WIKI

 

Term English Definition

Adaptation/

implementation to climate change

 An adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected stimuli or their effects, which is intended to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities’ . (Adapted from IPCC 2007, Glossary).   This can reduce the vulnerability of a society to changes in climate systems. For example, adaptation to climate change is the process of preparing to cope with living in a changing climate e.g. increased rainfall, higher temperatures and more frequent storms.
Adaptive capacity The ability of a system (natural or human) to adjust to changes (e.g. climate shifts and variability)  to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with consequences.
Adaptive management  A management strategy that responds to change whilst also acknowledging uncertainty in outcomes: explicit feedback mechanisms allow ongoing experience to refine and improve future management decisions.
Alienation right The right to sell one of the above rights permanently or for a given time period. Most attention has been given to the right to transfer full ownership of a segment of a resource which would involve having all of the other four rights. Some forms of alienation are not that general but still assign the right to sell some meaningful subset of the rights that they hold to a participant. (Schlager and Ostrom, 1992)
Climate variability The deviations (abnormalities) in averages of meteorological elements for a particular period of time (given month, year, etc.) from large time-series climate statistics related to the calendar year.
Climate change Significant changes in global and local climates, which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.
Collective action This is the pursuit of a goal, or set of goals, by more than one person.  The conditions under which this occurs if of great interest to the social sciences. It often refers to the process of facilitating closure toward common interest or the overcoming of blockages which undermine the achievement of high group returns from a contemplated action. (adapted from Moran, E. et al, 2002).
Common property A certain system of resource access and ownership.  Each member of the ownership group has the right to access and use group-owned resources in accordance with access and use rules established collectively by the group, and a duty not to violate access and use rules. Each member also has the right to exclude non-members of the ownership group, but no right to exclude other members of the ownership group. Non-members of the ownership group have a duty not to access and use the resource, except in accordance with rules adopted collectively by the ownership group. (Bromley,1991)
Coping range  Capacity of systems to adapt to variations in climate conditions – present & future  
Driver A key variable or issue making a significant influence on systems and management outcomes
Entry right The right to enter a resource which could be achieved by buying a ticket to enter a state park for a day or month, by declaration of a national or state government that all citizens of X could enter footpaths or property of a wide diversity of kinds, or by inheritance of joint use rights. (Schlager and Ostrom, 1992)
Exclusion right The right to determine who else could use the resource and what their specific rights would be. (Schlager and Ostrom, 1992)
Exogenous Variables A group of variables that cannot be modified by involved agents and that would condition, a priori, the agents' perception of the phenomenon.  Sometimes also called external or uncontrollable variables.
Exposure The degree to which a system is exposed to significant climatic variations
Extreme climate changes Significant and unexpected or unprecedented changes and events within the climate system, caused by responses to anthropogenic forces.
Forest Forest is a land spanning more than 0.5 ha with trees higher than 5 meters and a canopy cover of more than 10%, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominantly under agricultural or urban land use. (FAO, 2005)
Forest degradation The reduction of the capacity of a forest to provide goods and services.  A direct human-induced long-term loss (persisting for X years or more) of at least Y% of forest carbon stocks (and forest values) since time T and not qualifying as deforestation or an elected activity under article 3.4 of the Kyoto Protocol. (FAO, 2002)  
Framework analysis Framework analysis is a method of qualitative analysis.  Within the framework, each column represents a theme or topic, each case has its own row, and cells contain relevant summaries from the data set. These charts are used to examine the data for patterns and connections.   It can be useful for applied policy research.
Gender Group of characteristics, behaviours, attitudes, activities, opportunities, expectations, rights, responsibilities and roles that a social group assigns to people (women-men), and that these assume as their own, starting with their sex (biologically determined differences).  Gender is a social and cultural construction, that varies between social and cultural groups and periods of time.
Gender Equity Equity is the quality of being fair and impartial.  Gender equity entails ensuring that the interests, demands, needs, expectations, different age and ethnic groups of women and men are taken into account e.g. in ownership, access, decision-making, actions and benefit distributions.
Governance Governance is the processes and institutions which allow the organisation of societies and economies.    Work on this concept seeks to understand the way that society collectively constructs decision-making about a topic of shared interest.  Governance is not just carried out by formal national-level governments or political parties. For example, institutional informal mechanisms can structure decision and action taking in a particular region. Many actors and institutions, public and private, can influence governance.  To understand governance, we need to understand power, responsibility, accountability, relations, conflicts. informal and formal institutions... and the interactions between these structures and processes.  New forms of environmental governance recommend collaborative and inclusive approaches that encourage engagement of a range of stakeholders and consensus building for implementing programmes or initiatives in areas where there are many interests at stake. 
Governance model A governance model describes the roles that project participants can take on and the process for decision making within the project. In addition, it describes the ground rules for participation in the project and the processes for communicating and sharing within the project team and community.
Hazard A situation or event with the potential to cause harm. A hazard does not necessarily cause harm. (UKCIP, 2003)
Heuristic  A short-hand rule of thumb which facilitates decision making, especially in pedantic, repetitive situations. Such rules are often based on past experience coupled with inductive reasoning. (Moran, E. et al, 2002)
Impacts (climate change) The effects of climate change on natural and human systems (harmful or beneficial). Depending on the consideration of adaptation, one can distinguish between potential impacts and residual impacts (IPCC AR4, 2007):
Impacts (potential) All impacts that may occur given a projected change in climate, without considering adaptation.
Impacts (residual) The impacts of climate change that would occur after adaptation. 
Land cover The observed physical and biological cover of the Earth’s land as vegetation or man-made features. (IPCC, 2000)
Land use The total of arrangements, activities, and inputs undertaken in a certain land cover type (a set of human actions). The social and economic purposes for which land is managed (e.g., grazing timber extraction, conservation). (IPCC, 2000)
Learning arena A space where learning activities can take place.  It can be seen as a framework for identifying a need of knowledge development, different learning opportunities and means for stimulating individual as well as collective learning. (Madsen et al., 2007) 
Local/Indigenous Knowledge Generally refer to the long-standing traditions and practices of certain regional, indigenous, or local communities. Traditional knowledge also encompasses the wisdom, knowledge, and teachings of these communities. In many cases, traditional knowledge has been orally passed for generations from person to person. Some forms of traditional knowledge are expressed through stories, legends, folklore, rituals, songs, and even laws.
Local election Elections held at a sub-national scale, perhaps at the level of a single or a few communities, in order to elect a local government.  In some cases, “uses y costumbres” ("customs and traditions") are applicable in indigenous communities which have developed community assemblies or other collective forms of selecting local authorities, or which, “by their own decision” decide to opt for such a system. (Guerra, 2000)
Local government Is that part of the whole government of the nation or state which is administrated by authorities subordinate to the state authority, but elected independently of control by the state authority, by qualified people resident, or having property in certain localities, which localities have been formed by communities having common interests and common history. (Gomme, 1987)
Management rights The right to change the physical structures in a resource system such as building an irrigation system or a road, changing the shoreline of a fishery, developing a variety of physical infrastructure for any particular resource. (Schlager and Ostrom, 1992)
Mitigation In climate change policy, mitigation refers specifically to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (IPCC) 
Motion The draft of any decision that Conventions such as the World Conservation Congress (WCC) are required to adopt.  The motions can take the form of resolutions or recommendations
Open access No individual has a duty to refrain from accessing and using a resource. No individual or group has the right to prevent any other individual or group from accessing and using the resource as they choose. (Bromley, 1991)
Organisational learning systems Systems that enable those working in organizations to build share visions, develop coherent thinking and team learning, and cohesively master skills and ideas (adapted from Senge, 1990) 
Organization The technical structure of relations that exists between functions, levels and activities of human and material elements of a social entity, in order to achieve its goals and objectives identified above.
(Participatory) Action Research This is a research method and philosophy that originated in the 70s in Latin America.  It focuses in the production of knowledge, through the critical articulation of aspects of science and popular knowledge with the objective of re-orienting their results towards a transformation of reality.  Action Research techniques come from qualitative research and have as their objective the generation of interchange/exchange and "knowledge dialogues" between the community and external researchers; the external researcher is a facilitator of the process that allows the community to assume an active role in the diagnostic, planning and evaluation processes based on their own needs and development expectations.  Some of its main proponents are Orlando Fals Borda and Paulo Freire.
Participatory Integrated Assessment Integrated assessment has been defined as an interdisciplinary process of synthesising, interpreting and communicating knowledge from diverse scientific disciplines in order to provide relevant information for policy-makers on a specific decision problem. Two main forms of Integrated Assessments are distinguished: modelling and participatory methods. Methods belonging to these two categories can be used separately or in appropriate combinations. Participatory Integrated Assessment complies the following methods: the policy exercise method, the focus group technique, the adaptive environmental assessment and management (AEAM) method, the simulation-gaming techniques, and the teaching and training games. 
Participatory governance Participatory governance is a process where the interested actors are involved in the process of decision making, formulation of policies, implementation and monitoring of the proposed policies. 
Participatory processes /participatory methods Participatory Processes (PP) are specific methods employed to achieve active participation by all members of a group in a decision making process. The approach can be used for most issues and should give equal opportunities for everybody involved. The primary goal is to create productive discussions to develop positive solutions. Method selection is dependent on what the participants want to achieve, as each method employs different processes and outcomes.  Each method should be viewed holistically as a certain way of thinking, rather than as an individual tool.
Participatory Rural Appraisal PRA PRA is an approach to interventions for research and change that originates in the 80s.  It is influenced by the concept of Action Research aims to incorporate the knowledge and opinions of rural people in the planning and management of development projects and programmes.  Its methodology provides visual instruments that allow the diagnostic, planning, follow-up and evaluation work with different actors, through the visualisation and analysis in order to identify strategies for improving the quality of live of a determined population.  It's most well known proponents are Robert Chambers and Frans Guilfus.
Communication Pathways  The route or channel through which research products reach the users. The means by which NR users search for potentially useful information and also the means by which research projects make their products known to users. Different groups of users use different pathways to access information. Pathways are multiple and complex, especially with respect to reaching poor people and responding to their needs.
Private property A property whose owners have the exclusive right to undertake socially acceptable uses, to the exclusion of non-owners, and have a duty to refrain from socially unacceptable uses. Non-owners have a duty to refrain from preventing owners’ socially acceptable uses, but have the right to prevent or be compensated for socially unacceptable uses. (Bromley, 1991)
Policymakers Individuals who have the authority to set the policy framework of a state or organization. 
Prospective Analysis Techniques This method is based on the elaboration of future trends through the inference of historic tendencies of the system (Godet, 1985, 1994, 2001). PSA technique helps to describe a system identifying the influence relation (instead of cause-effect relations) among the integrated elements of the system, through a process of collective reflection in which a double entrance matrix is filled in.
Public property A resource where the State or its agencies have the right to determine rules of access and use, but a duty (in the theory at least) to manage publicly owned resources for the public welfare. Individual members of the public do not necessarily have a right of access or use, but they have a duty to observe access and use rules promulgated by controlling/managing agency. (Bromley,1991)
Rationality That quality ascribed to decision makers who possess complete information relevant to a situation, and employ logical and effective analysis to arrive at a decision which maximizes the attainment of their goals. (Moran, E. et al, 2002)
WCC recommendation At the WCC, recommendations are directed to third parties and can relate to any matters which is important for the IUCN's objectives.
Remotely-sensed data Data collected from aerial photos, satellite imagery, or radar imagery which portray spatial and temporal characteristics of land cover, topography, biomass, water availability, and transportation networks. Can be used directly or stored for later use and analysis.  (Moran, E. et al, 2002)
Research products  Findings and results of research e.g., methodologies; conceptual models; decision-making tools; process recommendations; scientific understanding; technical information; transferable technologies; sets of alternatives from which end-users choose.
Resilience The ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self-organisation, and the capacity to adapt to stress and change (IPCC) 
WCC Resolution At the Word Conservation Congress (WCC), any resolutions adopted are taken forward by IUCN.
Risk Combines the likelihood an event will occur (probability) with the magnitude of its consequences (hazard). Consequences may be defined according to a variety of metrics including economic, social and environmental. Risks can be either adverse costs and damages (including non-monetary costs) or beneficial opportunities. (CCRA, 2011)
Risk (analysis) The process by which risk assessment is used to develop risk management options to reduce, mitigate or compensate for the risk. (UKCIP, 2003)
Risk (assessment) The process by which hazards and consequences are identified, characterised as to their probability and magnitude, and their significance assessed. (UKCIP, 2003)
Risk (Integrated Risk Assessment) An approach to the management of risk that includes all sources of hazard, pathways and receptors, and considers a wide combination of risk management options. (UKCIP, 2003)
Risk (perceived ) Refers to the observation that the individual or public perception of risk may differ from the perception gained by a risk assessor as a result of a technical risk assessment. (UKCIP, 2003)
Risk (screening) Following initial identification of hazards and risks, risk screening is the process by which it is determined which risks should be investigated in more detail. Risk screening  is usually based on ranking or scoring methods. (UKCIP, 2003)
Scaling up Scaling-up aims to provide “more quality benefits to more people over a wider geographical area more quickly, more equitably and more lastingly” (IIRR,2000 in Guendel et al., 2001). Scaling-up can be geographical expansion to more people and communities within the same sector or stakeholder group, as well as institutional, involving expansion to more people and communities within the same sector or stakeholder group, as well as institutional, involving expansion to other stakeholder groups and sectors. 
Scenario A Scenario is a coherent, internally consistent, and plausible description of a possible future state. It is not a forecast; rather, each scenario is one alternative image of how the future can unfold. 
Sensitivity The degree to which a system is affected, either adversely or beneficially, by climate variability or change.
Social actors Individual and institutional actors that are part of a socio-economic system (i.e. people and organisations in a specific geographical area).  They may be directly or indirectly affected by climate variability.
Social capital An attribute of individuals and of their relationships that enhances their ability to solve collective-action problems. (Ostrom, 2007)
Social Network A social network is the structure made from a group of actors, links between these actors (e.g. relationships, connexions, interactions, etc) and diverse types of resources that flow between them.  The networks connect the actors for decision making, collective action, governance etc..  These networks may encompass or even replace the relationships of hierarchical authority.  Network analysis facilitates analytical deliberation and the interaction between actors in a horizontal and vertical way in different levels of the governance system.
Social participatory mapping An interactive approach using accessible and free-ranging visual methods in an individual or group interview setting to interrogate qualitative research questions.
Social-ecological System (SES) SES is an ecological system intricately linked with and affected by one or more social systems. An ecological system can be defined loosely as an interdependent system of organism or biological units. “Social” simply means “tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others of one’s kind”. (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2004).                                                                                                                                         SES refers to the subset of social systems in which some of the interdependent relationships among humans are mediated through interactions with biophysical and non-human biological units. (Ostrom, E. et al, 2004)
Stakeholders  A stakeholder is any actor with a 'stake' in an issue.  This can include both those affected by, and those who can affect, a natural resource management issue.  
Those persons and organizations that should benefit from, or at least engage with, a project (on NRM research) either directly through their involvement in the research or indirectly through the communication and scaling-up of research products. The term can be further sub-divided to consider:
Stakeholders (intermediaries) Intermediaries use research products to deliver information, provide access to technology and generate more products such as those needed to create favourable institutional/policy circumstances for end-users. Intermediaries can be development practitioners, other researchers in national agricultural research systems (NARS) and international agricultural research centres (IARCs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, policy makers and bilateral and multilateral donors.
Stakeholders (partners) Partners are those with whom the research is conducted
Stakeholders (target groups and end users) Individuals, households, communities, associations, etc., that are engaged with the management of natural resources (e.g., farmers, fishers, service providers, policy actors in various institutional settings etc.). In line with current donor policy poor people are prioritised as end-users.
Stakeholders (target institutions) Target institutions are those that should use the products of research beyond the term of the research project
Storyline A Storyline is a narrative description of a scenario (or a family of scenarios), highlighting the main scenario characteristics and dynamics, and the relationships between key driving forces. 
Subsidy  Any government assistance, in cash or in kind, to private sector producers or consumers for which “the government receives no equivalent compensation in return, but conditions the assistance on a particular performance by the recipient” (Joint Economic Committee, 1972)
Sustainable management models The ability to keep a system running indefinitely without depleting resources, maintaining economic viability, and also nourishing the needs of the present and future generations.
System (see SES)  
Temporal scope The perception that socio-economic agents or actors have with regards to the time horizon within which their activities have been or will be affected.
Uncertainty An expression of the degree to which a value (e.g., the future state of the climate system) is unknown. Uncertainty can result from lack of information or from disagreement about what is known or even knowable
Vulnerability The extent to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change (or other changes) including climate variability and extremes. It depends not only on a system’s sensitivity but also on its adaptive capacity. (UKCIP, 2003)
Usufruct rights The right to actually harvest and take some resource units out of the resource system. Those who purchase a permit, for example, obtain a right to extract various kinds of resource units including fish, non-timber forest products, firewood, timber, and diverse amounts of water. (Schlager and Ostrom, 1992)
Wood products Products derived from the harvested wood from a forest, including fuel wood and logs and the products derived from them such as sawn timber, plywood, wood pulp, paper, etc. (IPCC, 2000)
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) Any commodity obtained from the forest that does not necessitate harvesting trees. It includes game animals, fur-bearers, nuts and seeds, berries, mushrooms, oils, foliage, medicinal plants, peat, fuelwood, forage.