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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)
grazing land management

The strategies used by people to promote both high quality and quantity of forage for domesticated livestock.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
great acceleration

Great Acceleration refers to the acceleration of human-induced changes of the second half of the 20th century, unique in the history of human existence. Many human activities reached take-off points and sharply accelerated towards the end of the century.

Global assessment (1st work programme)
green bonds

A mode of private financing that tap the debt capital market through fixed income instruments (i.e. bonds) to raise capital to finance climate-friendly projects in key sectors of, but not limited to, transport, energy, building and industry, water, agriculture and forestry and waste.

Global assessment (1st work programme), Sustainable use assessment
green growth

Green growth means fostering economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our well-being relies.

Global assessment (1st work programme)
green hunting

Green hunting occurs with tranquilizer dart guns and the animals are released alive. This is typically performed for veterinary procedures or translocation, and has been suggested as an alternative to lethal forms of hunting.

Sustainable use assessment
green infrastructure

Green infrastructure refers to the natural or semi-natural systems (e.g. riparian vegetation) that provide services for water resources management with equivalent or similar benefits to conventional (built) “grey” infrastructure (e.g. water treatment plants).

Global assessment (1st work programme)
green public procurement

A process whereby public authorities seek to procure goods, services and works with a reduced environmental impact throughout their life-cycle when compared to goods, services and works with the same primary function that would otherwise be procured.

Asia-Pacific assessment
green revolution

Period of food crop productivity growth that started in the 1960s due to a combination of high rates of investment in crop research, infrastructure, and market development and appropriate policy support, and whose environmental impacts have been mixed: on one side saving land conversion to agriculture, on the other side promoting an overuse of inputs and cultivation on areas otherwise improper to high levels of intensification, such as slopes.

Sustainable use assessment
green revolution

A set of research and the development of technology transfer initiatives occurring between the 1930s and the late 1960s (with prequels in the work of the agrarian geneticist Nazareno Strampelli in the 1920s and 1930s), that increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s. The initiatives resulted in the adoption of new technologies, including: new, high- yielding varieties (HYVs) of cereals, especially dwarf wheats and rices, in association with chemical fertilizers and agro-chemicals, and with controlled water-supply (usually involving irrigation) and new methods of cultivation, including mechanization. All of these together were seen as a package of practices to supersede traditional technology and to be adopted as a whole.

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

Period of food crop productivity growth that started in the 1960s due to a combination of high rates of investment in crop research, infrastructure, and market development and appropriate policy support, and whose environmental impacts have been mixed: on.

green water

Water transpired through plants to the atmosphere.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
greenhouse gas

Those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere, and clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gases are those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of terrestrial radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere itself, and by clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect. Water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and ozone (O3) are the primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Moreover, there are a number of entirely human-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as the halocarbons and other chlorine- and brominecontaining substances, dealt with under the Montreal Protocol. Beside CO2, N2O and CH4, the Kyoto Protocol deals with the greenhouse gases sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs).

Global assessment (1st work programme)
greenhouse gas

Greenhouse gases are those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of terrestrial radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere itself, and by clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect. Water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and ozone (O3) are the primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Moreover, there are a number of entirely human-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as the halocarbons and other chlorine- and bromine containing substances, dealt with under the Montreal Protocol. Beside CO2, N2O and CH4, the Kyoto Protocol deals with the greenhouse gases sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs).

Sustainable use assessment
grey water

Any wastewater that is not contaminated with faecal matter.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
gross primary production

Total terrestrial Gross Primary Production (GPP) is the total mass of carbon taken out of the atmosphere by plant photosynthesis.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
gross primary productivity

The amount of carbon fixed by the autotrophs (e.g. plants and algaes).

Global assessment (1st work programme)
nagoya protocol

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.

Global assessment (1st work programme), Sustainable use assessment
national

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.

Pollination assessment
national biodiversity strategies and action plans

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).

Global assessment (1st work programme)
national biodiversity strategies and action plans

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).

Sustainable use assessment
native forest

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

Land degradation and restoration assessment
native pollinator

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.

Pollination assessment
native species

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

Americas assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme), Europe and Central Asia assessment, Africa assessment, Asia-Pacific assessment, Land degradation and restoration assessment, Sustainable use assessment
native species

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

Invasive alien species assessment
natural area

Regions that have not been significantly altered by humankind.

Sustainable use assessment
natural capital

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.

Sustainable use assessment
natural capital accounts

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.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
natural capital

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.

natural capital

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

Europe and Central Asia assessment
natural capital

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

Asia-Pacific assessment
natural capital

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.

Land degradation and restoration assessment
natural direct drivers

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

Scenarios and models assessment
natural disaster

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.

Sustainable use assessment
natural habitat

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).

Global assessment (1st work programme)
natural habitat

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.

Sustainable use assessment
natural heritage

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).

Global assessment (1st work programme)
natural heritage

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.

Sustainable use assessment
naturalized species

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

Land degradation and restoration assessment, Sustainable use assessment, Pollination assessment
nature

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).

Sustainable use assessment, Invasive alien species assessment
nature

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).

Land degradation and restoration assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment
nature

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.

Asia-Pacific assessment
nature

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).

nature

The natural world, with particular emphasis on biodiversity.

Scenarios and models assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme)
nature

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).

Americas assessment
nature

The living parts of the biosphere, including their diversity and abundance and functional interactions with one another and with the abiotic parts of the earth system. Increasingly, nature is modified by human influences. Many features of nature have been co-produced by humans.This is a definition specifically made for the IPBES-IPCC workshop report, since neither IPBES nor IPCC has an existing definition. The closest is the IPBES Global Assessment Chapter 1 box 1.2 definition of Nature: Nature: the nonhuman world, including co- produced features, with particular emphasis on living organisms, their diversity, their interactions among themselves and with their abiotic environment.”

IPBES-IPCC co-sponsored workshop on biodiversity and climate change
nature-based recreation

Nature-based recreation may be defined as all forms of leisure that rely on the natural environment (Jacobs & Cottrell, 2015). In the context of this assessment, it may involve extractive practices (i.e. fishing, gathering, terrestrial animal harvesting) or non-extractive practices (i.e. observing).

Sustainable use assessment
nature-based solutions

Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.

IPBES-IPCC co-sponsored workshop on biodiversity and climate change
nature-based solutions

Actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits (Cohen-Shacham et al., 2016).

Global assessment (1st work programme), Sustainable use assessment
nature-based tourism

Nature-based tourism is the activities of persons traveling to natural areas outside their usual environment for leisure and other purposes (based on UNWTO, glossary). In the context of this assessment, it may involve extractive practices (i.e. fishing, gathering, terrestrial animal harvesting) or non-extractive practices (i.e. observing.

Sustainable use assessment