IPBES core glossary

Substances that are only needed in very small amounts but essential to organisms to produce enzymes, hormones and other substances fundamental for proper growth and development (WHO, 2015).

Substances that are only needed in very small amounts but essential to organisms to produce enzymes, hormones and other substances fundamental for proper growth and development.

Particles with dimensions between 0.1 and 100 micrometers, e.g. pollen, sand, dust (Vert et al., 2012).

Seasonal movement of animals from one region to another for food, breeding, etc.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment is a major assessment of the human impact on the environment published in 2005.

A major assessment of the human impact on the environment published in 2005.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) is a major assessment of the human impact on the environment published in 2005.

The removal of a mineral resource in or on the Earth’s crust, which has appropriate form, quality and quantity to allow economic extraction.

Mineralization in soil science is the decomposition or oxidation of the chemical compounds in organic matter releasing the nutrients contained in those compounds into soluble inorganic forms that may be plant-accessible.

Minimum tillage systems are tillage systems in which the ground is worked very little before the seed is sown, and where crops can be sown almost immediately after the previous crop has been harvested (Rawson & Gómez Macpherson, 2000).

Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth usually from an orebody, lode, vein, seam, reef or placer deposits. These deposits form a mineralized package that is of economic interest to the miner.

In the context of IPBES, an intervention to reduce negative or unsustainable uses of biodiversity and ecosystems.

A human intervention to reduce emissions or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases.

Lessening the force or intensity of something that can result in disbenefits.

Qualitative or quantitative representations of key components of a system and of relationships between these components. Benchmarking (of models) is the process of systematically comparing sets of model predictions against measured data in order to evaluate model performance. Validation (of models) typically refers to checking model outputs for consistency with observations. However, since models cannot be validated in the formal sense of the term (i.e. proven to be true), some scientists prefer to use the words benchmarking or evaluation. A dynamic model is a model that describes changes through time of a specific process. A process-based model (also known as mechanistic model) is a model in which relationships are described in terms of explicitly stated processes or mechanisms based on established scientific understanding, and model parameters therefore have clear ecological interpretation, defined beforehand. Hybrid models are models that combine correlative and process-based modelling approaches. A correlative model (also known as statistical model) is a model in which available empirical data are used to estimate values for parameters that do not have predefined ecological meaning, and for which processes are implicit rather than explicit. Integrated assessment models are interdisciplinary models that aim to describe the complex relationships between environmental, social, and economic drivers that determine current and future state of the ecosystem and the effects of global change, in order to derive policy-relevant insights. One of the essential characteristics of integrated assessments is the simultaneous consideration of the multiple dimensions of environmental problems.

Any system of agriculture that uses modern technology from conventional (q.v.) to organic (q.v.).

Altered or changed.

The contribution of local evaporation and evapotranspiration to local precipitation (Trenberth & Trenberth, 1999).

The amount of value an item or a service has in relation to its acceptable cash price for a willing seller and buyer.

Monitoring is the repeated observation of a system in order to detect signs of change.

The repeated observation of a system in order to detect signs of change.

The cultivation or growth of only one agricultural product in a given area (field, farm, garden, forest).

The agricultural practice of producing or growing a single crop, plant, or livestock species, variety, or breed in a field or farming system at a time.

The condition in which a group of taxa share a common ancestry, being the entire set of evolutionary descendants from a common ancestor.

A moral economy, initially based on peasants’ sense of belonging and sharing, is an economy that is based on goodness, fairness, and justice. Such an economy is generally only stable in small, closely knit communities, where the principles of mutuality operate.

A pattern of landscapes with multiple patches and corridors.

Landscape scale restoration efforts that do not rely on a single restoration mechanism for an entire landscape, or it is a single mechanism, deploying it in a spatially variable manner that creates patches of restored and non-restored landscape units.

An expression used in a number of countries and regions to refer to the planet Earth and the entity that sustains all living things found in nature with which humans have an indivisible, interdependent physical and spiritual relationship.

An expression used in a number of countries and regions to refer to the planet Earth and the entity that sustains all living things found in nature with which humans have an indivisible, interdependent physical and spiritual relationship (see nature).

One’s general willingness to do something. It is the set of psychological forces that compel you to take action. Motivation can be extrinsic - based on changes in external conditions, external rewards. Intrinsic motivation refers to an inherent drive to seek out challenges and new possibilities.

Providing extrinsic incentives for certain kinds of behaviour - such as promising monetary rewards for accomplishing more of intrinsically/ normatively motivated action - can undermine that motivation for performing the behaviour, diminished motivation to act.

See Participatory scenario development.

A sub-discipline of operations research that explicitly evaluates multiple conflicting criteria in decision-making.

The IPBES Multidiscplinary Expert Panel is a subsidiary body established by the IPBES Plenary which oversees the scientific and technical functions ofthe Platform, a key role being to select experts to carry out assessments.

Within the context of IPBES - a subsidiary body established by the IPBES Plenary which carries out the scientific and technical functions agreed upon by the Plenary, as articulated in the document on functions, operating principles and institutional arrangements of IPBES.

The concept was adopted by FAO (1999) to foster an approach integrating landscape, biological connections, and less damageable practices. Multifunctional agriculture is meant to integrate the economic, social and ecological aspects of land management.