Glossary definitions

The process of bringing something together, and comparing (e.g. models or scenarios) to facilitate compatibility or consistency.

A process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation. Hazards that this assessment discusses are mostly environmental hazards (chemical, natural and biological hazards), while cognizant that many hazards are socio- natural, in that they are associated with a combination of natural and anthropogenic factors. Natural hazards are predominantly associated with natural processes and phenomena, including geological or geophysical hazards that originate from internal earth processes (earthquakes, volcanic activities, landslides, tsunamis), and hydrometeorological hazards, which are of atmospheric, hydrological or oceanographic origin (tropical cyclones, floods, drought; heatwaves, and storm surges). Biological hazards are of organic origin or conveyed by biological vectors, including pathogenic microorganisms, toxins and bioactive substances. Examples are bacteria, viruses or parasites, as well as venomous wildlife and insects, poisonous plants and mosquitoes carrying disease-causing agents.

Describes built up areas that are hotter than nearby rural areas. Heat islands can affect communities by increasing summertime peak energy demand, air conditioning costs, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, heat-related illness and mortality, and water quality.

A row of shrubs or trees that forms the boundary of an area such as a garden, field, farm, road or right-of-way.

An economic valuation approach that utilizes information about the implicit demand for an environmental attribute of marketed commodities.

A substance that kills or inhibits the germination, growth and development of plants. Herbicides may be synthetic chemicals, natural chemicals, or biological agents.

The Holocene is the current geological epoch. It began after the Pleistocene, approximately 11,650 calendar years before present.

Yard areas surrounding a house for vegetable and fruit production and keeping of domestic animals. In many regions homegardens contain wild species utilized as medicinal plants, timber or other uses.

Organisms (vertebrates) with a constant and high body temperature, with a high level of energy exchange.

When used in the ecological sense homogenisation means a decrease in the extent to which communities differ in species composition.

When used in the ecological sense homogenisation means a decrease in the extent to which communities differ in species or functional composition.

When used in the ecological sense homogenization means a decrease in the extent to which communities differ in species composition.

Any bee that is a member of the genus Apis. They are primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the construction of perennial, colonial nests from wax. Currently, eight species of honey bee are recognized.

High investment crop production using resources intensively for high value product.

Areas with significantly high levels of agrobiodiversity.

See 'Biodiversity hotspot'.

The aggregate impact of land use on biomass available each year in ecosystems.

All the knowledge, talents, skills, abilities, experience, intelligence, training, judgment and wisdom possessed individually and collectively by individuals in a population.

A general term used to refer to pre-historical and historical periods describing the development of humanity. Different classifications of periods exist reflecting different interpretation of human history.

Rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, colour, sex, language, religion or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or any other status. These rights are interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.

Instruments for the protection and promotion of human rights, including general instruments, instruments concerning specific issues, and instruments relating to the protection of particular groups.

The inalienable fundamental rights of each and every human being as acknowledged in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948). Arguments of intragenerational justice basically refer to human rights.

See Values.

A state of existence that fulfils various human needs, including material living conditions and quality of life, as well as the ability to pursue one's goals, to thrive, and feel satisfied with one's life (IPCC, 2020). The IPBES definition is consistent with this definition but notes that well-being also includes non-material living conditions and cultural identity. The phrase ‘Good quality of Life' as used in this report (see glossary entry) is intended to be inclusive of both the human well-being definitions given above.

See Good Quality of Life.

see well-being.

The ways in which people relate to and engage with the natural environment, which are diverse and linked to worldviews, values and attitudes embedded in daily life.

Humanistic economics intend to show that humankind is perfectly capable of living without the profit motive, and has done so for most of its history. It goes again the tendency to consider the profit motive as self-evident, an idea that underlies many political decisions. See also Behavioural economics.

Decomposition of organic material followed by a synthesis of humic substances.

The capture by humans of wild mammals, birds, and reptiles, whether dead or alive, irrespective of the techniques used to capture them or the reasons to do so.

See models.

Models that combine correlative and process-based modelling approaches.

An oil and gas well development process that typically involves injecting water, sand, and chemicals under high pressure into a bedrock formation via the well. This process is intended to create new fractures in the rock as well as increase the size, extent, and connectivity of existing fractures. Hydraulic fracturing is a well-stimulation technique used commonly in low-permeability rocks like tight sandstone, shale, and some coal beds to increase oil and/or gas flow to a well from petroleum-bearing rock formations.

A fissure on the floor of a sea out of which flows water that has been heated by underlying magma. The water can be as hot as 400°C (752°F) and usually contains dissolved minerals that precipitate out of it upon contact with the colder seawater, building a stack of minerals, or chimney. Hydrothermal vents form an ecosystem for microbes and animals, such as tube worms, giant clams, and blind shrimp, that can with stand the hostile environment. The hottest hydrothermal vents are called black smokers because they spew iron and sulfide which combine to form iron mono sulfide, a black compound.

Low dissolved oxygen levels in coastal and oceanic waters (<2mL per liter of water), either naturally occurring or as a result of a degradation (e.g. eutrophication).

The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) is a supplementary agreement to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. It provides a transparent legal framework for the effective implementation of one of the three objectives of the CBD: the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The Nagoya Protocol aims to create greater legal certainty and transparency for both providers and users of genetic resources by establishing more predictable conditions for access to genetic resources and helping to ensure benefit-sharing when genetic resources leave the country providing the genetic resources. The Nagoya Protocol on ABS was adopted on 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan and entered into force on 12 October 2014.

adj. Pertaining to a nation state or people who define themselves as a nation. A nation can be thought of as a large number of people associated with a particular territory and who are sufficiently conscious of their unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own.

The Convention on Biological Diversity calls on each of its Parties to prepare a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (Article 6a) that establishes specific activities and targets for achieving the objectives of the Convention. These plans mostly are implemented by a partnership of conservation organizations. Species or habitats which are the subject of NBSAPs are the governments stated priorities for action and therefore raise greater concern where they are threatened. NBSAPs do not carry legal status and listed species and habitat types are not necessarily protected (although some are covered by other legislation) (Hesselink et al., 2007).

The Convention on Biological Diversity calls on each of its Parties to prepare a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (Article 6a) that establishes specific activities and targets for achieving the objectives of the Convention. These plans mostly are implemented by a partnership of conservation organizations. Species or habitats which are the subject of NBSAPs are the governments stated priorities for action and therefore raise greater concern where they are threatened. NBSAPs do not carry legal status and listed species and habitat types are not necessarily protected (although some are covered by other legislation).

Forests that are made up of native tree species, and are either primary (have never been clear-cut) or secondary (regenerating naturally).

A pollinator species living in an area where it evolved, or dispersed without human intervention. the study of first principles or the essence of things.

Indigenous species of animals or plants that naturally occur in a given region or ecosystem.

taxa that have originated in a given area (their natural range) without human involvement, or that have arrived there without intentional or unintentional intervention of humans, from an area in which they are native (IPBES glossary). This definition excludes products of hybridization involving alien taxa since “human involvement”, in this case, includes the introduction of an alien parent

Regions that have not been significantly altered by humankind.

A concept referring to the stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources ( plants, animals, air, water, soils, minerals) that combine to yield a flow of benefits to people (UNDP, 2016b). Within the IPBES conceptual framework, it is part of the nature category, representing an economic-utilitarian perspective on nature, specifically those aspects of nature that people use (or anticipate to use) as source of Nature's contributions to people.

Sets of linked accounts that contain information about the type and quantities and, where possible, the value of the stocks of natural assets and the flows of services generated by them. The accounts contain two main components: physical accounts - types, quantities and condition of assets; and monetary accounts - application of monetary units of valuation to selected flows of services on an annual basis and associated values of stocks.

A concept referring to the stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources (e.g. plants, animals, air, water, soils, minerals) that combine to yield a flow of benefits to people (UNDP, 2016b). Within the IPBES conceptual framework, it is part of t.

An economic metaphor for the limited stocks of physical and biological resources found on Earth.

The world's stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things.

The world's stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things. It is from this natural capital that humans derive a wide range of services, often called ecosystem services, which make human life possible.