Glossary definitions

The achievement of a fulfilled human life, a notion that varies strongly across different societies and groups within societies. It is a state of individuals and human groups that is dependent on context, including access to food, water, energy and livelihood security, and also health, good social relationships and equity, security, cultural identity, and freedom of choice and action. From virtually all standpoints, a good quality of life is multidimensional, having material as well as immaterial and spiritual components. What a good quality of life entails, however, is highly dependent on place, time and culture, with different societies espousing different views of their relationships with nature and placing different levels of importance on collective versus individual rights, the material versus the spiritual domain, intrinsic versus instrumental values, and the present time versus the past or the future. The concept of human well-being used in many western societies and its variants, together with those of living in harmony with nature and living well in balance and harmony with Mother Earth, are examples of different perspectives on a good quality of life.

within the context of the IPBES Conceptual Framework – the achievement of a fulfilled human life, a notion which varies strongly across different societies and groups within societies. It is a context-dependent state of individuals and human groups, comprising aspects such as access to food, water, energy and livelihood security, and also health, good social relationships and equity, security, cultural identity, and freedom of choice and action. “Living in harmony with nature”, “living-well in balance and harmony with Mother Earth” and “human well-being” are examples of different perspectives on a “Good quality of life”

‘Modes of governance’ have been conceptualized in different ways, from hierarchies (state centric governance), networks or co- governance (a constellation of actors in varying partnership arrangements), markets (market-based instruments and incentives), voluntarism (non-binding agreements and instruments) and self- governance (including customary governance).

Taken together, the institutional framing of specific economic, political decision-making and socio-cultural processes of relevance to the governance of human-human and human-nature relationships are termed governance frameworks.

Refers to recommendation of options to be considered in changing the government structure that would allow relevant stakeholders to ultimately determine their future.

The regime under which decisions are made, and the degree to which power over a given decision is shared among actors, or across different sectors.

The way the rules, norms and actions in a given organization are structured, sustained, and regulated.

The processes of governing, whether undertaken by a government, market or other social network, whether over a family, tribe, formal or informal organization or territory and whether through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society.

The way the rules, norms and actions in a given organization are structured, sustained and regulated.

All processes of governing, whether undertaken by a government, market or network, whether over a family, tribe, formal or informal organization or territory and whether through laws, norms, power or language. It relates to the processes of interaction and decision-making among the actors involved in a collective problem that lead to the creation, reinforcement, or reproduction of social norms and institutions.

Actions, policies or initiatives by which use and access rights of resources and spaces are transferred and re-allocated from collective entity to private or public entity, leading to IPLC dispossession, marginalization and exclusion and, consequently, the unsustainability of use system (Acheson, 2015; Fairhead et al., 2012; National Research Council & National Research Council (U.S.), 2002). These processes of control (whether through ownership, lease, concession, contracts, quotas, or general power) as well as commons enclosure, have two main purposes: on the one hand, productivist exploitation (speculation, extraction, land stewardship, food sovereignty); on the other hand, conservation (e.g. Protected Areas, no-take’ conservation areas, restoration of endangered habitat, resource control or nature commodification, Biodiversity offsets, REDD+, etc.), qualified either green for land conservation (Benabou, 2014), or blue for ocean conservation (Bennett et al., 2020; Clark Howard, 2018; Cormier- Salem & Bassett, 2007). Moreover, the commons, or common pool resources, cover a large set of assets, from wild species to habitats and institutions, either terrestrial and referred as large-scale land acquisition (Baker-Smith & Attila, 2016) and land grabbing, or aquatic, oceanic and coastal and referred as water (Duvail et al., 2012) or ocean grabbing.

see spatial scale and temporal scale”.

A land cover class that includes any geographic area dominated by natural herbaceous plants (grasslands, prairies, steppes and savannahs) with a cover of 10% or more, irrespective of different human and/or animal activities (e.g. grazing).

Ecosystem characterized by more or less closed herbaceous vegetation layer, sometimes with a shrub layer, but - in contrast to savannas - without trees. Different types of grasslands are found under a broad range of climatic conditions.

Type of ecosystem characterised by a more or less closed herbaceous (non-woody) vegetation layer, sometimes with a shrub layer, but-in contrast to savannas-without, or with very few, trees. Different types of grasslands are found under a broad range of climatic conditions.

Type of ecosystem characterized by a more or less closed herbaceous (non-woody) vegetation layer, sometimes with a shrub layer, but - in contrast to savannas - without, or with very few, trees. Different types of grasslands are found under a broad range of climatic conditions.

Feeding on growing herbage, attached algae, or phytoplankton.

The strategies used by people to promote both high quality and quantity of forage for domesticated livestock.

Great Acceleration refers to the acceleration of human-induced changes of the second half of the 20th century, unique in the history of human existence. Many human activities reached take-off points and sharply accelerated towards the end of the century.

A mode of private financing that tap the debt capital market through fixed income instruments (i.e. bonds) to raise capital to finance climate-friendly projects in key sectors of, but not limited to, transport, energy, building and industry, water, agriculture and forestry and waste.

Green growth means fostering economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our well-being relies.

Green hunting occurs with tranquilizer dart guns and the animals are released alive. This is typically performed for veterinary procedures or translocation, and has been suggested as an alternative to lethal forms of hunting.

Green infrastructure refers to the natural or semi-natural systems (e.g. riparian vegetation) that provide services for water resources management with equivalent or similar benefits to conventional (built) “grey” infrastructure (e.g. water treatment plants).

A process whereby public authorities seek to procure goods, services and works with a reduced environmental impact throughout their life-cycle when compared to goods, services and works with the same primary function that would otherwise be procured.

Period of food crop productivity growth that started in the 1960s due to a combination of high rates of investment in crop research, infrastructure, and market development and appropriate policy support, and whose environmental impacts have been mixed: on one side saving land conversion to agriculture, on the other side promoting an overuse of inputs and cultivation on areas otherwise improper to high levels of intensification, such as slopes.

A set of research and the development of technology transfer initiatives occurring between the 1930s and the late 1960s (with prequels in the work of the agrarian geneticist Nazareno Strampelli in the 1920s and 1930s), that increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s. The initiatives resulted in the adoption of new technologies, including: new, high- yielding varieties (HYVs) of cereals, especially dwarf wheats and rices, in association with chemical fertilizers and agro-chemicals, and with controlled water-supply (usually involving irrigation) and new methods of cultivation, including mechanization. All of these together were seen as a package of practices to supersede traditional technology and to be adopted as a whole.

Period of food crop productivity growth that started in the 1960s due to a combination of high rates of investment in crop research, infrastructure, and market development and appropriate policy support, and whose environmental impacts have been mixed: on.

Water transpired through plants to the atmosphere.

Those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere, and clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect.

Greenhouse gases are those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of terrestrial radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere itself, and by clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect. Water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and ozone (O3) are the primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Moreover, there are a number of entirely human-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as the halocarbons and other chlorine- and brominecontaining substances, dealt with under the Montreal Protocol. Beside CO2, N2O and CH4, the Kyoto Protocol deals with the greenhouse gases sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs).

Greenhouse gases are those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of terrestrial radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere itself, and by clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect. Water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4) and ozone (O3) are the primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Moreover, there are a number of entirely human-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as the halocarbons and other chlorine- and bromine containing substances, dealt with under the Montreal Protocol. Beside CO2, N2O and CH4, the Kyoto Protocol deals with the greenhouse gases sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs).

Any wastewater that is not contaminated with faecal matter.

Total terrestrial Gross Primary Production (GPP) is the total mass of carbon taken out of the atmosphere by plant photosynthesis.

The amount of carbon fixed by the autotrophs (e.g. plants and algaes).

The ways in which people understand who they are, their belonging and role in society, and their relation to their broader environment.

The harvesting, processing, transporting, buying or selling of timber in contravention of national and international laws.

Illegal is defined in the context of this assessment when it violates laws and regulations.

A broad term which includes: fishing and fishing-related activities conducted in contravention of national, regional and international laws; non-reporting, misreporting or under- reporting of information on fishing operations and their catches; fishing by “Stateless” vessels; fishing in convention areas of Regional Fisheries Management Organizations (RFMOs) by non-party vessels; fishing activities which are not regulated by States and cannot be easily monitored and accounted for.

Non-tangible aspects of cultural value that are passed from one human generation to the next.

A formal, evidence-based procedure that assesses the economic, social and environmental effects of public policy or of any human activity.

changes to nature, nature’s contributions to people, and/or the good quality of life (Ricciardi et al., 2013). Impacts can be observed or unobserved. More specifically, impacts to nature (formerly ‘ecological impact’), is defined as a measurable change to the properties of an ecosystem (Ricciardi et al., 2013), and implies that all introduced species can have an impact, even when not yet established or widespread, which may vary in magnitude, simply by integration into the ecosystem.

A Key Biodiversity Area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for bird populations.

The conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats and the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings and, in the case of domesticated or cultivated species, in the surroundings where they have developed their distinctive properties.

An economic concept that seeks to incorporate natural capital into national wealth estimates, beyong GDP.

Absence of a common unit along which values can be measured and compared.

Limited evidence, recognising major knowledge gaps.

A quantitative or qualitative factor or variable that provides a simple, measurable and quantifiable characteristic or attribute responding in a known and communicable way to a changing environmental condition, to a changing ecological process or function, or to a changing element of biodiversity.

Natural and modified ecosystems including significant biodiversity, ecological services and cultural values voluntarily conserved by indigenous and local communities through customary laws or other effective means.

Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) refers to dynamic bodies of integrated, holistic, social and ecological knowledge, practices and beliefs pertaining to the relationship of living beings, including people, with one another and with their environments.

Indigenous and local knowledge systems are social and ecological knowledge practices and beliefs pertaining to the relationship of living beings, including people, with one another and with their environments. Such knowledge can provide information, methods, theory and practice for sustainable ecosystem management.