Glossary definitions

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Water transpired through plants to the atmosphere.

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.

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).

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).

Any wastewater that is not contaminated with faecal matter.

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

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

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.

Value systems: Set of values according to which people, societies and organizations regulate their behaviour. 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/4/INF/13).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/4/INF/13). 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 value of something (IPBES/4/INF/13).Value (as measure): A value can be a measure. In the biophysical sciences, any quantified measure can be seen as a value (IPBES/4/INF/13).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/4/INF/13).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/4/INF/13).Integrated valuation: The process of collecting, synthesizing, and communicating knowledge about the ways in which people ascribe importance and meaning of NCP to humans, to facilitate deliberation and agreement for decision making and planning (Pascual et al., 2017).

Those actions, processes, entities or objects that are worthy or important to a particular human population (sometimes values may also refer to moral principles).

Values reflect life goals, beliefs and general guiding principles. They also reflect the opinions or judgements of the importance of specific things in particular situations and contexts. When considering the values of nature, values can refer to nature itself, how nature contributes to people’s quality of life, in addition to the way people express the value of life-supporting processes, functions, and systems - interrelating biophysical, spiritual, or symbolic aspects. Within the assessment we refer to broad, specific values and value indicators; as well as to instrumental, intrinsic and relational values.

Is the more implicit act of assigning a value to something, which, in contrast to valuation, does not necessarily follow an explicit and formal process. Thus, while we all go through the process of ‘valuing’ on a daily basis for our day-to-day decisions, valuation is most often an exercise that is undertaken by 'experts' or a specifically designed team systematically applying a specific method.

Refers to how a species is transported, that is, the physical means or agent.

Any living or non-living carrier that transports living organisms intentionally or unintentionally

Disease causing agents that are spread from host to host by living or non-living agent. For example, malaria is transmitted to humans by mosquitos.

The volume of freshwater used to produce the commodity, good or service, measured at the place where the product was actually produced.