Glossary definitions

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.

the time between when an alien species arrives in a new area and the onset of the phase of rapid, or exponential, increase. Multiple factors are frequently implicated in the persistence or dissolution of the lag phase in biological invasions, including an initial shortage of suitable sites, the absence or shortage of essential mutualists, inadequate genetic diversity, and reduction in competition or predation (due to other alterations in the resident biota)

Land abandonment occurs when a particular land use ceases, and there is no clearly- defined subsequent land use practice. It is often associated with poorly defined ownership and/or land use governance.

The physical coverage of land, usually expressed in terms of vegetation cover or lack of it. Related to, but not synonymous with, land use.

The observed (bio)physical cover on the earth's surface.

The physical coverage of land, usually expressed in terms of vegetation cover or lack of it. Related to, but not synonymous with, land use (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005).

The surface cover on the ground, whether vegetation, urban infrastructure, water, bare soil or other. Identifying, delineating and mapping land cover is important for global monitoring studies, resource management, and planning activities. Identification of land cover establishes the baseline from which monitoring activities (change detection) can be performed, and provides the ground cover information for baseline thematic maps.

Refers to the many processes that drive the decline or loss in biodiversity, ecosystem functions or their benefits to people and includes the degradation of all terrestrial ecosystems.

A state whereby the amount of healthy and productive land resources, necessary to support ecosystem services, remains stable or increases within specified temporal and spatial scales.

Refers to the many processes that drive the decline or loss in biodiversity, ecosystem functions or services and includes the degradation of all terrestrial ecosystems.

See ‘Grabbing (of wild species and space)’.

See ‘Large scale land acquisition'.

The large-scale acquisition of land (especially in developing countries), driven primarily by concerns about food and energy security of high-income countries and often executed by the private sector.

Concepts used to describe, in general terms, spatial-temporal arrangements of agricultural and non-agricultural areas. Land sharing is a situation where farming practices enable biodiversity to be maintained within agricultural landscapes. Land sparing, also called land separation involves restoring or creating non-farmland habitat in agricultural landscapes at the expense of field-level agricultural production - for example, woodland, natural grassland, wetland, and meadow on arable land. This approach does not necessarily imply high-yield farming of the non-restored, remaining agricultural land. See also 'Conservation agriculture'.

A situation where low-yield farming enables biodiversity to be maintained within agricultural landscapes.

Also called Land separation involves restoring or creating non-farmland habitat in agricultural landscapes at the expense of field-level agricultural production - for example, woodland, natural grassland, wetland, and meadow on arable land. This approach does not necessarily imply high- yield farming of the non restored, remaining agricultural land. (From Rey Benayas & Bullock, 2012). See also Conservation agriculture in this Glossary.

Land sparing, also called land separation involves restoring or creating non-farmland habitat in agricultural landscapes at the expense of field-level agricultural production - for example, woodland, natural grassland, wetland, and meadow on arable land. This approach does not necessarily imply high-yield farming of the non-restored, remaining agricultural land. See also Conservation agriculture.

The relationship, whether legally or customarily defined, among people, as individuals or groups, with respect to land.

A process whereby the biotic community of an area is substantially altered or substituted by another, along with the underlying ecological and human processes responsible for its persistence, often as a result of a deliberate decision to change the purpose for which the land is used.

Land use refers to the modification or management of natural environments into human dominated environments, such as settlements, semi-natural and agricultural areas.

See Land use.

Activities undertaken with the intention of enhancing the productivity or profitability per unit area of rural land use, including intensification of particular land uses as well as changes between land uses (Martin et al., 2018).

The human use of a specific area for a certain purpose (such as residential, agriculture, recreation, industrial, etc.). Influenced by, but not synonymous with, land cover. Land-use change refers to a change in the use or management of land by humans, which may lead to a change in land cover.

The human use of a specific area for a certain purpose (such as residential; agriculture; recreation; industrial, etc.). Influenced by, but not synonymous with, land cover. Land use change refers to a change in the use or management of land by humans, whi.

A breed that has largely developed through adaptation to the natural environment and traditional production system in which it has been raised (FAO, 2013).

The abundances of patch types represented within a landscape. Composition is not spatially explicit because it refers only to the variety and abundance of patch types, but not their placement or location (dispersion) in the landscape.

The distribution, size and abundances of patch types represented within a landscape. Configuration is spatially explicit because it refers not only to the variety and abundance of patch types, but also to their placement or location (dispersion) in the landscape.

The capacity or potential of landscapes to provide services (Bolliger & Kienast, 2010).

Landscape heterogeneity is a complex phenomenon involving the size, shape and composition of different landscape units and the spatial (and temporal) relations between them (G. Cale & J. Hobbs, 1994).

Landscape heterogeneity is a complex phenomenon involving the size, shape and composition of different landscape units and the spatial (and temporal) relations between them.

An activity concerned with reconciling competing land uses while protecting natural processes and significant cultural and natural resources.

The landscape scale approach incorporates the socio-ecological system, including natural and human-modified ecosystems, influenced by ecological, historical, economic, and socio-cultural processes. The landscape includes an array of stakeholders small enough to be manageable, but large enough to deliver multiple functions for stakeholders with differing interests.

A human-defined area ranging in size from c. 3 km2 to c. 3002 km. Landscape is spatially heterogeneous in at least one factor of interest and often consists of a mosaic of interacting ecosystems.

An area delineated by an actor for a specific set of objectives, constitutes an area in which entities, including humans, interact according to rules (physical, biological, and social) that determine their relationships; Place-based systems that result from interactions between people, land, institutions (laws, rules and regulations) and values. Interactive aspects that define a landscape are functional interactions, negotiated spaces and multiple scales.

An area of land that contains a mosaic of ecosystems, including human-dominated ecosystems.

The control (whether through ownership, lease, concession, contracts, quotas, or general power) of larger than locally-typical amounts of land by any persons or entities (public or private, foreign or domestic) via any means (‘legal’ or ‘illegal’) for purposes of speculation, extraction, resource control or commodification at the expense of agroecology, land stewardship, food sovereignty and human rights. It is sometimes also called land grabbing.

See ‘Grabbing (of wild species and space)’.