| Title | Definition |
|---|---|
| Abundance |
The total number of individuals of a taxon or taxa in an area, population, or community. Relative abundance refers to the total number of individuals of one taxon compared with the total number of... read more |
| Acid Soil |
Soil with a low pH, less than 7.0 but practically less than 6.6 |
| Active adaptive management |
See Adaptive management |
| Adaptation |
Adjustment in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment. Various types of adaptation can be distinguished, including anticipatory and reactive adaptation, private and public... read more |
| Adaptive capacity |
The general ability of institutions, systems, and individuals to adjust to potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences. |
| Adaptive management |
A systematic process for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from the outcomes of previously employed policies and practices. In active adaptive management,... read more |
| Afforestation |
Planting of forests on land that has historically not contained forests. (Compare Reforestation.) |
| Afforestation |
The act of planting trees on land that has not previously been under forest according to historical records. (Soruce: SMurray) Artificial establishment by planting or seeding of forest on a non-... read more |
| Agrobiodiversity |
The diversity of plants, insects, and soil biota found in cultivated systems. |
| Agroforestry |
the practice of growing trees and crops together. Agroforestry systems benefit from the ability of trees to protect soil from erosion and to capture and recycle plant nutrients. [fn]Source: (IISD... read more |
| Agroforestry systems |
Mixed systems of crops and trees providing wood, non-wood forest products, food, fuel, fodder, and shelter |
| Alternative energy |
energy that is not popularly used and is usually environmentally sound, such as solar or wind energy (as opposed to fossil fuels). |
| Benefit (Value, also Outcome) |
Inclusive terms used to quantify the positive expected results or outputs of a proposed activity, project, or program expressed in monetary or non-monetary terms. Ideally, estimates of all... read more |
| Benefit-Cost Analysis (Cost-Benefit Analysis) |
An analytical approach to solving problems of choice which identifies for each objective, that alternative which yields the greatest total discounted benefit for a given discounted cost or that... read more |
| Benefit-Cost Ratio |
An economic indicator of efficiency, computed by dividing benefits by costs. Usually, both the benefits and the costs are discounted so that the ratio reflects efficiency in terms of the present... read more |
| Best Management Practices |
(BMPs) Practices or their combination that has been determined by a natural resource agency to be the most effective means of preventing or reducing an amount of pollution, typically by non-point... read more |
| Bio-indicator/bioindicator |
fish and other freshwater organisms from polluted waterways, for example, whose death or unusual behavior may indicate the presence of hazardous pollutants that have escaped other detection... read more |
| Biocultural reserves |
term coined by Daniel Janzen to describe national parks and protected areas that fully involve local people in the management and education activities conducted within them. [fn]Source: (IISD 2005... read more |
| Biodiversity/biological diversity |
is the variety and variability of life, including the diversity of genes within species, the diversity of species, the diversity of communities and ecosystems, and the diversity of ecological... read more |
| Biomass |
(1) the amount of living matter in an area, including plants, large animals and insects; (2) plant materials and animal waste used as fuel. |