A cheat sheet or glossary of environmental terms for budding environmentalists looking to learn more about the environment by decoding jargon.
Advocacy – individuals or groups that aim to publicly provide recommendations to influence decisions within social, political, and economic institutions.
Agroecology – applying a sustainable approach to farming using practices that mitigate climate change and encourages a positive balance between plants, animals, and people. In-depth discussion here.
Biocultural diversity – describes the variety of connections between human culture and nature. See our Biocultural Diversity Programme.
Biodiversity –the varieties of life found within a particular region, from plants and animals, to fungi and even microorganisms like bacteria, found within a particular region.
Carbon offsetting – a process by which carbon dioxide is reduced/removed from the atmosphere, to make up for carbon dioxide emissions occurring somewhere else.
Carbon zero/neutral – having a balance between the amount of carbon being emitted and the amount of carbon absorbed from the atmosphere by carbon sinks.
Carbon sequestration – the process of capturing, removing, and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and into a carbon sink.
Carbon sink – plants or bodies of salt water that actively absorb carbon from the atmosphere.
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) – a global agreement that provides a set of laws and regulations for biodiversity conservation.
COP – (formerly known as the Conference of the Parties) the meetings of the Parties of a global convention such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) or United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).