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Glossary definitions

The IPBES glossary terms definitions page provides definitions of terms used in IPBES assessments. Some definitions in this online glossary have been edited for consistency. Please refer to the specific assessment glossary for citations/authorities of definitions. 

We invite you to report any errors or omissions to [email protected].

Concept Definition Deliverable(s)
site-based management

programmes that aim to manage the impacts of invasive alien species within a site/area through both implementation of control measures and where necessary restoration (sometimes referred to as asset protection) e.g., within high value protected sites/areas.

Invasive alien species assessment
slash-and-burn agriculture

See ‘Shifting cultivation’.

Global assessment (1st work programme)
slash-and-burn agriculture

.

Sustainable use assessment
small-scale fisheries

Traditional fishing performed by family units rather than commercial units, using a relatively small amount of capital and energy, and carrying out short fishing trips close to coasts and mainly for local consumption (FAO, 2018a).

Global assessment (1st work programme)
small-scale fisheries

Small-scale fisheries are defined as a category of capture fishery that generally present (some of) the following characteristics: (i) low capital investment, (ii) high labor activities often family or community-based, (iii) no vessel or small size vessel (< 12m and < 10 GT), (iv) relatively low production, which is household consumed or locally and directly sold and (v) operating close to the shoreline on a single day basis.

Sustainable use assessment
smriti veda

A Hindu religious text containing traditional teachings on religion.

Asia-Pacific assessment
social and cultural based instrument

see “Policy instruments”.

Sustainable use assessment
social behaviour

defined as interactions among individuals, normally within the same species, that are usually beneficial to one or more of the individuals. It is believed that social behaviour evolved because it was beneficial to those who engaged in it, which means that these individuals were more likely to survive and reproduce. Social behaviour serves many purposes and is exhibited by an extraordinary wide variety of animals, including invertebrates, fish, birds, and mammals. Thus, social behaviour is not only displayed by animals possessing well-developed brains and nervous systems.

Values assessment
social capital

As used in the global assessment, social capital refers to networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups. Put together, these networks and understandings engender trust and so enable people to work together.

Sustainable use assessment
social capital

As used in the global assessment, social capital refers to networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups. Put together, these networks and understandings engender trust and so enable peo.

social capital

Networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups. Social capital represents the capacity of a community (local or international like the UN) to gather and achieve common goals.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
social construction

Emphasizes that social/cultural processes behind the creation of artefacts, values and institutions. To the extent that these constructs influence people’s identity and personality, one talks of social construction of the human.

Values assessment
social inequality

A state whereby resources in a given society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
social learning

Social learning is both the cooperation of partners and the outcome of this cooperation that occurs most efficiently through joint problem solving and reflection within learning networks can be reinforced by experiences.

Values assessment
social marginalization

The process in which individuals or people are systematically blocked from (or denied full access to) various rights, opportunities and resources that are normally available to members of a different group, and which are fundamental to social integration and observance of human rights within that particular group (e.g. housing, employment, healthcare, civic engagement, democratic participation and due process).

Land degradation and restoration assessment
social network

A network of social interactions and personal relationships.

Global assessment (1st work programme)
social norms

A social norm is what people in some group believe to be normal in the group, that is, believed to be a typical action, an appropriate action, or both (Gerry Mackie et al., 2015).

Global assessment (1st work programme)
social norms

A social norm is what people in some group believe to be normal in the group, that is, believed to be a typical action, an appropriate action, or both.

Sustainable use assessment
social responsibility

Refers to transparent social practices that are based on ethical values, compliance with legal requirements, and respect for people, communities, and the environment.

Africa assessment
social safety net

Social welfare services provided by a community of individuals at the state and local levels. These services are geared toward eliminating poverty in a specific area. These services may include housing re- assignment, job placement, subsidies for household bills, and other cash equivalents for food. Social safety net works in conjunction with a number of other poverty reduction programs with the primary goal of reducing/preventing poverty.

Sustainable use assessment
social values

Social values refer to value indicators at a social scale, such as social willingness to pay in economics. They can be established by aggregation from individual values through analytical procedures, or through social processes, such as deliberative valuation, that lead to shared social values.

Values assessment, Values assessment
social welfare

The condition of a society emphasizing happiness and contentment; social welfare relates to how individuals use their relationships to other actors in societies for their own and for the collective good; it has both material elements and wider spiritual and social dimensions.

Global assessment (1st work programme), Sustainable use assessment
socio-ecological system

Social-ecological systems are complex adaptive systems in which people and nature are inextricably linked, in which both the social and ecological components exert strong influence over outcomes. The social dimension includes actors, institutions, cultures and economies, including livelihoods. The ecological dimension includes wild species and the ecosystem they inhabit.

Sustainable use assessment
social-ecological resilience

The capacity of a social-ecological system to absorb or withstand perturbations and other stressors such that the system remains within the same regime, essentially maintaining its structure and functions. It describes the degree to which the system is capable of self-organization, learning and adaptation.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
societies

Aggregations of people involved in persistent social interactions or sharing geographical or social territories, often with individual political authorities and dominant cultural expectations.

Asia-Pacific assessment
socio-cultural value

Values shared by people in groups and/or values that inform shared identity of a particular group.

Scenarios and models assessment
socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes

Dynamic mosaics of habitats and land uses where the harmonious interaction between people and nature maintains biodiversity while providing humans with the goods and services needed for their.

Sustainable use assessment
socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes

Dynamic mosaics of habitats and land uses where the harmonious interaction between people and nature maintains biodiversity while providing humans with the goods and services needed for their livelihoods, survival and well-being in a sustainable manner.

Global assessment (1st work programme)
socio-ecological system

A bio-geo- physical unit and its associated social actors and institutions. Socio-ecological systems are complex and adaptive and are delimited by spatial or functional boundaries surrounding particular ecosystems and their specific context.

Global assessment (1st work programme), Scenarios and models assessment
socio-ecological system

A concept used in a variety of analytical approaches intended to examine the relationship between people and nature as inter-linked, recognizing that humans should be seen as a part of, not apart from, nature, and nature as inter-linked to social systems.

socio-economic driver

see indirect drivers.

Scenarios and models assessment
socio-ecological system

An ecosystem, the management of this ecosystem by actors and organizations, and the rules, social norms, and conventions underlying this management.

Land degradation and restoration assessment, Africa assessment, Asia-Pacific assessment, Americas assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment
soil

The upper layer of the Earth’s crust transformed by weathering and physical/ chemical and biological processes. It is composed of mineral particles, organic matter, water, air and living organisms organized in genetic soil horizons.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
soil acidification

Soil acidification is caused by a number of factors including acidic precipitation and the deposition from the atmosphere of acidifying gases or particles, such as sulphur dioxide, ammonia and nitric acid. The most important causes of soil acidification on agricultural land, however, are the application of ammonium-based fertilizers and urea, elemental S fertilizer and the growth of legumes.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
soil biodiversity loss

Decline in the diversity of (micro- and macro-) organisms present in a soil. In turn, this prejudices the ability of soil to provide critical ecosystem services.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
soil compaction

An increase in density and a decline of porosity in a soil that impedes root penetration and movements of water and gases.

Global assessment (1st work programme), Land degradation and restoration assessment, Americas assessment
soil compaction

Defined as an increase in density and a decline of porosity in a soil that impedes root penetration and movements of water and gases.

Europe and Central Asia assessment
soil contamination

An increase of toxic compounds (heavy metals, pesticides and so on) in a soil that constitute, directly or indirectly (via the food chain), a hazard for human health and/or for the provision of ecosystem services assured by the soil.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
soil degradation

The diminishing capacity of the soil to provide ecosystem goods and services.

Global assessment (1st work programme), Land degradation and restoration assessment
soil degradation

The diminishing capacity of the soil to provide ecosystem goods and services as desired by its stakeholders.

Americas assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme), Global assessment (1st work programme)
soil ecosystem function

A description of the significance of soils to humans and the environment. Examples are: (i) control of substance and energy cycles within ecosystems; (ii) basis for the life of plants, animals and man; (iii) basis for the stability of buildings and roads; (iv) basis for agriculture and forestry; (v) carrier of genetic reservoir; (vi) document of natural history; and (vii) archaeological and paleo-ecological document.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
soil fertility

The capacity of a soil to receive, store and transmit energy to support plant growth. It is the component of overall soil productivity that deals with its available nutrient status, and its ability to provide nutrients out of its own reserves and through external applications for crop production.

Sustainable use assessment
soil fertility

The capacity of a soil to receive, store and transmit energy to support plant growth. It is the component of overall soil productivity that deals with its available nutrient status, and its ability to provide nutrients out of its own reserves and through.

soil fertility

The quality of a soil that enables it to provide compounds in adequate amounts and proper balance to promote growth of plants when other factors (such as light, moisture, temperature and soil structure) are favourable.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
soil formation rate

The process of rock weathering though which soil is formed.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
soil health

The continued capacity of the soil to function as a vital living system, within ecosystem and land-use boundaries, to sustain biological productivity, promote the quality of air and water environments, and maintain plant, animal and human health.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
soil organic carbon

A summarizing parameter including all of the carbon forms for dissolved (DOC: Dissolved Organic Carbon) and total organic compounds (TOC: Total Organic Carbon) in soils.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
soil organic matter

Matter consisting of plant and/or animal organic materials, and the conversion products of those materials in soils.

Land degradation and restoration assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment, Sustainable use assessment
soil organic matter

Matter consisting of plant and/or animal organic materials, and the conversion products of those materials in soils (ISO, 2013).

Americas assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme)
soil pollution

Process of soil contamination by chemicals (fertilizers, petroleum products, pesticides, herbicides, mining) which has affected agricultural productivity and other ecosystem services negatively.

Land degradation and restoration assessment