Glossary definitions

In the context of IPBES, drivers of change are all the factors that, directly or indirectly, cause changes in nature, anthropogenic assets, nature's contributions to people and a good quality of life. Direct drivers of change can be both natural and anthropogenic. Direct drivers have direct physical (mechanical, chemical, noise, light etc.) and behaviour-affecting impacts on nature. They include, inter alia, climate change, pollution, different types of land use change, invasive alien species and zoonoses, and exploitation. Indirect drivers are drivers that operate diffusely by altering and influencing direct drivers, as well as other indirect drivers. They do not impact nature directly. Rather, they do it by affecting the level, direction or rate of direct drivers. Interactions between indirect and direct drivers create different chains of relationship, attribution, and impacts, which may vary according to type, intensity, duration, and distance. These relationships can also lead to different types of spill-over effects. Global indirect drivers include economic, demographic, governance, technological and cultural ones. Special attention is given, among indirect drivers, to the role of institutions (both formal and informal) and impacts of the patterns of production, supply and consumption on nature, nature's contributions to people and good quality of life.

In the context of IPBES, drivers of change are all the factors that, directly or indirectly, cause changes in nature, anthropogenic assets, nature's contributions to people and a good quality of life. Direct drivers of change can be both natural and anthropogenic. Direct drivers have direct physical (mechanical, chemical, noise, light etc.) and psychological (disturbance etc.) impacts on nature and its functioning, and on people and their interaction. Direct drivers unequivocally influence biodiversity and ecosystem processes. They are also referred to as ‘pressures'. Direct drivers include, inter alia, climate change, pollution, land use change, invasive alien species and zoonoses, including their effects across regions. Indirect drivers are drivers that operate diffusely by altering and influencing direct drivers as well as other indirect drivers (also referred to as ‘underlying causes'). Interactions between indirect and direct drivers create different chains of relationship, attribution, and impacts, which may vary according to type, intensity, duration, and distance. These relationships can also lead to different types of spill-over effects. Global indirect drivers include economic, demographic, governance, technological and cultural ones, among others. Special attention is given, among indirect drivers, to the role of institutions (both formal and informal) and impacts of the patterns of production, supply and consumption on nature, nature's contributions to people and good quality of life.

In the context of IPBES, drivers of change are all the factors that, directly or indirectly, cause changes in nature, anthropogenic assets, nature's contributions to people and a good quality of life.Direct drivers of change can be both natural and anthropogenic. Direct drivers have direct physical (mechanical, chemical, noise, light etc.) and behaviour-affecting impacts on nature. They include, inter alia, climate change, pollution, different types of land use change, invasive alien species and zoonoses, and exploitation.Indirect drivers are drivers that operate diffusely by altering and influencing direct drivers, as well as other indirect drivers. They do not impact nature directly. Rather, they do it by affecting the level, direction or rate of direct drivers.Interactions between indirect and direct drivers create different chains of relationship, attribution, and impacts, which may vary according to type, intensity, duration, and distance. These relationships can also lead to different types of spill-over effects.Global indirect drivers include economic, demographic, governance, technological and cultural ones. Special attention is given, among indirect drivers, to the role of institutions (both formal and informal) and impacts of the patterns of production, supply and consumption on nature, nature's contributions to people and good quality of life.

In the context of IPBES, drivers of change are all the factors that, directly or indirectly, cause changes in nature, anthropogenic assets, nature’s contributions to people and a good quality of life. Direct drivers of change can be both natural and anthropogenic. Direct drivers have direct physical (mechanical, chemical, noise, light etc.) and psychological (disturbance etc.) impacts on nature and its functioning, and on people and their interaction. Direct drivers unequivocally influence biodiversity and ecosystem processes. They are also referred to as ‘pressures’. Direct drivers include, inter alia, climate change, pollution, land use change, invasive alien species and zoonoses, including their effects across regions. Indirect drivers are drivers that operate diffusely by altering and influencing direct drivers as well as other indirect drivers (also referred to as ‘underlying causes’). Interactions between indirect and direct drivers create different chains of relationship, attribution, and impacts, which may vary according to type, intensity, duration, and distance. These relationships can also lead to different types of spill-over effects. Global indirect drivers include economic, demographic, governance, technological and cultural ones, among others. Special attention is given, among indirect drivers, to the role of institutions (both formal and informal) and impacts of the patterns of production, supply and consumption on nature, nature’s contributions to people and good quality of life.

Drivers, both non human-induced and anthropogenic, that affect nature directly. Direct anthropogenic drivers are those that flow from human institutions and governance systems and other indirect drivers. They include positive and negative effects, such as habitat conversion, human-caused climate change, or species introductions. Direct non human-induced drivers can directly affect anthropogenic assets and quality of life (e.g. a volcanic eruption can destroy roads and cause human deaths), but these impacts are not the main focus of IPBES. See chapter 1 and chapter 2 (Drivers) for a detailed typology of drivers.

Human actions and decisions that affect nature diffusely by altering and influencing direct drivers as well as other indirect drivers. They do not physically impact nature or its contributions to people. Indirect drivers include economic, demographic, governance, technological and cultural ones, among others. See chapter 1 and chapter 2 (Drivers) for a detailed typology of drivers.

All the external factors that cause change in nature, anthropogenic assets, nature's benefits to people and a good quality of life. They include institutions and governance systems and other indirect drivers, and direct drivers (both natural and anthropogenic).

All those external factors (i.e. generated outside the conceptual framework element in question) that affect nature, anthropogenic assets, nature's benefits to people and quality of life. Drivers of change include institutions and governance systems and other indirect drivers, and direct drivers - both natural and anthropogenic.direct drivers result from human decisions.

Drivers of change refer to all those external factors that affect nature, and, as a consequence, also affect the supply of nature's contributions to people. The IPBES conceptual framework includes drivers of change as two of its main elements: indirect drivers, which are all anthropogenic, and direct drivers, both natural and anthropogenic. See chapter 1 and chapter 2 (Drivers) for a detailed typology of drivers.

Drivers of change refer to all those external factors that affect nature, and, as a consequence, also affect the supply of Nature's contributions to people. The IPBES conceptual framework includes drivers of change as two of its main elements: indirect drivers, which are all anthropogenic, and direct drivers, both natural and anthropogenic.

For the purpose of this assessment, drivers are defined as the factors that, directly or indirectly influence the sustainability of use of wild species, by changing the abundance or distribution of species in use, altering demand on and consumption of wild species, products derived from wild species and/or changing the (nature, scale, and/or intensity of) interactions with wild species in use (practices). It is recognized that the same factor may influence different components of the system (wild species, practices, Nature’s contributions to people); and the interactions among these factors vary across time and space, which can have negative or positive effects on sustainability.

Those that are the result of human decisions and actions, namely, of institutions and governance systems and other indirect drivers (e.g. land degradation and restoration, freshwater pollution, ocean acidification, climate change produced by anthropogenic carbon emissions, species introductions). Some of these drivers, such as pollution, can have negative impacts on nature; others, as in the case of habitat restoration, can have positive effects.

Both natural and anthropogenic drivers that affect nature directly.

The ways in which societies organize themselves (and their interaction with nature), and the resulting influences on other components. They are underlying causes of change that do not make direct contact with the portion of nature in question; rather, they impact it - positively or negatively - through direct anthropogenic drivers. The institutions encompass all formal and informal interactions among stakeholders and social structures that determine how decisions are taken and implemented, how power is exercised, and how responsibilities are distributed. Various collections of institutions come together to form governance systems, that include interactions between different centres of power in society (corporate, customary-law based, governmental, judicial) at different scales from local through to global. Institutions and governance systems determine, to various degrees, the access to, and the control, allocation and distribution of components of nature and anthropogenic assets and their benefits to people .

Drivers that are not the result of human activities and whose occurrence is beyond human control (e.g. natural climate and weather patterns, extreme events such as prolonged drought or cold periods, cyclones and floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions).

Tropical and sub-tropical dry forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive several hundred centimetres or rain per year, they deal with long dry seasons which last several months and vary with geographic location.

Arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. The term excludes hyper-arid areas, also known as deserts. Drylands are characterized by water scarcity and cover approximately 40% of the world's terrestrial surface.

Drylands comprise arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. The term excludes hyper-arid areas, also known as deserts. Drylands are characterised by water scarcity and cover approximately 40 % of the world's terrestrial surface.

Drylands comprise arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. The term excludes hyper-arid areas, also known as deserts. Drylands are characterised by water scarcity and cover approximately 40 per cent of the world's terrain.

Drylands comprise arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. The term excludes hyper-arid areas, also known as deserts. Drylands are characterised by water scarcity and cover approximately 40% of the world's terrestrial surface.

Tropical and temperate areas with an aridity index (annual rainfall/annual potential evaporation) of less than 0.65.

Downscaling based on mechanistic models, which may be more appropriate than statistical downscaling in systems where the relationship between coarse scale and fine scale dynamics are complex and non-linear, or observational data are insufficient.

A model that describes changes through time of a specific process. See also process-based model.

See models.

refer to the emergent patterns of change across ‘depths’, ‘breadths’ and time that unfold as non-linear pathways. These may be characterised by ‘punctuated equilibrium’ in which more stable periods of incremental change are punctuated by bursts of change in which underlying structures are reorganised into new states.

Typically refers to checking model outputs for consistency with observations. However, since models cannot be validated in the formal sense of the term (i.e. proven to be true), some scientists prefer to use the words benchmarking or evaluation.

See models.

It is the process of documenting the existence of values, identifying when and where and by whom they are expressed, that in turn allows characterizing values. Valuation of nature can inform decision-making about numerous human-nature relationships; it can support decision processes about alternative projects or policies, inform the design of policy tools and instruments, for conservation and sustainable management of nature or to improve justice. Outside the formal policy space, valuation is also undertaken by academia, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and by indigenous and local communities (IPLC). IPLC undertake valuation not only to make decisions about nature, but also to assess their relationships with nature, to plan collectively, resolve conflicts, defend their territories, and as a means for strengthening and reciprocating their connections with nature.

Valuation approaches are higher level assumptions, ideas or beliefs that underpin methods. They translate key decisions on how a method is to be applied or how the information generated by methods is to be interpreted. For each approach there are often multiple accepted methods that adhere to the basic assumptions and ideas of the given approach. Valuation approaches can also be manifested as “traditions” or widely accepted and expected protocols for undertaking valuation. Valuation traditions are heavily informed and influenced by the cultural context and/or epistemological worldviews.

Are the specific techniques and accepted formal procedures that are applied to gather and analyse information from nature and society in order to and understand or make explicit the state of nature and its importance to people a) quantity, quality and status of nature including its spatial and temporal variations; b) the relevance or importance of nature to people and societies; and c) the nature of human-nature and nature-human relations in terms of how people and societies embed and live out their values of nature (as actions, principles, worldviews or philosophies).

A value can be the importance of something for itself or for others, now or in the future, close by or at a distance. This importance can be considered in three broad classes. 1. The importance that something has subjectively, and may be based on experience. 2. The importance that something has in meeting objective needs. 3. The intrinsic value of something.

A value can be the importance of something for itself or for others, now or in the future, close by or at a distance. This importance can be considered in three broad classes: The importance that something has subjectively, and may be based on experience. The importance that something has in meeting objective needs. The intrinsic value of something.

A value can be a measure. In the biophysical sciences, any quantified measure can be seen as a value.

A value can be the preference someone has for something or for a particular state of the world. Preference involves the act of making comparisons, either explicitly or implicitly. Preference refers to the importance attributed to one entity relative to another one.

A value can be a principle or core belief underpinning rules and moral judgments. Values as principles vary from one culture to another and also between individuals and groups.

a contact network, which provides opportunities for the transmission of contagious diseases within and between sectors. It follows that these chains (networks) can be understood and taken into account in planning risk management strategies for disease prevention and control” especially in relation with “risky parts of the value chain”

Value change refers to the modification of people’s values or of the prioritization of their values in particular contexts. Value change processes occur at different social scales, from large-scale cultural shifts (e.g. intergenerational shifts due to changing demography or changes to shared values) to small-scale personal shifts (e.g. values formation and change over an individual’s lifetime). Individual, social and social-ecological experiences and interactions influence value change; examples include formal and informal education, social practices, group conformation processes, personal experiences and shocks, and social-ecological events (e.g. natural disasters, pandemics).

Values can be expressed explicitly through language and implicitly through actions like choices, decisions made, everyday practices or rituals. Valuation methods are used to undertake explicit valuation. Methods and approaches to integrate and bridge values, provide knowledge about nature’s values as input to decision-making.

'Value formation' refers to how values develop in the first place. It can occur in individual-focused processes, trough socially-oriented processes or in social-ecological processes that do not separate humans and nature.

Indicators of value are quantitative and qualitative measures of the importance of nature to people. Indicators used to express the value of nature can be biophysical, economic and socio-cultural.

Derives from a utilitarian perspective on human-nature relationships which privileges some values of nature over others (usually monetary values).

Value pluralism is the idea that there are several values which may be equally correct and fundamental, and yet in conflict with each other. It is the opposite of value monism. More broadly speaking, value pluralism may also refer to different people having different worldviews and hence different values. In addition, these plural values may be incommensurable (i.e. they do not share a single unit of measurement, a single metric, and that there is no objective way of comparing them or weighting them against each other).

Sets of values according to which people, societies and organizations regulate their behaviour.

Set of values according to which people, societies and organizations regulate their behaviour. Value systems can be identified in both individuals and social groups.

Methods for valuation of nature and NCPs may be termed value articulating institutions since they are based on a set of rules concerning the valuing process: Participation: who participates; in what capacity; and how. What counts as data and what form it should take (prices, weights, arguments, physical measures etc.). The kind of data handling procedures involved: how data is produced; and how data are compared, weighed or aggregated.

Value systems: Set of values according to which people, societies and organizations regulate their behavior. Value systems can be identified in both individuals and social groups (Pascual et al., 2017). Value (as principle): A value can be a principle or core belief underpinning rules and moral judgments. Values as principles vary from one culture to another and also between individuals and groups (IPBES, 2015). Value (as preference): A value can be the preference someone has for something or for a particular state of the world. Preference involves the act of making comparisons, either explicitly or implicitly. Preference refers to the importance attributed to one entity relative to another one (IPBES, 2015). Value (as importance): A value can be the importance of something for itself or for others, now or in the future, close by or at a distance. This importance can be considered in three broad classes. 1. The importance that something has subjectively, and may be based on experience. 2. The importance that something has in meeting objective needs. 3. The intrinsic Please do not cite, quote or circulate 1733 value of something (IPBES, 2015). Value (as measure): A value can be a measure. In the biophysical sciences, any quantified measure can be seen as a value (IPBES, 2015). Non-anthropocentric value: A non-anthropocentric value is a value centered on something other than human beings. These values can be non-instrumental or instrumental to non-human ends (IPBES, 2015). Intrinsic value: This concept refers to inherent value, that is the value something has independent of any human experience or evaluation. Such a value is viewed as an inherent property of the entity and not ascribed or generated by external valuing agents (Pascual et al., 2017). Anthropocentric value: The value that something has for human beings and human purposes (Pascual et al., 2017). Instrumental value: The value attributed to something as a means to achieving a particular end (Pascual et al., 2017). Non-instrumental value: The value attributed to something as an end in itself, regardless of its utility for other ends. Relational value: The values that contribute to desirable relationships, such as those among people or societies, and between people and nature, as in “Living in harmony with nature” (IPBES, 2015). Integrated valuation: The process of collecting, synthesizing, and communicating knowledge about the ways in which people ascribe importance and meaning of Nature’s contributions to people, to facilitate deliberation and agreement for decision making and planning.

The values of nature encompass the different layers of the values typology, including worldviews (and underpinning knowledge systems, languages and cultures), broad values, specific values, indicators and preferences.  In addition to instrumental values, the values of nature include reciprocal values and perspectives of nature where nature and people are not seen as separate, and where intrinsic values are acknowledged on a par with values of nature’s benefits to people.

When referring to values of ‘nature’, we expand on the concept proposed by Díaz et al. (2015) by recognizing that individual and group understandings of nature are socially constructed, and that different social groups have different conceptualizations of the relationship between the human and non-human world. For IPBES, nature refers loosely to the non-human living world including the scientific categories of biodiversity, ecosystem structure and functioning, evolution, the biosphere, humankind’s shared evolutionary heritage and biocultural diversity. In addition, IPBES recognises other worldviews, including those from IPLCs, in which people recognize the diverse entities and elements of nature such as rivers, mountains, plants, animal species, existing within the planet denoted by categories like Mother Earth and systems of life . Among many IPLCs, nature is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity. By recognizing this wide understanding of the concept ‘nature’, we are then able to recognize the diversity of values that emerges within these different ways of seeing the world.

see Value systems, Value (as principles), Value (as preference), Value (as importance), Value (as measure), Non-anthropocentric value, Intrinsic value, Anthropocentric value, Instrumental value, Relational value, Integrated valuation.

Those actions, processes, entities or objects that are worthy or important. Values can be of the following types: Anthropocentic value, Anthropogenic value, Bequest value, Biophysical value, Economic value, Existence value, Insurance value, Intrinsic value, Instrumental value, Non-instrumental value, Option value, Relational value, Socio-cultural value.