Glossary definitions

The total area of green leaves per unit area of ground covered (FAO, 2018a).

An environmentally damaging activity that is relocated elsewhere after being stopped locally.

Phenomena whereby the reduction in emissions (relative to a baseline) in a jurisdiction/sector associated with the implementation of mitigation policy is offset to some degree by an increase outside the jurisdiction/sector through induced changes in consumption, production, prices, land use and/or trade across the jurisdictions/sectors. Leakage can occur at a number of levels, be it a project, state, province, nation or world region.

Learning refers to the process of knowledge and skills acquisition. Studies on learning have payed attention to the different ways people acquire knowledge, practices, and beliefs (i.e. imitation, copying, trial-and-error), but also to the dynamics of kn.

Learning refers to the process of knowledge and skills acquisition. Studies on learning have payed attention to the different ways people acquire knowledge, practices, and beliefs (i.e. imitation, copying, trial-and-error), but also to the dynamics of knowledge transmission, or the different sources from which knowledge, practices, and beliefs are passed from one individual to another (i.e. from parents, peers, teachers, prestigious peoples, media, etc.). Social learning is defined as the acquisition of new information by copying others, and it is a key human strategy that allows for the accumulation of culturally transmitted knowledge.

see “Policy instruments”.

any entity that has the ability to conclude and negotiate international agreements in accordance with its external commitments; become a member of international organizations; join international conventions, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, stipulated in Article 6(2) of the Treaty on European Union

Legal pluralism is a sensitizing concept for situations in which people draw upon several legal systems, irrespective of their status within the state legal system.

Degree of detail captured in an analysis. A high level of resolution implies a highly detailed analysis, usually associated with finer spatial and temporal scales. A low level of resolution implies a less detailed analysis, usually associated with coarser spatial and temporal scales.

Frames that illustrate the in which people conceptualise how nature matters. Life frames mediate between ways of being/living and the prioritization of different sets of broad and specific values. The four archetypes of living from, living in, living with and living as nature are not mutually exclusive. They offer a range of sources-of-concern for nature that can overlap or be emphasized in diverse contexts (section 2.2.6).

Referred to simply as karsts are sedimentary rock outcrops that consist primarily of calcium carbonate.

Imprecise meaning of words, including vagueness and ambiguity.

Livelihood diversification is defined as the process by which rural families construct a diverse portfolio of activities and social support capabilities in their struggle for survival and in order to improve their standards of living”.

The capacity of all people across generations to sustain and improve their livelihood opportunities and well-being despite environmental, economic, social and political disturbances.

Adequate and sustainable access to income and resources to meet basic needs (including adequate access to food, potable water, health facilities, educational opportunities, housing, time for community participation and social integration).

Within the context of the IPBES Conceptual Framework - a perspective on good quality of life based on the interdependence that exists among human beings, other living species and elements of nature. It implies that we should live peacefully alongside all other organisms even though we may need to exploit other organisms to some degree.

adj. Referring to places, people, things or events within a short distance of an identified locality.

Local communities” refers to non-indigenous communities with historical linkages to places and livelihoods characterized by long- term relationships with the natural environment, often over generations.

A group of individuals that interact within their immediate surroundings and/or direct mutual influences in their daily life. In this sense, a rural village, a clan in transhumance or the inhabitants of an urban neighbourhood can be considered a local community, but not all the inhabitants of a district, a city quarter or even a rural town. A local community could be permanently settled or mobile.

Knowledge about nature, including organisms (animals and plants), ecosystems and ecological interactions, held by local people who interact with and use natural resources. This is a manifestation of indigenous local knowledge (ILK), but includes also knowledge held by those local people who may not be officially recognized as indigenous (in legal terms). Like traditional ecological knowledge, LEK can be seen as a knowledge-practice-belief complex. In other words, it is a cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission (Berkes, 2012). This encompasses ways of knowing and doing, which are dynamic concepts relying on building on experience and adapting to changes, thereby imbibe a strong learning-by-doing component.

Local economies and subsistence economies are defined as those that are small in scale and in which the use of resources (including wild species) are limited and exclusively used to meet local needs rather than accumulated or sold for profit.

Logging is defined as the removal of whole trees or woody parts of trees from their habitat. Logging generally results in the death of the tree, but also includes cases in which it may not, such as coppicing. Logging occurs in forests that may be classified as primary, naturally regenerating, planted, and plantation. This assessment does not address logging from plantation forests except as it has bearing on the practice in the other forest types. Harvest of non-woody parts of trees ( leaves, propagules and bark) are here defined as gathering.

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.

Direct drivers that are not the result of human activities and are beyond human control.

The effects of natural hazards, which are natural processes or phenomena occurring in the biosphere that may constitute a damaging event. Natural disasters can be for instance: earthquakes, floods, landslide, volcanic eruption, etc.

Areas composed of viable assemblages of plant and/or animal species of largely native origin and/or where human activity had not essentially modified an area's primary ecological functions and species composition (UNEP-WCMC, 2014).

Areas composed of viable assemblages of plant and/or animal species of largely native origin and/or where human activity had not essentially modified an area's primary ecological functions and species composition.

Natural features, geological and physiographical formations and delineated areas that constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants and natural sites of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty (UNESCO, 1972).

Natural features, geological and physiographical formations and delineated areas that constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants and natural sites of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty.

A species that, once it is introduced outside its native distributional range, establishes self-sustaining populations.

In the context of IPBES, refers to the natural world with an emphasis on its living components. Within the context of western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems (both structure and functioning), evolution, the biosphere, humankind’s shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life, and it is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity (see Mother Earth).

In the context of IPBES, nature refers to the natural world with an emphasis on its living components. Within the context of Western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems (both structure and functioning), evolution, the biosphere, humankind's shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life, and it is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity (see Mother Earth).

In the context of the Platform, refers to the natural world with an emphasis on biodiversity. Within the context of western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems (both structure and functioning), evolution, the biosphere, humankind's shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life, and it is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity.

In the context of the Platform, refers to the natural world with an emphasis on its living components. Within the context of Western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems (both structure and functioning), evolution, the biosphere, humankind's shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life, and it is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity (see Mother Earth).

The natural world, with particular emphasis on biodiversity.

In the context of IPBES, refers to the natural world with an emphasis on its living components. Within the context of western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems (both structure and functioning), evolution, the biosphere, humankind's shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life, and it is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity (see Mother Earth).