry is forest tenure and activities by persons with ownership or tenure rights to forest land. Persons owning or managing forests often include the whole family in the activities and the forest land goes from one generation to the next.

An area of land, a holding of any size from a small plot or garden (fractions of a hectare) to several thousand hectares that is devoted primarily to agriculture to produce food, fibre, or fuel. A farm may be owned and operated by an individual, family, community, corporation or a company, and may produce one to many types of produce or animal.

The modification or control of a process or system by its results or effects.

processes that either amplify (positive feedback loop) or diminish (negative feedback loop) the effects of a biological invasion. Feedback loops may make the impacts of biological invasions stronger or weaker, starting a chain reaction that repeats again and again. Negative feedback loop: A human-natural feedback that continually stabilizes or reduces ongoing or future biological invasions (also known as a ‘balancing’ feedback loop). Positive feedback loop: A human-natural feedback that continually increases ongoing or future biological invasions (also known as ‘exacerbating’ or ‘reinforcing’ feedback loops)

Species are considered to be feral if they or their ancestors were formerly domesticated, but they are now living independently of humans.

In agriculture, it is a defined area of cleared enclosed land used for cultivation or pasture.

A term used to describe the characteristics of fires that occur in a particular ecosystem over a period of time. Fire regimes are characterized based on a combination of factors including the frequency, intensity, size, pattern, season and severity of fires.

The practice of indigenous Australians to use fire to burn vegetation to facilitate hunting and to change the composition of the plant and animal species of an area. It was coined by Australian archaeologist Rhys Jones.

A unit determined by an authority or other entity that is engaged in raising and/or harvesting fish. Typically, the unit is defined in terms of some or all of the following: people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats and purpose of the activities.

Generally, a fishery is an activity leading to harvesting of fish. It may involve capture of wild fish or raising of fish through aquaculture. Note that in this definition, the term fish includes all types of marine animals, fish, but also crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms etc.

Fishing is defined as the removal from their habitats of aquatic animals (vertebrates and invertebrates) that spend their full life cycle in water (fish, some marine mammals, shellfish, shrimps, squids, corals). Fishing most often results in the death of the aquatic animal, but it may not in some cases. To reflect both situations, fishing has been sub-divided into a lethal and a “non-lethal” category. Lethal fishing is defined as the general and more usual meaning of fishing that leads to the killing of the animal, such as in traditional commercial fisheries. “Non-lethal fishing is defined as the temporary or permanent capture of live animals from their habitat without intended mortality, such as in aquarium fish trade or catch and release. However, unintended mortality may occur in “non-lethal” fishing and the term “non-lethal” is therefore put in quotes. The killing of species that spend part of their life cycle in terrestrial environments (e.g. walrus, sea turtles) is encompassed by the definition of hunting.

Fitness involves the ability of organisms- or populations or species- to survive and reproduce in the environment in which they find themselves, and thus contribute genes to the next generation (Orr, 2009).

Fitness involves the ability of organisms- or populations or species- to survive and reproduce in the environment in which they find themselves, and thus contribute genes to the next generation.

Species that, by being charismatic or famous, can attract funding which will help conservation of other species at the same time (ex.Giant Panda).