Glossary definitions

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.

see target- seeking scenarios.

The governance (as described above) which entails sound public sector management (efficiency, effectiveness and economy), accountability, exchange and free flow of information (transparency), and a legal framework for development (justice, respect for human rights and liberties). In the development literature, the term ‘good governance’ is frequently used to denote a necessary pre-condition for creating an enabling environment for poverty reduction and sustainable human development.

Within the context of the IPBES Conceptual Framework - the achievement of a fulfilled human life, a notion which may 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. “Human wellbeing”, “inclusive wealth”, “living in harmony with nature”, “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 may 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”.

Within the context of the IPBES Conceptual Framework - the achievement of a fulfilled human life, a notion which may 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.

Within the context of the IPBES Conceptual Framework - the achievement of a fulfilled human life, the criteria for which may vary greatly across different societies and groups within societies. It is a context-dependent state of individuals and human groups, comprising aspects such 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 good quality of life.

Within the context of the IPBES conceptual framework - the achievement of a fulfilled human life, a notion which may vary 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.

The achievement of a fulfilled human life. IPCC does not define this term. The full IPBES definition is the achievement of a fulfilled human life, a notion which varies strongly across different societies and groups within societies. It is thus 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”. It is a phrase intended to be inclusive and deliberately not associated with a particular value, culture or epistemology.

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.