Glossary definitions

See models.

A geographically defined area which allows species to move between landscapes, ecosystems and habitats, natural or modified, and ensures the maintenance of biodiversity and ecological and evolutionary processes.

A geographically defined area which allows species to move between landscapes, ecosystems and habitats, natural or modified, and is intended to ensure the maintenance of biodiversity and ecological and evolutionary processes.

see cosmocentric.

A vision of reality that places the highest importance or emphasis in the universe or nature, as opposite to an anthropocentric vision, which strongly focuses on humankind as the most important element of existence.

The ways any society develops worldviews that aim at explaining the content and the dynamics of the universe, its spatial and temporal properties, the types of living beings that inhabits it, the principles and energies that explains its origin and its future.

A procedure for estimating all costs involved and possible profits (benefits) to be derived from a business or development opportunity or proposal.

A technique designed to determine the feasibility of a project or plan by quantifying its costs and benefits.

an analytical tool for judging the economic advantages or disadvantages of an investment decision by assessing its costs and benefits in order to assess the welfare change attributable to it. The analytical framework of CBA refers to a list of underlying concepts which is as follows: opportunity cost, long-term perspective, calculation of economic performance indicators expressed in monetary terms, microeconomic approach, incremental approach

an analytical tool to identify the best activity, process, or intervention that justifies/minimizes resource use to achieve a desired result

Country possessing genetic resources in in-situ conditions (CBD, 1992).

Country supplying genetic resources collected from in-situ sources, including populations of both wild and domesticated species, or taken from ex-situ sources, which may or may not have originated in that country (CBD, 1992).

Social-ecological systems are complex, integrated systems in which humans are part of nature.

Increasing yields, area of extent and/or environmental impacts of agricultural production.

See ‘Wild relative’.

A land cover/use category that includes areas used for the production of crops for harvest.

The pattern of crops produced on a given piece of land, or sequence in which the crops are cultivated on pieces of land over a fixed period, and their interaction with farm resources and other farm enterprises.

The movement of pollen between the flowers of two distinct plants.

Cross-scale effects are the result of spatial and/or temporal processes interacting with other processes at another scale. These interactions create emergent effects that can be difficult to predict.

Relating to interactions between sectors (that is, the distinct parts of society, or of a nation's economy), such as how one sector affects another sector, or how a factor affects two or more sectors.

Relating to, or affecting, more than one sector (distinct part of society, or of a nation's economy).

It has been hypothesized that the rise of economic incentive approaches (so-called ‘market-based’ approaches) in environmental policy making, could lead to a change in values towards a commercialization of nature (i.e. people putting more weight on instrumental values and less on intrinsic values of nature in decision-making). This risks undermining intrinsic motivation or pro-nature values and mindsets.

The components of the Earth system that contain a substantial fraction of water in a frozen state, i.e. sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets.

The cryosphere is those portions of Earth's surface where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, and frozen ground (which includes permafrost).

a species, which cannot be reliably demonstrated as being either alien or native

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (Sarukhán & Whyte, 2005) defined cultural ecosystem services as the nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences. Cultural ecosystem services have been included in many other typologies of ecosystem services and referred to variously as cultural services (Constanza, 1997), life-fulfilling functions (Daily, 1999), information functions (de Groot et al., 2002), amenities and fulfilment (Boyd & Banzhaf, 2007), cultural and amenity services (de Groot et al., 2010, Kumar 2010), or socio-cultural fulfilment (Wallace, 2007).

Cultural change is a continuous process in any society, which can vary from gradual to stochastic, resulting from interactions between processes that are internal (ex. needs, local changes, crisis, mobility, ideas, invention and innovation, conflicts, etc.) and external (ex. diffusion, external agents, political and economic forces, conflicts, etc.) (Berry, 2008; Redfield et al., 1936). Cultural change is interpreted differently depending on theoretical orientation, such as diffusionism, modernization theory, world system theory, neocolonialism, globalization, among others (see Peña, 2005; Rudmin, 2009; Santos-Granero, 2009). Culture change can be selective or systemic and most often involves resistance and conflicts but can also lead to adaptation and resilience in changing contexts and environments.

Cultural continuity has been conceptualized within Indigenous health research that builds on cultural connectedness to emphasize the importance of intergenerational cultural connectedness, which is maintained through intact families and the engagement of elders, who pass traditions to subsequent generations. Cultural continuity also situates culture as being dynamic through the maintenance of collective memory, which may change over time.

As stated in the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, Culture takes diverse forms across time and space. This diversity is embodied in the uniqueness and plurality of the identities of the groups and societies making up humankind. As a source of exchange, innovation and creativity, cultural diversity is as necessary for humankind as biodiversity is for nature. In this sense, it is the common heritage of humanity and should be recognized and affirmed for the benefit of present and future generations..Cultural diversity widens the range of options open to everyone; it is one of the roots of development, understood not simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence.

A category of ecosystem services first developed in the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) to refer to the nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experience, including, knowledge systems, social relations, and aesthetic values. In this assessment, cultural ecosystem services are included as part of both material and non-material Nature’s contributions to people.

A category of ecosystem services first developed in the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) to refer to the nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experience, including, e.g. knowledge systems, social relations, and aesthetic values (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). In the Global Assessment, cultural ecosystem services are included as part of both material and non-material nature’s contributions to people.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment defined cultural ecosystem services as the nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences. Cultural ecosystem services have been included in many other typologies of ecosystem services and referred to variously as cultural services, life-fulfilling functions, information functions, amenities and fulfillment, cultural and amenity services, or socio-cultural fulfillment.

Cultural identity is the identity or feeling of belonging to, as part of the self-conception and self-perception to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality and any kind of social group that have its own distinct culture. In this way that cultural identity is both characteristic of the individual but also to the culturally identical group that has its members sharing the same cultural identity.

The culturally salient species that shape in a major way the cultural identity of a people, as reflected in the fundamental roles these species have in diet, materials, medicine, and/or spiritual practices.

Culturally keystone species designate species whose existence and symbolic value shape in a major way and over time, the cultural identity of a people, as reflected in the fundamental roles these species have in diet, materials, medicine, and/or spiritual practices.

Cultural landscapes express the long-term co-evolution and relationships between people and nature, influenced by internal and external forces affecting the aesthetic and productive configuration of land management, water bodies, wildlife, property systems, infrastructure and human settlements, and which are both a source and a product of changing social, institutional, economic, and cultural systems.

Cultural values are shared social values and norms, which are learned and dynamic, and which underpin attitudes and behavior and how people respond to events and opportunities, and affects the hierarchy of values people assign to objects, knowledge, stories, feelings, other beings, forms of social expressions, and behaviors.

A commonly accepted definition of culture refers to the system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviours, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.

Culture is defined as a key determinant of, for example, what is defined as suitable food and preferred approaches to supporting human health.

An impact produced over a period of time.

The socially-embedded systems and institutions used within communities to regulate and manage land use and access, and which derive from the community itself rather than from the state.

Law consisting of customs that are accepted as legal requirements or obligatory rules of conduct; practices and beliefs that are so vital and intrinsic a part of a social and economic system that they are treated as if they were laws.

Customary law forms part of forms part of international and domestic law and stems from the customary norms of a particular group of peoples.

Law based on tradition in communities where the authority of traditional leadership is recognised. It exists where there is a commonly repeated practice which is accepted as law by the members of a community.

Law consisting of commonly repeated customs, practices and beliefs that are accepted as legal requirements or obligatory rules of conduct.

See Customary law.

Rights, such as land rights or political rights, that are granted by either customary or statutory law. Customary rights exist where there is a consensus of relevant actors considering them to be ‘law’.

Uses of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation or sustainable use requirements.

A Chinese philosophy based on the writings of Lao-tzu, advocating humility and religious piety.

adj. Ten years.