option value |
The potential ability to use some of nature’s benefits in the future, although they are not currently used, or the likelihood for their future use is low. It represents the willingness to preserve an option for the future enjoyment of nature’s benefits.
|
Scenarios and models assessment |
organic agriculture |
Any system that emphasizes the use of techniques such as crop rotation, compost or manure application, and biological pest control in preference to synthetic inputs. Most certified organic farming schemes prohibit all genetically modified organisms and almost all synthetic inputs. Its origins are in a holistic management system that avoids off-farm inputs, but some organic agriculture now uses relatively high levels of off-farm inputs.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme), Pollination assessment |
organic agriculture |
Any system that emphasises the use of techniques such as crop rotation, compost or manure application, and biological pest control in preference to synthetic inputs. Most certified organic farming schemes prohibit all genetically modified organisms and almost all synthetic inputs. Its origins are in a holistic management system that avoids off-farm inputs, but some organic agriculture now uses relatively high levels of off-farm inputs.
|
Europe and Central Asia assessment, Americas assessment, Asia-Pacific assessment |
organic farming |
Crop and livestock production using natural sources of nutrients (such as compost, crop residues, and manure) and natural methods of crop and weed control, instead of using synthetic or inorganic agrochemicals. Genetically modified organisms are not usually part of organic agriculture. It is also sometimes called low- input farming, but may involve high inputs of labour and be intensive in its practice.
|
Pollination assessment |
other effective area-based conservation measures |
A geographically defined area other than a protected area, which is governed and managed in ways that achieve positive and sustained long- term outcomes for the in situ conservation of biodiversity (CBD, 2018a).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
overexploitation |
Overexploitation means harvesting species from the wild at rates faster than natural populations can recover. Includes overfishing, and overgrazing.
|
Asia-Pacific assessment, Sustainable use assessment |
overexploitation |
Harvesting species from the wild at rates faster than natural populations can recover. Includes overfishing, and overgrazing.
|
Africa assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment, Americas assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme) |
overgrazing |
Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature reserves. It can also be caused by immobile, travel restricted populations of native or non-native wild animals.
|
Asia-Pacific assessment, Sustainable use assessment |
overgrazing |
An excess of herbivory that leads to degradation of plant and soil resources.
|
Americas assessment |
overstocking |
Placing a number of animals on a given area that will result in overuse if continued to the end of the planned grazing period.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
paired catchment |
Paired catchment studies have been widely used to assess the likely impact of land use change on water yield around the world. Such studies involve the use of two catchments (drainage basins) with similar characteristics in terms of slope, aspect, soils, area, precipitation and vegetation located adjacent to each other. Following a calibration period, where both catchments are monitored, one of the catchments is subjected to treatment and the other remains as a control. This allows the climatic variability to be accounted for in the analysis. The change in water yield can then be attributed to changes in vegetation. The paired catchment studies reported in the literature can be divided into four broad categories: (i) afforestation experiments; (ii) regrowth experiments; (iii) deforestation experiments; and (iv) forest conversion experiments.
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
paleological data |
Information on environment event and trends (e.g. paleoclimate).
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
palma ratio |
The share of all income received by the 10% people with highest disposable income divided by the share of all income received by the 40% people with the lowest disposable income (OECD, 2018b).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
parasite |
An organism that lives on or within another organism of a different species (the host) from which it obtains nourishment and to which it causes harm.
|
Pollination assessment |
paris agreement |
Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020.
|
Asia-Pacific assessment |
participatory governance |
A variant or subset of governance which puts emphasis on democratic engagement, in particular through deliberative practices.
|
Americas assessment, Sustainable use assessment, Asia-Pacific assessment, Land degradation and restoration assessment |
participatory mapping |
A key method that many indigenous communities apply in order to collect data, information and monitoring and to use it in science- policy- society interface processes.
|
Europe and Central Asia assessment |
participatory method |
Participatory research methods are a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods geared towards planning and conducting the research process with those people whose life-world and meaningful actions are under study (Bergold & Thomas, 2012). Participatory methods acknowledge the possibility, the significance, and the usefulness of involving research partners in the knowledge-production process (Bergold, 2007).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
participatory method |
Participatory research methods are a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods geared towards planning and conducting the research process with those people whose life-world and meaningful actions are under study (Bergold & Thomas, 2012). Participatory methods acknowledge the possibility, the significance, and the usefulness of involving research partners in the knowledge- production process.
|
Sustainable use assessment |
participatory process |
Specific methods employed to achieve active participation by all members of a group in a decision-making process (Chatty et al., 2003).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
participatory process |
Specific methods employed to achieve active participation by all members of a group in a decision-making process.
|
Sustainable use assessment |
participatory scenario development (and planning) |
Approaches characterised by more interactive, and inclusive, involvement of stakeholders in the formulation and evaluation of scenarios. Aimed at improving the transparency and relevance of decision-making, by incorporating demands and information of each stakeholder, and negotiating outcomes between stakeholders.
|
Asia-Pacific assessment |
participatory scenario development (and planning) |
Approaches characterized by more interactive, and inclusive, involvement of stakeholders in the formulation and evaluation of scenarios. Aimed at improving the transparency and relevance of decision-making, by incorporating demands and information of each stakeholder, and negotiating outcomes between stakeholders.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment |
participatory scenario development (and planning) |
Approaches characterised by more interactive, and inclusive, involvement of stakeholders in the formulation and evaluation of scenarios. Aimed at improving the transparency and relevance of decision making, by incorporating demands and information of each stakeholder, and negotiating outcomes between stakeholders.
|
Americas assessment, Scenarios and models assessment |
particulate and gaseous pollutant |
Air pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen oxides and ammonia.
|
Europe and Central Asia assessment |
particulate matter |
A mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets (dust, dirt, soot, or smoke) (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2018b).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
particulate matter |
A mixture of solid particles (dust, dirt, soot, or smoke) and liquid droplets.
|
Europe and Central Asia assessment |
particulate matter |
Particulate matter (PM), also known as atmospheric particulate matter, or suspended particulate matter (SPM) are microscopic solid or liquid matter suspended in Earth's atmosphere. Sources of particulate matter can be natural or anthropogenic. They have impacts on climate and precipitation that adversely affect human health.
|
Asia-Pacific assessment |
particulate matter |
A mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets (dust, dirt, soot, or smoke).
|
Americas assessment |
particulate organic carbon |
The carbon content of particulate organic matter (Fiedler et al., 2008).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
particulate organic matter |
The large fraction (usually more than 7 micrometers) of soil organic matter (Fiedler et al., 2008).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
passive restoration |
See restoration.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
pastoralism |
Extensive livestock production in rangelands.
|
Europe and Central Asia assessment |
pathway management |
any action taken (single or via systems approach) towards a particular anthropogenic invasive alien species arrival pathway (e.g., trade) to prevent or address the threats and risks of an invasive alien species arriving and establishing via that pathway either between or within jurisdictions
|
Invasive alien species assessment |
pathways |
In the context of the IPBES global assessment, trajectories toward the achievement of goals and targets for biodiversity conservation and management of nature and nature’s contributions to people.
|
Sustainable use assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme) |
pathways |
“Pathways” consist of descriptions of different strategies for moving from the current situation towards a desired future vision or set of specified targets. They are descriptions of purposive courses of actions that build on each other, from short-term to long-term actions into broader transformation. They are closely related to normative or policy or target-seeking scenarios.
|
Values assessment |
pathways |
In the context of the IPBES global assessment, trajectories toward the achievement of goals and targets for biodiversity conservation, the management of nature and nature’s contributions to people, and, more broadly, the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
|
Values assessment |
patrimonial species |
A rare or threatened species which needs local management and which may be a flagship species and may have cultural importance (Pervanchon, 2004).
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
payment for ecosystem services |
Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are a specific class of approach, used to facilitate voluntary transaction between a provider and a user of a service, conditioned on natural resource management rules for dealing with environmental externalities. PES is created to deal with market failures, environmental externalities, property rights problems and asymmetric information between economic actors.
|
Sustainable use assessment |
payment for ecosystem services |
Voluntary transactions that generate offsite services and are established to enable service users to pay resource providers for the conditional provision of the desired ecosystem service.
|
Americas assessment |
payment for ecosystem services |
A payment mechanism that involves a series of payments to land or other natural resource owners in return for a guaranteed flow of ecosystem services or certain actions likely to enhance their provision over-and-above what would otherwise be provided in the absence of payment.
|
Global assessment (1st work programme), Asia-Pacific assessment, Land degradation and restoration assessment |
payment for ecosystem services |
Payments for ecosystem services (PES) is a term used to describe a process whereas a beneficiary or user of an ecosystem service makes a direct or indirect payment to a provider of that service. PES involve a series of payments to land or other natural resource owners in return for a guaranteed flow of ecosystem services or certain actions likely to enhance their provision over-¬and-above what would otherwise be provided in the absence of payment.
|
|
peatland |
Wetlands which accumulate organic plant matter in situ because waterlogging prevents aerobic decomposition and the much slower rate of the resulting anaerobic decay is exceeded by the rate of accumulation.
|
Asia-Pacific assessment, Americas assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme), Sustainable use assessment, Land degradation and restoration assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme), Europe and Central Asia assessment |
pedosphere |
A part of the Earth’s surface that contains the soil layer.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
pelagic |
Organisms that live in the water column.
|
Global assessment (1st work programme), Asia-Pacific assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment, Americas assessment |
people and plants initiative |
A collaboration initiated in 1992 between the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), UNESCO-MAB and the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew on the promotion of ethnobotany and the equitable and sustainable use of plant resources.
|
Global assessment (1st work programme) |
perceptions |
The first stage of the human cognitive process. Perceptions are not neutral as they pass through rational and emotional filters which assess and interpret the relevancy of what people see. These filters are conditioned by individual experience, education, and by collective worldviews. See also Reality; Concepts”; Worldviews”.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
perennial |
See annual.
|
Americas assessment, Europe and Central Asia assessment |
permaculture |
See Conservation agriculture.
|
Land degradation and restoration assessment |
permafrost |
Perennially frozen ground that occurs wherever the temperature remains below 0°C for several years.
|
Americas assessment, Global assessment (1st work programme), Europe and Central Asia assessment |