Glossary definitions

In the context of IPBES, drivers of change are all the factors that, directly or indirectly, cause changes in nature, anthropogenic assets, nature's contributions to people and a good quality of life. Direct drivers of change can be both natural and anthropogenic. Direct drivers have direct physical (mechanical, chemical, noise, light etc.) and behaviour-affecting impacts on nature. They include, inter alia, climate change, pollution, different types of land use change, invasive alien species and zoonoses, and exploitation. Indirect drivers are drivers that operate diffusely by altering and influencing direct drivers, as well as other indirect drivers. They do not impact nature directly. Rather, they do it by affecting the level, direction or rate of direct drivers. Interactions between indirect and direct drivers create different chains of relationship, attribution, and impacts, which may vary according to type, intensity, duration, and distance. These relationships can also lead to different types of spill-over effects. Global indirect drivers include economic, demographic, governance, technological and cultural ones. Special attention is given, among indirect drivers, to the role of institutions (both formal and informal) and impacts of the patterns of production, supply and consumption on nature, nature's contributions to people and good quality of life.

In the context of IPBES, drivers of change are all the factors that, directly or indirectly, cause changes in nature, anthropogenic assets, nature's contributions to people and a good quality of life. Direct drivers of change can be both natural and anthropogenic. Direct drivers have direct physical (mechanical, chemical, noise, light etc.) and psychological (disturbance etc.) impacts on nature and its functioning, and on people and their interaction. Direct drivers unequivocally influence biodiversity and ecosystem processes. They are also referred to as ‘pressures'. Direct drivers include, inter alia, climate change, pollution, land use change, invasive alien species and zoonoses, including their effects across regions. Indirect drivers are drivers that operate diffusely by altering and influencing direct drivers as well as other indirect drivers (also referred to as ‘underlying causes'). Interactions between indirect and direct drivers create different chains of relationship, attribution, and impacts, which may vary according to type, intensity, duration, and distance. These relationships can also lead to different types of spill-over effects. Global indirect drivers include economic, demographic, governance, technological and cultural ones, among others. Special attention is given, among indirect drivers, to the role of institutions (both formal and informal) and impacts of the patterns of production, supply and consumption on nature, nature's contributions to people and good quality of life.

In the context of IPBES, drivers of change are all the factors that, directly or indirectly, cause changes in nature, anthropogenic assets, nature's contributions to people and a good quality of life.Direct drivers of change can be both natural and anthropogenic. Direct drivers have direct physical (mechanical, chemical, noise, light etc.) and behaviour-affecting impacts on nature. They include, inter alia, climate change, pollution, different types of land use change, invasive alien species and zoonoses, and exploitation.Indirect drivers are drivers that operate diffusely by altering and influencing direct drivers, as well as other indirect drivers. They do not impact nature directly. Rather, they do it by affecting the level, direction or rate of direct drivers.Interactions between indirect and direct drivers create different chains of relationship, attribution, and impacts, which may vary according to type, intensity, duration, and distance. These relationships can also lead to different types of spill-over effects.Global indirect drivers include economic, demographic, governance, technological and cultural ones. Special attention is given, among indirect drivers, to the role of institutions (both formal and informal) and impacts of the patterns of production, supply and consumption on nature, nature's contributions to people and good quality of life.

In the context of IPBES, drivers of change are all the factors that, directly or indirectly, cause changes in nature, anthropogenic assets, nature’s contributions to people and a good quality of life. Direct drivers of change can be both natural and anthropogenic. Direct drivers have direct physical (mechanical, chemical, noise, light etc.) and psychological (disturbance etc.) impacts on nature and its functioning, and on people and their interaction. Direct drivers unequivocally influence biodiversity and ecosystem processes. They are also referred to as ‘pressures’. Direct drivers include, inter alia, climate change, pollution, land use change, invasive alien species and zoonoses, including their effects across regions. Indirect drivers are drivers that operate diffusely by altering and influencing direct drivers as well as other indirect drivers (also referred to as ‘underlying causes’). Interactions between indirect and direct drivers create different chains of relationship, attribution, and impacts, which may vary according to type, intensity, duration, and distance. These relationships can also lead to different types of spill-over effects. Global indirect drivers include economic, demographic, governance, technological and cultural ones, among others. Special attention is given, among indirect drivers, to the role of institutions (both formal and informal) and impacts of the patterns of production, supply and consumption on nature, nature’s contributions to people and good quality of life.

Drivers, both non human-induced and anthropogenic, that affect nature directly. Direct anthropogenic drivers are those that flow from human institutions and governance systems and other indirect drivers. They include positive and negative effects, such as habitat conversion, human-caused climate change, or species introductions. Direct non human-induced drivers can directly affect anthropogenic assets and quality of life (e.g. a volcanic eruption can destroy roads and cause human deaths), but these impacts are not the main focus of IPBES. See chapter 1 and chapter 2 (Drivers) for a detailed typology of drivers.

Human actions and decisions that affect nature diffusely by altering and influencing direct drivers as well as other indirect drivers. They do not physically impact nature or its contributions to people. Indirect drivers include economic, demographic, governance, technological and cultural ones, among others. See chapter 1 and chapter 2 (Drivers) for a detailed typology of drivers.

All the external factors that cause change in nature, anthropogenic assets, nature's benefits to people and a good quality of life. They include institutions and governance systems and other indirect drivers, and direct drivers (both natural and anthropogenic).

All those external factors (i.e. generated outside the conceptual framework element in question) that affect nature, anthropogenic assets, nature's benefits to people and quality of life. Drivers of change include institutions and governance systems and other indirect drivers, and direct drivers - both natural and anthropogenic.direct drivers result from human decisions.

Drivers of change refer to all those external factors that affect nature, and, as a consequence, also affect the supply of nature's contributions to people. The IPBES conceptual framework includes drivers of change as two of its main elements: indirect drivers, which are all anthropogenic, and direct drivers, both natural and anthropogenic. See chapter 1 and chapter 2 (Drivers) for a detailed typology of drivers.

Drivers of change refer to all those external factors that affect nature, and, as a consequence, also affect the supply of Nature's contributions to people. The IPBES conceptual framework includes drivers of change as two of its main elements: indirect drivers, which are all anthropogenic, and direct drivers, both natural and anthropogenic.

For the purpose of this assessment, drivers are defined as the factors that, directly or indirectly influence the sustainability of use of wild species, by changing the abundance or distribution of species in use, altering demand on and consumption of wild species, products derived from wild species and/or changing the (nature, scale, and/or intensity of) interactions with wild species in use (practices). It is recognized that the same factor may influence different components of the system (wild species, practices, Nature’s contributions to people); and the interactions among these factors vary across time and space, which can have negative or positive effects on sustainability.

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.

Gathering is defined as the removal of terrestrial and aquatic algae, fungi, and plants (other than trees) or parts thereof from their habitats. Gathering may, but often does not, result in the death of the organism. Gathering includes whole plant harvest and removal of above and/or below ground plant parts, as well as the fruiting bodies of macrofungi. It also includes removal of non-woody portions of trees (leaves, propagules, and bark). Where removal of propagules or death of an individual plant occurs (e.g. whole plant and root removal) effects on population sustainability are contingent upon factors including timing, frequency, and intensity of harvest. The harvest of wood and woody parts of trees is encompassed by the definition of logging.

The term gender refers to the socially-constructed expectations about the characteristics, aptitudes and behaviors associated with being a woman or a man. Gender defines what is feminine and masculine. Gender shapes the social roles that mean and women play and the power relations between them, which can have a profound effect on the use and management of natural resources. Gender is not based on sex or the biological differences between women and men; rather, gender is shaped by culture and social norms. Thus, depending on values, norms, customs and laws, women and men in different parts of the world have adopted different gender roles and relations. Within the same society, gender roles also differ by race/ethnicity, class/caste, religion, ethnicity, age and economic circumstances. Gender and gender roles then affect the economic, political, social, and ecological opportunities and constraints faced by both women and men (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2017). The framing of sex and gender as binaries is in fact a cultural ideology. The empirical reality is that sex is a spectrum, manifesting in a wide array of sex variance. Some people don't neatly fit into the categories of man or woman, or “male” or “female.” For example, some people have a gender that blends elements of being a man or a woman, or a gender that is different than either male or female. Some people don't identify with any gender, or their gender changes over time.

The basic physical and functional unit of heredity. Genes are made up of DNA, and occupy a fixed position (locus) on a chromosome. Genes achieve their effects by directing the synthesis of proteins.

The movement of individuals, and/or the genetic material they carry, from one population to another. Gene flow includes lots of different kinds of events, such as pollen being blown to a new destination or people moving to new cities or countries.

A numerical representation of the physical processes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and land surface based on the physical, chemical and biological properties of their components, their interactions and feedback processes, and accounting for all or some of its known properties.

A species able to thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and that can make use of a variety of different resources (for example, a flower-visiting insect that lives on the floral resources provided by several to many different plants).

The composition in alleles of a population.

The variation at the level of individual genes, which provides a mechanism for populations to adapt to their ever-changing environment. The more variation, the better the chance that at least some of the individuals will have an allelic variant that is suited for the new environment, and will produce offspring with the variant that will in turn reproduce and continue the population into subsequent generations.

The artificial manipulation, modification, and recombination of DNA or other nucleic acid molecules in order to modify an organism or population of organisms.

The loss of genetic diversity, including the loss of individual genes or particular combinations of genes, and loss of varieties and crops.

Genetic material of actual or potential value.

Organism in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination (WHO, 2014). The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety defines 'living modified organism' as any living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology.

The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety defines 'living modified organism' as any living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology.

The genetic constitution of an individual or group.

A computer-based tool that analyses, stores, manipulates and visualizes geographic information on a map.

The geographic range of a species is the geographic boundary within which it occurs.

Living tissue from which new plants can be grown. It can be a seed or another plant part - a leaf, a piece of stem, pollen or even just a few cells that can be turned into a whole plant.

In economics, the Gini coefficient (sometimes expressed as a Gini ratio or a normalized Gini index) is a measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income or wealth distribution of a nation's residents and is the most commonly used measure of inequality.

The Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure or other variables) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.

adj. Pertaining to the whole world.

Common pool resources (CPR) that have a global nature, such as the atmosphere, the oceans, global species diversity, migratory species, global biogeochemical processes, among others. It does not refer to property rights, such as a common property system. In general, CPR include natural and human‐ constructed resources in which (i) exploitation by one user reduces resource availability for others, and (ii) exclusion of beneficiaries through physical and institutional means is especially costly. These two characteristics ‐ difficulty of exclusion and subtractability ‐ create potential CPR dilemmas in which people following their own short‐term interests produce outcomes that are not in anyone’s long‐term interest.

Global commons are resources at a planetary scale that are outside national jurisdictions. International law identifies four global commons: the high seas; the atmosphere; Antarctica; and outer space, which are recognized as the common heritage of humankind (UNEP Division of Environmental Law and Conventions).

The Global South and the Global North is a terminology that distinguishes not only between political systems or degrees of poverty, but between the victims and the benefactors of global capitalism.

The observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth’s climate system and its related effects.

The process by which life forms, process, products or ideas become distributed worldwide.