Policy instruments are understood as the different interventions (formal rules, laws, social norms and processes etc.) made by decision-makers (governments and public authorities, intergovernmental organizations, companies etc.) to ensure that (public) policy objectives are supported and achieved by influencing the behaviour of other stakeholders.

A framework describing the policy process in terms of four linked phases: agenda setting, policy design, policy implementation, and policy review.

see decision context.

The systematic promotion of mutually reinforcing policy actions across government departments and agencies creating synergies towards achieving the agreed objectives.

A definite course or method of action selected from among alternatives and in light of given conditions to guide and determine present and future decisions.

A course or principle of action adopted or proposed by an organization or individual.

Any single identifiable source of pollution from which pollutants are discharged, such as a pipe, ditch, ship or factory smokestack.

Poaching is defined as the illegal removal of wild species from a place where such practices are specially reserved or forbidden.

Animal killing or trapping without the approval of the people who controls or own the land (Survival, 2018).

A group of local plant and pollinator species and the links among them, which establish who interacts with whom (i.e. qualitative network). A network can also include a measure of the strength of each individual interaction link (i.e. quantitative network.