Glossary definitions

The ability of an ecosystem to support and maintain ecological processes and a diverse community of organisms. It is measured as the degree to which a diverse community of native organisms is maintained, and is used as a proxy for ecological resilience, intended as the capacity of an ecosystem to adapt in the face of stressors, while maintaining the functions of interest.

An approach to maintaining or restoring the composition, structure, function, and delivery of services of natural and modified ecosystems for the goal of achieving sustainability. It is based on an adaptive, collaboratively developed vision of desired future conditions that integrates ecological, socioeconomic, and institutional perspectives, applied within a geographic framework, and defined primarily by natural ecological boundaries.

An approach to maintaining or restoring the composition, structure, function and delivery of services of natural and modified ecosystems for the goal of achieving sustainability. It is based on an adaptive, collaboratively developed vision of desired future conditions that integrates ecological, socioeconomic, and institutional perspectives, applied within a geographic framework, and defined primarily by natural ecological boundaries.

Policies and practices that are necessarily focused on recovery of a self-sustaining living system characteristic of past or least- disturbed landscapes.

The degree to which an ecosystem is affected, either adversely or beneficially, by climate related stimuli, including mean (average) climate characteristics, climate variability and the frequency and magnitude of extremes.

A service that is provided by an ecosystem as an intrinsic property of its functionality (e.g. pollination, nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, fruit and seed dispersal). The benefits (and occasionally disbenefits) that people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; and cultural services such as recreation and sense of place. In the original definition of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment the concept of ecosystem goods and services is synonymous with ecosystem services.

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems. In the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, ecosystem services can be divided into supporting, regulating, provisioning and cultural. This classification, however, is superseded in IPBES assessments by the system used under “Nature’s contributions to people”. This is because IPBES recognizes that many services fit into more than one of the four categories. For example, food is both a provisioning service and also, emphatically, a cultural service, in many cultures.

The benefits (and occasionally disbenefits or losses) that people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; and cultural services such as recreation, ethical and spiritual, educational and sense of place. In the original definition of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment the concept of ecosystem goods and services is synonymous with ecosystem services. Other approaches distinguish final ecosystem services that directly deliver welfare gains and/or losses to people through goods from this general term that includes the whole pathway from ecological processes through to final ecosystem services, goods and anthropocentric values to people.

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems. In the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, ecosystem services can be divided into supporting, regulating, provisioning and cultural.

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems. In the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, ecosystem services can be divided into supporting, regulating, provisioning and cultural. This classification, however, is superseded in IPBES assessments by the system used under nature's contributions to people. This is because IPBES recognises that many services fit into more than one of the four categories. For example, food is both a provisioning service and also, emphatically, a cultural service, in many cultures.

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems. These include provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits; and supporting services such as nutrient cycling that maintain the conditions for life on Earth. The concept ‘‘ecosystem goods and services'’ is synonymous with ecosystem services.

The benefits people obtain from nature (MEA, 2003; Diaz et al., 2005). This is the original IPBES definition, inherited from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the literature which preceded it, and is the one most widely used in the research and policy community and the technical literature. IPCC defines ecosystem services as “ecological processes or functions which have value to individuals or society”, which is consistent with, and slightly more precise than, the IPBES definition, but is less widely used in the community. Within IPBES, the term “ecosystem services” and its subtypes have since 2018 been superseded by the terminology associated with the conceptual framework referred to as “nature’s contributions to people” (see Natures Contributions to People for explanation of the logic of the change). This includes most - but not all -of the specific components previously under ecosystem services. What were formerly known as supporting services are excluded, largely to avoid double-accounting.

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems. In the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, ecosystem services can be divided into supporting, regulating, provisioning and cultural. This classification, however, is superseded in IPBES assessments by the system used under “nature’s contributions to people”. This is because IPBES recognises that many services fit into more than one of the four categories. For example, food is both a provisioning service and also, emphatically, a cultural service, in many cultures.

The individuals and communities of plants and animals of which an ecosystem is composed, their age and spatial distribution, and the non- living natural resources present.

A community of living organisms (plants, animals, fungi and various microbes) in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment (such as energy, air, water and mineral soil), all interacting as a system.

A dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non- living environment interacting as a functional unit.

A dynamic complex of plant, animal and micro-organism communities and their non-living environment interacting as a functional unit.

The conservation, sustainable management and restoration of natural ecosystems to help people adapt to climate change.

The use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change (CBD, 2012). It refers to actions that mix the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services policy instruments with socio-economic and development policy instruments to help people adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.

A strategy for the integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. An ecosystem approach is based on the application of appropriate scientific methods, focused on levels of biological organization that encompass the essential structure, processes, functions and interactions among and between organisms and their environment. It recognizes that humans, with their cultural diversity, are an integral component of many ecosystems.

an environmental management approach that recognizes the full array of interactions within an ecosystem, including humans, rather than considering single issues, species, or ecosystem services in isolation

A transition area between two biomes or vegetation types.

Sustainable travel undertaken to access sites or regions of unique natural or ecological quality, promoting their conservation, low visitor impact, and socio-economic involvement of local populations.

Sustainable travel undertaken to access sites or regions of unique natural or ecological quality, promoting their conservation, low visitor impact, and socio- economic involvement of local populations.

Often referred to as cold-blooded and applied to organisms that cannot regulate their body temperature relative to the surrounding environment, i.e. deriving heat from outside the body.

A change in species composition, physical conditions or ecological factors at the boundary between two or more habitats.

An irregularly recurring flow of unusually warm surface waters from the Pacific Ocean toward and along the western coast of South America that prevents upwelling of nutrient- rich cold deep water and that disrupts typical regional and global weather patterns.

The term El Niño was initially used to describe a warm-water current that periodically flows along the coast of Ecuador and Perú, disrupting the local fishery. It has since become identified with a basin-wide warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean east of the dateline. This oceanic event is associated with a fluctuation of a global-scale tropical and subtropical surface pressure pattern called the Southern Oscillation. This coupled atmosphere-ocean phenomenon, with preferred time scales of two to about seven years, is collectively known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

The process by which people gain control over the factors and decisions that shape their lives. It is the process by which they increase their assets and attributes and build capacities to gain access, partners, networks and/or a voice, in order to gain control.

The institutional, policy and governance responses to create enabling conditions to implement direct responses or actions on the ground to halt land degradation or to restore degraded lands.

Enabling conditions are defined as conditions that facilitate approaches to addressing social and ecological challenges. They can be defined as factors that increase the likelihood of an intended change in the governance approach, strategy, or management regime. The presence of enabling conditions can facilitate the emergence of a particular environmental policy, whereas the absence of key enabling conditions can present a barrier to management or sustained policy action.

A species at risk of extinction in the wild.

Plants and animals that exist only in one geographic region.

The ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere.

Drivers that can be influenced by a particular policy or decision context, and are therefore regarded as endogenous or policy- relevant”. (Section 1.3.2.2).

Access to clean, reliable and affordable energy services for cooking and heating, lighting, communications and productive uses.

A.The uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price; B.The association between national security and the availability of natural resources for energy consumption within nation states. Long-term measures to increase energy security often center on diversifying energy sources.

Primary energy sources take many forms, including nuclear energy, fossil energy -like oil, coal and natural gas- and renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower. These primary sources are converted to electricity, a secondary energy source.

The positive effect resulting from an activity or program on environmental service flows.

Naturally occurring living and non-living entities of the Earth, together comprising the bio-physical environment, that jointly deliver ecosystem services to the benefit of current and future generation.

The facilitation of an integrated perception of the problems of the environment, enabling more rational actions capable of meeting social needs to be taken.

The environmental envelope of a species is defined as the set of environments within which it is believed that the species can persist: that is where its environmental requirements can be satisfied (see niche). Many large-scale vegetation or species models are based on environmental envelope techniques.

Environmental governance, as a subclass of the broader governance concept, has been defined as “the set of regulatory processes, mechanisms and organizations through which political actors influence environmental actions and outcomes” (Lemos & Agrawal, 2006), and it “should be understood broadly so as to include all institutional solutions for resolving conflicts over environmental resources”.

Environmental characteristics that explain the distribution of organisms and ecosystems in terms of environmental tolerances.

The potential occurrence of a natural or human-induced physical event or trend or physical impact that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts, as well as damage and loss to property, infrastructure, livelihoods, service provision, ecosystems and environmental resources. In this report, the term hazard usually refers to climate- related physical events or trends or their physical impacts.

A measurable change to the properties of an ecosystem by a nonnative species. The logical implications of this definition are that (1) every nonnative species has an impact simply by becoming integrated into the system, (2) such impacts may be positive or negative and vary in magnitude on a continuous scale, and (3) impacts can be compared through time and across space.

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

An assessment that assesses the impacts of planned activity on the environment in advance, thereby allowing avoidance measures to be taken: prevention is better than cure.

An extraction from non-cultivated sources: natural forests, other non-forest wildlands such as grass-, bush- and wetlands, fallows, but also wild plants and animals harvested from croplands.

The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies.