natural capital accounts |
Sets of linked accounts that contain information about the type and quantities and, where possible, the value of the stocks of natural assets and the flows of services generated by them. The accounts contain two main components: physical accounts - types, quantities and condition of assets; and monetary accounts - application of monetary units of valuation to selected flows of services on an annual basis and associated values of stocks.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
natural capital |
A concept referring to the stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources (e.g. plants, animals, air, water, soils, minerals) that combine to yield a flow of benefits to people (UNDP, 2016b). Within the IPBES conceptual framework, it is part of t.
|
|
natural capital |
An economic metaphor for the limited stocks of physical and biological resources found on Earth.
|
Europe and Central Asia assessment |
natural capital |
The world's stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things.
|
Asia-Pacific assessment |
natural capital |
The world's stocks of natural assets which include geology, soil, air, water and all living things. It is from this natural capital that humans derive a wide range of services, often called ecosystem services, which make human life possible.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
natural direct drivers |
Direct drivers that are not the result of human activities and are beyond human control.
|
Scenarios and models assessment |
natural disaster |
The effects of natural hazards, which are natural processes or phenomena occurring in the biosphere that may constitute a damaging event. Natural disasters can be for instance: earthquakes, floods, landslide, volcanic eruption, etc.
|
Sustainable use assessment |
natural habitat |
Areas composed of viable assemblages of plant and/or animal species of largely native origin and/or where human activity had not essentially modified an area's primary ecological functions and species composition (UNEP-WCMC, 2014).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
natural habitat |
Areas composed of viable assemblages of plant and/or animal species of largely native origin and/or where human activity had not essentially modified an area's primary ecological functions and species composition.
|
Sustainable use assessment |
natural heritage |
Natural features, geological and physiographical formations and delineated areas that constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants and natural sites of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty (UNESCO, 1972).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
natural heritage |
Natural features, geological and physiographical formations and delineated areas that constitute the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants and natural sites of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty.
|
Sustainable use assessment |
naturalized species |
A species that, once it is introduced outside its native distributional range, establishes self-sustaining populations.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment, Sustainable use assessment, Pollination assessment |
nature |
In the context of IPBES, refers to the natural world with an emphasis on its living components. Within the context of western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems (both structure and functioning), evolution, the biosphere, humankind’s shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life, and it is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity (see Mother Earth).
|
Sustainable use assessment, Invasive alien species assessment |
nature |
In the context of IPBES, nature refers to the natural world with an emphasis on its living components. Within the context of Western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems (both structure and functioning), evolution, the biosphere, humankind's shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life, and it is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity (see Mother Earth).
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment |
nature |
In the context of the Platform, refers to the natural world with an emphasis on biodiversity. Within the context of western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems (both structure and functioning), evolution, the biosphere, humankind's shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life, and it is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity.
|
Asia-Pacific assessment |
nature |
In the context of the Platform, refers to the natural world with an emphasis on its living components. Within the context of Western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems (both structure and functioning), evolution, the biosphere, humankind's shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life, and it is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity (see Mother Earth).
|
|
nature |
The natural world, with particular emphasis on biodiversity.
|
Scenarios and models assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme) |
nature |
In the context of IPBES, refers to the natural world with an emphasis on its living components. Within the context of western science, it includes categories such as biodiversity, ecosystems (both structure and functioning), evolution, the biosphere, humankind's shared evolutionary heritage, and biocultural diversity. Within the context of other knowledge systems, it includes categories such as Mother Earth and systems of life, and it is often viewed as inextricably linked to humans, not as a separate entity (see Mother Earth).
|
Americas assessment |
nature |
The living parts of the biosphere, including their diversity and abundance and functional interactions with one another and with the abiotic parts of the earth system. Increasingly, nature is modified by human influences. Many features of nature have been co-produced by humans.This is a definition specifically made for the IPBES-IPCC workshop report, since neither IPBES nor IPCC has an existing definition. The closest is the IPBES Global Assessment Chapter 1 box 1.2 definition of Nature: Nature: the nonhuman world, including co- produced features, with particular emphasis on living organisms, their diversity, their interactions among themselves and with their abiotic environment.”
|
IPBES-IPCC co-sponsored workshop on biodiversity and climate change |
nature-based recreation |
Nature-based recreation may be defined as all forms of leisure that rely on the natural environment (Jacobs & Cottrell, 2015). In the context of this assessment, it may involve extractive practices (i.e. fishing, gathering, terrestrial animal harvesting) or non-extractive practices (i.e. observing).
|
Sustainable use assessment |
nature-based solutions |
Nature-based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.
|
IPBES-IPCC co-sponsored workshop on biodiversity and climate change |
nature-based solutions |
Actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits (Cohen-Shacham et al., 2016).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme), Sustainable use assessment |
nature-based tourism |
Nature-based tourism is the activities of persons traveling to natural areas outside their usual environment for leisure and other purposes (based on UNWTO, glossary). In the context of this assessment, it may involve extractive practices (i.e. fishing, gathering, terrestrial animal harvesting) or non-extractive practices (i.e. observing.
|
Sustainable use assessment |
nature’s contributions to people |
All the contributions, both positive and negative, of living nature (i.e. all organisms, ecosystems, and their associated ecological and evolutionary processes) to people’s quality of life. Beneficial contributions include e.g. food provision, water purification, flood control, and artistic inspiration, whereas detrimental contributions include e.g. disease transmission and predation that damages people or their assets. NCP may be perceived as benefits or detriments depending on the cultural, temporal or spatial context (Díaz et al., 2018). IPBES considers a gradient of approaches to NCP, ranging from a purely generalizing approach to a purely context-specific one. Within the generalizing approach, IPBES identifies 18 categories of NCP, organized in three partially overlapping groups: Material contributions are substances, objects or other material elements from nature that directly sustain people’s physical existence and material assets. They are typically physically consumed in the process of being experienced, for example when organisms are transformed into food, energy, or materials for clothing, shelter or ornamental purposes. Non-material contributions are nature’s effects on subjective or psychological aspects underpinning people’s quality of life, both individually and collectively. Examples include forests and coral reefs providing opportunities for recreation and inspiration, or particular organism (animals, plants, fungi) or habitat (mountains, lakes) being the basis of spiritual or social-cohesion experiences. Regulating contributions are functional and structural aspects of organisms and ecosystems that modify environmental conditions experienced by people, and/or regulate the generation of material and non- material contributions. Regulating contributions frequently affect quality of life in indirect ways. For example, people directly enjoy useful or beautiful plants, but only indirectly the soil organisms that are essential for the supply of nutrients to such plants.
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
nature’s contributions to people |
All the contributions, both positive and negative, of nature (i.e. biodiversity, ecosystems, and their associated ecological and evolutionary processes) to good quality of life for humanity. The positive contributions from nature (benefits) include such things as food provision, water purification, and artistic inspiration, whereas negative contributions (detriments), include e.g. pathogens, disease vectors, or predation that damage people, their built infrastructure, or their domesticated animals and plants. While some NCP are considered exclusively positive or negative, many NCP may be perceived as benefits or detriments depending on the cultural context.
|
Asia-Pacific assessment |
nature’s contributions to people |
All the contributions, both positive and negative, of living nature (i.e. diversity of organisms, ecosystems, and their associated ecological and evolutionary processes) to the quality of life of people. This is the core IPBES definition (which is used by IPCC in AR6 Special Reports). The IPBES definition goes on to elaborate as follows: “Beneficial contributions from nature include such things asfood provision, water purification, flood control, and artistic inspiration, whereas detrimental contributions include disease transmission and predation that damages people or their assets. Many NCP may be perceived as benefits or detriments depending on the cultural, temporal or spatial context.” The creation of a new term to supersede ecosystem services had several justifications. First, the original ecosystem services definition went on to define four subtypes (provisioning, cultural, regulatory and supporting), but practitioners recognized that many services fit into more than one of the four categories. Secondly, IPBES wished to make explicit that positive and negative effects were included. Thirdly, the term ‘services’ had its origin in economics, which was perceived in some worldviews to be too narrow a formulation of the relationships between nature and people. The new language is considered more inclusive.
|
|
nature’s contributions to people |
all the contributions, both positive and negative, of living nature (i.e., diversity of organisms, ecosystems, and their associated ecological and evolutionary processes) to the quality of life for people. Beneficial contributions from nature include such things as food provision, water purification, flood control, and artistic inspiration, whereas detrimental contributions include disease transmission and predation that damages people or their assets. Many nature’s contributions to people may be perceived as benefits or detriments depending on the cultural, temporal or spatial context.
|
Africa assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme), Invasive alien species assessment, IPBES-IPCC co-sponsored workshop on biodiversity and climate change, Europe and Central Asia assessment, Americas assessment |
nature’s benefits to people |
Within the context of the IPBES Conceptual Framework - all the benefits (and occasionally disbenefits or losses) that humanity obtains from nature.
|
Scenarios and models assessment |
nature’s contributions to people |
All the contributions, both positive and negative, of nature (i.e. biodiversity, ecosystems, and their associated ecological and evolutionary processes) to good quality of life of people. Beneficial contributions from nature include such things as food provision, water purification, flood control, and artistic inspiration, whereas detrimental contributions include disease transmission and predation that damages people or their assets. Many NCP may be perceived as benefits or detriments depending on the cultural, temporal or spatial context.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
nature’s contributions to people |
all the contributions, both positive and negative, of living nature (i.e. all organisms, ecosystems, and their associated ecological and evolutionary processes) to people’s quality of life. Beneficial contributions include food provision, water purification, flood control, and artistic inspiration, whereas detrimental contributions include e.g. disease transmission and predation that damages people or their assets. NCP may be perceived as benefits or detriments depending on the cultural, temporal or spatial context (Díaz et al., 2018). IPBES considers a gradient of approaches to NCP, ranging from a purely generalizing approach to a purely context-specific one. Within the generalizing approach, IPBES identifies 18 categories of NCP, organized in three partially overlapping groups: Material contributions are substances, objects or other material elements from nature that directly sustain people’s physical existence and material assets. They are typically physically consumed in the process of being experienced, for example when organisms are transformed into food, energy, or materials for clothing, shelter or ornamental purposes. Non-material contributions are nature’s effects on subjective or psychological aspects underpinning people’s quality of life, both individually and collectively. Examples include forests and coral reefs providing opportunities for recreation and inspiration, or particular organism (animals, plants, fungi) or habitat (mountains, lakes) being the basis of spiritual or social- cohesion experiences. Regulating contributions are functional and structural aspects of organisms and ecosystems that modify environmental conditions experienced by people, and/or regulate the generation of material and non-material contributions. Regulating contributions frequently affect quality of life in indirect ways. For example, people directly enjoy useful or beautiful plants, but only indirectly the soil organisms that are essential for the supply of nutrients to such plants.
|
Sustainable use assessment |
nature’s non-material benefits |
Benefits from nature that do not take a physical form such as spiritual enrichment, intellectual development, recreation and aesthetic values.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
ncp (potential) |
The capacity of an ecosystem to provide NCP (see Chapter 2.3).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
ncp (realized) |
The actual flow of NCP that humanity receives. Realized NCP typically depends not only on potential NCP but also anthropogenic assets (e.g. boats and fishing gear, or farm equipment), human labor, and institutions. Institutions can facilitate or prevent.
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
near surface ozone |
Ozone near the earth surface formed photochemically during the oxidation of hydrocarbons in the presence of nitrogen oxides.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
neo-endemic taxa |
Recently diverged taxa that are endemic because of lack of dispersal/migration out of their ancestral area, as opposed to paleo-endemic taxa that were perhaps more widespread in the past and are now restricted to a local region (Mishler et al., 2014).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
nested (in plant-pollinator networks (q.v.)) |
The degree to which species (plants or pollinators) with few interaction links share a sub-set of the links of other species, rather than having a different set of links. In highly nested networks, groups of species that share more or less similar activities contain both generalist species (q.v.) (i. e., with many links) and specialist species (q.v.) (i. e., with few links, but shared with the generalists). In mutualistic networks, such as pollination, nestedness is often asymmetrical (q.v.), with specialists of one group (plants or pollinators) linked to the generalists of the partner group (pollinators or plants).
|
Pollination assessment |
net biome production |
The amount of carbon accumulating or lost in ecosystems at the regional scale is the Net Biome Production (NBP), defined as the NEP corrected for lateral transfers of carbon to adjacent biomes, due to process such as trade in agricultural products, export of organic matter in rivers and losses due to disturbances, including land clearing and wildfire.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
net ecosystem production |
The amount of NPP left in the ecosystem after the additional respiration by microbes and animals is the Net Ecosystem Production (NEP).
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
net positive impact |
A net gain to biodiversity features measured in quality hectares (for habitats), number or percentage of individuals (for species), or other metrics appropriate to the feature.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
net present value |
The value in the present of a sum of money, in contrast to some future value it will have when it has been invested at compound interest.
|
Asia-Pacific assessment |
net primary production |
The difference between how much CO2 vegetation takes in during photosynthesis (gross primary production) minus how much CO2 the plants release during respiration (NASA Earth Observatory, 2018). It corresponds to the increase in plant biomass or carbon of.
|
|
net primary production |
The total mass of carbon taken out of the atmosphere by plant photosynthesis (Gross Primary Production) minus return to the atmosphere of carbon due to autotrophic respiration.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
network governance |
A network is an informal arrangement where two or more autonomous individuals and/or organizations come together to exchange ideas, build relationships, identify common interests, explore options on how to work together, share power, and solve problems of mutual interest. Network governance commonly emerges when people realize that they cannot solve a particular problem or issue by working independently and that the only way to achieve their interests is by actively collaborating. Network governance varies in terms of objectives, spatial scales, leadership, representation, organization, and complexity. It is designed to supplement, not replace, other forms of natural resource governance.
|
Americas assessment |
nexus |
A perspective which emphasizes the inter-relatedness and interdependencies of ecosystem components and human uses, and their dynamics and fluxes across spatial scales and between compartments. Instead of just looking at individual components, the functioning, productivity and management of a complex system is taken into consideration. In such complex systems there are trade-offs as well as facilitation and amplification between the different components. A nexus approach can help address synergies and trade-offs among multiple sectors and among various Sustainable Development Goals and biodiversity targets simultaneously (adapted from UNU-FLORES, 2018; also see Chapter 5).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
nexus |
A perspective which emphasizes the inter-relatedness and interdependencies of ecosystem components and human uses, and their dynamics and fluxes across spatial scales and between compartments. Instead of just looking at individual components, the functioning, productivity and management of a complex system is taken into consideration. In such complex systems there are trade-offs as well as facilitation and amplification between the different components. A nexus approach can help address synergies and trade- offs among multiple sectors and among various Sustainable Development Goals and biodiversity targets simultaneously.
|
Sustainable use assessment |
nexus |
interlinkages among biodiversity, climate change, adaptation and mitigation including relevant aspects of the energy system, water, food, and health
|
Invasive alien species assessment |
niche (ecological) |
A species’ position within an ecosystem. This definition includes both the abiotic and biotic conditions necessary for the species to be able to persist (e.g. temperature range, food sources) and its ecological role, function or job (Polechová & Storch.
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
niche (ecological) |
A species’ position within an ecosystem. This definition includes both the abiotic and biotic conditions necessary for the species to be able to persist (e.g. temperature range, food sources) and its ecological role, function or “job.
|
Sustainable use assessment |
niche model |
Also known as species distribution models, niche models predict the spatial distribution of a species as a function of environmental variables. They are often used to project the future distributions of species in response to climate change.
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
night light development index |
A spatially explicit and globally available empirical measurement of human development derived solely from night-time satellite imagery and population density.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |