Glossary definitions

Water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing of seawater with fresh water, as in estuaries, or it may occur in brackish fossil aquifers. Technically, brackish water contains between 0.5 and 30 grams of salt per litre—more often expressed as 0.5 to 30 parts per thousand (‰), which is a specific gravity of between 1.005 and 1.010. Thus, brackish covers a range of salinity regimes and is not considered a precisely defined condition.

refers to change across multiple spheres, with emerging consensus that transformation requires co-evolutionary change across different spheres of society, including personal, economic, political, institutional and technological ones.

offer a means to improve environmental management outcomes by spanning the science-policy interface to allow for the effective sharing of data, information, and knowledge. Bridging organizations are institutions that use specific mechanisms such as working groups to link and facilitate interactions among individual actors in a management setting.

They refer to life goals, general guiding principles and orientations towards the world that are informed by people’s beliefs and worldviews. Broad values include moral principles, such as justice, belonging, freedom, but also life goals, like enjoyment, health, prosperity. Broad values influence specific values and provide them with a general context and meaning.

Although no universal definition of buen vivir has been attained yet, it has four common constitutive elements: (a) the idea of harmony with nature (including its abiotic components); (b) vindication of the principles and values of marginalized/subordinated peoples; (c) the State as guarantor of the satisfaction of basic needs (such as education, health, food and water), social justice and equality; and (d) democracy. There are also two cross-cutting lines: buen vivir as a critical paradigm of Eurocentric (anthropocentric, capitalist, economistic and universalistic) modernity, and as a new intercultural political project.

An alternative to economic development-centered approaches, generally defined as forming part of the Andean indigenous cosmology, based on the belief that true wellbeing is only possible as part of a community in a broad sense, including people, nature and the Earth, linked by mutual responsibilities and obligations, and that the wellbeing of the community is above that of the individual.

A natural or anthropogenic feature which separates land uses.

Areas between core protected areas and the surrounding landscape or seascape which protect the network from potentially damaging external influences and which are essentially transitional areas.

Comprises urban design, land use and the transportation system, and encompasses patterns of human activity within the physical environment.

Members of the bee genus Bombus; they are social insects that form colonies with a single queen, or brood parasitic or cuckoo bumblebees (previously Psithyrus). Currently 262 species are known, which are found primarily in higher latitudes and at higher altitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, although they also occur in South America and New Zealand (where they were introduced).

The resulting negative impacts of ecosystem use and management on people and nature, including distant, diffuse and delayed impacts.

The IPBES Bureau is a subsidiary body established by the Plenary which carries out the governance functions of the Platform. It is made up of representatives nominated from each of the United Nations regions, and is chaired by the Chair of IPBES.

Within the context of IPBES - a subsidiary body established by the Plenary which carries out the administrative functions agreed upon by the Plenary, as articulated in the document on functions, operating principles and institutional arrangements of the Platform.

The IPBES Bureau is a subsidiary body established by the Plenary which carries out the governance functions of IPBES. It is made up of representatives nominated from each of the United Nations regions and is chaired by the Chair of IPBES.

The IPBES Bureau is a subsidiary body established by the Plenary which carries out the governance functions of IPBES. It is made up of representatives nominated from each of the United Nations regions, and is chaired by the Chair of IPBES.

An increase in density of shrubby or bushy tree vegetation in savannah or grassland systems.

Meat for human consumption derived from wild animals.

A form of subsistence hunting that entails the harvesting of wild animals for food and for non-food purposes, including for medicinal use.

Bushmeat (or wild meat) hunting is a form of hunting that entails the harvesting of wild animals for food and for non-food purposes, including for medicinal use.

Bushmeat (or wild meat) hunting is a form of subsistence hunting that entails the harvesting of wild animals for food and for non-food purposes, including for medicinal use.

See “wild meat”.

IPCC term case assumes that future developments follow those of the past and no changes in policies will take place.

The incidental capture of non-target species. The portion of a commercial fishing catch that consists of marine animals caught unintentionally.

The commercially undesirable species caught during a fishing process.

Land normally used for production and left to recover for part or all of a growing season (more in the case of swidden agriculture).

Family forestry is forest tenure and activities by persons with ownership or tenure rights to forest land. Persons owning or managing forests often include the whole family in the activities and the forest land goes from one generation to the next.

An area of land, a holding of any size from a small plot or garden (fractions of a hectare) to several thousand hectares that is devoted primarily to agriculture to produce food, fibre, or fuel. A farm may be owned and operated by an individual, family, community, corporation or a company, and may produce one to many types of produce or animal.

The modification or control of a process or system by its results or effects.

processes that either amplify (positive feedback loop) or diminish (negative feedback loop) the effects of a biological invasion. Feedback loops may make the impacts of biological invasions stronger or weaker, starting a chain reaction that repeats again and again. Negative feedback loop: A human-natural feedback that continually stabilizes or reduces ongoing or future biological invasions (also known as a ‘balancing’ feedback loop). Positive feedback loop: A human-natural feedback that continually increases ongoing or future biological invasions (also known as ‘exacerbating’ or ‘reinforcing’ feedback loops)

Species are considered to be feral if they or their ancestors were formerly domesticated, but they are now living independently of humans.

In agriculture, it is a defined area of cleared enclosed land used for cultivation or pasture.

A term used to describe the characteristics of fires that occur in a particular ecosystem over a period of time. Fire regimes are characterized based on a combination of factors including the frequency, intensity, size, pattern, season and severity of fires.

The practice of indigenous Australians to use fire to burn vegetation to facilitate hunting and to change the composition of the plant and animal species of an area. It was coined by Australian archaeologist Rhys Jones.

A unit determined by an authority or other entity that is engaged in raising and/or harvesting fish. Typically, the unit is defined in terms of some or all of the following: people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats and purpose of the activities.

Generally, a fishery is an activity leading to harvesting of fish. It may involve capture of wild fish or raising of fish through aquaculture. Note that in this definition, the term fish includes all types of marine animals, fish, but also crustaceans, mollusks, echinoderms etc.

Fishing is defined as the removal from their habitats of aquatic animals (vertebrates and invertebrates) that spend their full life cycle in water (fish, some marine mammals, shellfish, shrimps, squids, corals). Fishing most often results in the death of the aquatic animal, but it may not in some cases. To reflect both situations, fishing has been sub-divided into a lethal and a “non-lethal” category. Lethal fishing is defined as the general and more usual meaning of fishing that leads to the killing of the animal, such as in traditional commercial fisheries. “Non-lethal fishing is defined as the temporary or permanent capture of live animals from their habitat without intended mortality, such as in aquarium fish trade or catch and release. However, unintended mortality may occur in “non-lethal” fishing and the term “non-lethal” is therefore put in quotes. The killing of species that spend part of their life cycle in terrestrial environments (e.g. walrus, sea turtles) is encompassed by the definition of hunting.

Fitness involves the ability of organisms- or populations or species- to survive and reproduce in the environment in which they find themselves, and thus contribute genes to the next generation (Orr, 2009).

Fitness involves the ability of organisms- or populations or species- to survive and reproduce in the environment in which they find themselves, and thus contribute genes to the next generation.

Species that, by being charismatic or famous, can attract funding which will help conservation of other species at the same time (ex.Giant Panda).

Linear areas of land within or at the edges of fields, farms, or other areas (rights of way, riparian areas, etc.) where flowering plants are seeded and encouraged to grow, often for the benefit of pollinators and other wildlife (q.v. insectory strips).

An animal that visits flowers (a.k.a. anthophile) but is not necessarily a pollinator.

Plants that are characterized by producing flowers, even if inconspicuous. They are collectively called Angiosperms and include most plants grown for food and fibre.

People's everyday understanding of the biological world-how they perceive, categorize, and reason about living kinds (Medin & Atran, 1999).

The units of meaning into which a language breaks up the universe for example, folk plant and animal taxa (Berlin, 1973).

Folk medicine is defined as the mixture of traditional healing practices and beliefs that involve use of algae, animals, fungi, and plants, spirituality and manual therapies or exercises in order to diagnose, treat or prevent an ailment or illness.

When all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.

The ability of a region or country to produce enough food (especially staple crops) without needing to buy or import additional food.

Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.

The right to define own policies and strategies for the sustainable production, distribution and consumption of food that guarantee the right to food for the entire population, on the basis of small and medium-sized production, respecting their own cultures and the diversity of peasant, fishing and indigenous forms of agricultural production, marketing and management of rural areas, in which women play a fundamental role.