Keywords

Adaptation
from A to Z

Definitions and neologisms to understand adaptation

Discover the keywords

Adaptation

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects, in order to moderate harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects.

The term “adaptation” can also encompass the range of strategies and measures available for its implementation. They include a wide range of actions that can be categorized as structural, institutional, ecological, or behavioral. Adaptation includes risk prevention and the ability to make an economic sector or a geographic area more resilient, or less vulnerable. In this sense, adaptation is a set of policies for safe and sustainable regional development.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Adaptive co-management

The frequently-used term adaptive co-management (ACM) for climate change adaptation joins the concepts of collaborative management and adaptive management. Collaborative management implies the involvement of all actors interested in an issue, both vertically (across different levels of authorities) and horizontally (across different sectors and competences). Adaptive management implies flexibility in the whole process, being aware that changes in local conditions or advance in scientific research often require periodic revision of plans and strategies, refinement and improvement of outcomes according to the learning-by-doing framework.

Source: Adriadapt Project 

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Agroforestry

Agriculture incorporating the planting or conservation of trees. In dispersed interplanting, trees are grown alongside crops, usually in rows in between plots, to provide nutrients and organic matter for the soil and shade for crops. In addition to improving crop production, trees also provide fuelwood, building poles or fodder.

Source: UN-REDD Programme

Air pollution

Degradation of air quality with negative effects on human health or the natural or built environment due to the introduction, by natural processes or human activity, into the atmosphere of substances (gases, aerosols) which have a direct (primary pollutants) or indirect (secondary pollutants) harmful effect.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Anthropocene

A proposed new geological epoch resulting from significant human-driven changes to the structure and functioning of the Earth system, including the climate system. Originally proposed in the Earth System science community in 2000, the proposed new epoch is undergoing a formalisation process within the geological community based on the stratigraphic evidence that human activities have changed the Earth System to the extent of forming geological deposits with a signature that is distinct from those of the Holocene, and which will remain in the geological record. Both the stratigraphic and Earth system approaches to defining the Anthropocene consider the mid-20th century to be the most appropriate starting date (Steffen et al., 2016), although others have been proposed and continue to be discussed. The Anthropocene concept has already been informally
adopted by diverse disciplines and the public to denote the substantive influence of humans on the Earth system.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Aquaculture

Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms, including fish, molluscs, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Farming implies some form of intervention in the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, protection from predators, etc. Farming also implies individual or corporate ownership of the stock being cultivated. For statistical purposes, aquatic organisms which are harvested by an individual or corporate body which has owned them throughout their rearing period contribute to aquaculture, while aquatic organisms which are exploitable by the public as a common property resources, with or without appropriate licences, are the harvest of fisheries.

Aquaculture is a key sector of the blue economy in the Adriatic and Ionian region, with a significant growth potential. Despite this, there is currently a high density of maritime and coastal activities in the Adriatic that must be taken into account through coordinated spatial planning when considering the development of a new aquaculture site to avoid conflicts.

Source: FAO

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Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is a field, which combines computer science and robust datasets, to enable problem-solving. It also encompasses sub-fields of machine learning and deep learning, which are frequently mentioned in conjunction with artificial intelligence. These disciplines are comprised of AI algorithms which seek to create expert systems which make predictions or classifications based on input data.

Fonte: IBM

Beach nourishment

Beach nourishment (also known as “replenishment”) is the artificial placement of sand/gravel on an eroded shore in order to maintain the amount of deposit on the coast, and thus compensate for erosion and protect the area against storm surges. Besides fighting erosion and flooding, it most often aims at maintaining or expanding beach width for tourism and recreational purposes (more details on this are covered in Raising and extending coastal land). The process involves dredging material (sand, gravel) from a source area (offshore, nearshore or inland) to feed the beach where erosion is occurring, usually by depositing it near the shoreline, on the dry beach or on its submerged part. Although sometimes considered a green measure (although not fully) for the destination area, it is surely grey for the quarry site, the transport route and potential impact of new imported material on coastal and marine habitats. That is why nourishment activities need to be carefully planned.

Source: Climate-ADAPT

Biodiversity

The variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.

Source: UN-REDD Programme

Building codes and climate

Building codes are building regulations concerning materials, structural design, construction practices, safety, building services (lighting, ventilation, electricity, heating/air conditioning, escalators, plumbing, water supply, drainage and so forth) for appropriate administrative and technical control. The building sector is challenged by a number of climate change impacts, including increase in temperature, higher frequency and magnitude of extreme weather events and sea level rise. On the other hand, buildings are one of the main energy demanding sectors, significantly contributing to climate change. Many climate-related aspects can be faced through the updating/drafting of building codes. 

Source: Adriadapt Project & OECD: Glossary of Statistical Terms

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Cap and Trade

An emissions trading system, which involves the buying and selling of emission allowances, where total emissions are limited or “capped”. The Kyoto Protocol is a cap and trade system in the sense that emissions from Annex-B countries are capped and excess permits can be traded. The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is also a cap and trade system where organizations sign up to a legally binding reductions policy.

Source: UN-REDD Programme

Carbon budget

This term refers to two concepts in the literature:

(1) an assessment of carbon cycle sources and sinks on a global level, through the synthesis of evidence for fossil-fuel and cement emissions, emissions and removals associated with land use and land use change, ocean and natural land sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2), and the resulting change in atmospheric CO2 concentration. This is referred to as the Global Carbon Budget;

(2) the maximum amount of cumulative net global anthropogenic CO2 emissions that would result in limiting global warming to a given level with a given probability, taking into account the effect of other anthropogenic climate forcers. This is referred to as the Total Carbon Budget when expressed starting from the pre-industrial period, and as the Remaining Carbon Budget when expressed from a recent specified date.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Carbon Capture and Storage System

Anthropogenic activities removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and durably storing it in geological, terrestrial or ocean reservoirs, or in products. It includes existing and potential anthropogenic enhancement of biological or geochemical CO2 sinks and direct air carbon dioxide capture and storage (DACCS) but excludes natural CO2 uptake not directly caused by human activities.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Climate

In a narrow sense, climate is usually defined as the average weather – or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities – over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period
for averaging these variables is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The relevant quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state, including a statistical description, of the climate system.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Climate and Health

Evidence that climate change and especially extreme weather events cause impacts on human health is well documented. High temperature can lead to increased mortality and illness, with heat waves being a major concern in Europe, especially in southern and Mediterranean countries. In addition, mortality related to flooding is expected to increase, and change in the distribution of vector-borne diseases is expected to occur. Urban areas with great concentration of people and infrastructure are especially vulnerable to the health effects of climate change. Vulnerability in cities largely depends on urban design (e.g. impermeable/permeable surface, presence/absence of vegetation and shaded areas, occurrence of water elements, etc.) and on the availability of adapted health services.

Source: Adriadapt Project 

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Climate change

A change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g., by using statistical tests) by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings such as modulations of the solar cycles, volcanic eruptions and persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use. Note that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in its Article 1, defines climate change as: ‘a change of climate 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’. The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between climate change attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition and climate variability attributable to natural causes. 

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Climate change impacts

Climate change is already happening, and it is producing many impacts around the globe. These impacts can be very different from one place to another. All the aspects of our livelihoods may be affected: water, energy, transportation, wildlife, agriculture, ecosystems, and human health. The impacts of climate change on different sectors of society are interrelated. Drought can harm food production and human health. Flooding can lead to disease spread and damages to ecosystems and infrastructure. Human health issues can increase mortality, impact food availability, and limit worker productivity. These impacts are seen throughout every aspect of the world we live in. However, they are uneven across the world and across countries – even within a single community, climate change can differ between neighbourhoods or individuals. Long-standing socioeconomic inequities can make  underserved groups, who often have the highest exposure to hazards and the fewest resources to respond, more vulnerable. 

Source: NOAA website

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Climate empowerment

Climate empowerment is a term adopted by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in reference to the goal of empowering all members of society to engage in climate action, through education, training, public awareness, public participation, public access to information, and international cooperation on these issues.

The Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) has come to include a wide variety of initiatives to find and implement solutions for climate change which range from events like the Young and Future Generations Day at COPs the Dialogues on Action for Climate Empowerment and selecting National Focal Points for ACE.

Source: CMCC Foresight: Action for Climate Empowerment 

Climate governance

The structures, processes and actions through which private and public actors seek to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

For a more generic definition see: Governance

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Climate justice

Justice that links development and human rights to achieve a human-centred approach to addressing climate change, safe-guarding the rights of the most vulnerable people and sharing the burdens and benefits of climate change and its impacts equitably and fairly. 

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Climate model

A qualitative or quantitative representation of the climate system based on the physical, chemical and biological properties of its components, their interactions and feedback processes and accounting for some of its known properties. The climate system can be represented by models of varying complexity; that is, for any one component or combination of components, a spectrum or hierarchy of models can be identified, differing in such aspects as the number of spatial dimensions, the extent to which physical, chemical or biological processes are explicitly represented, or the level at which empirical parametrisations are involved. Climate models are applied as a research tool to study and simulate the climate and for operational purposes, including monthly, seasonal and interannual climate predictions. 

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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How do climate models work

Climate resilience

Capacity of social, economic and ecosystems to cope with a hazardous event or trend or disturbance.

Source: IPCC Report Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability

Climate service

Climate services involve the production, translation, transfer, and use of climate knowledge and information to support decision-making by individuals and organizations. Information needs to be easily accessible, timely, easy to understand and relevant to users that can use it to take action.

Souce: UN-REDD Programme

Coastal ecosystems

Marine environments bounded by the coastal land margin (seashore) and the continental shelf 100-200 m below sea level. Ecologically, the coastal and nearshore zones grade from shallow water depths, influenced by the adjacent landmass and input from coastal rivers and estuaries, to the continental shelf break, where oceanic processes predominate. Among the unique marine ecosystems associated with coastal and nearshore water bodies are seaweed-dominated communities, coral reefs and upwellings.

Fonte: GEMET – EEA

Community-based adaptation

Local, community-driven adaptation. Community-based adaptation focuses attention on empowering and promoting the adaptive capacity of communities. It is an approach that takes context, culture, knowledge, agency and preferences of communities as strengths.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Costal-setback zone

A coastal setback zone is a buffer area where certain or all types of development are prohibited or significantly restricted. A setback zone is usually defined by a specific distance from the shoreline, where the shoreline is often featured by the highest water mark or permanent vegetation line. The main functions of the coastal setback zone are to provide coastal protection by protecting people and human settlements from coastal flooding and erosion; support the coastal economy (beach economy, tourism and recreation); and preserve biodiversity and maintain the natural functions of the beach.

Source: Adriadapt Project

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Decarbonisation

Human actions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from human activities. The process by which countries, individuals or other entities aim to achieve zero fossil carbon existence. Typically refers to a reduction of the carbon emissions associated with electricity, industry and transport.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Decarbonisation

Human actions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from human activities. The process by which countries, individuals or other entities aim to achieve zero fossil carbon existence. Typically refers to a reduction of the carbon emissions associated with electricity, industry and transport.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Diversification of fishery products

Marine ecosystems are already experiencing the redistribution of species and habitats due to climate change, and these effects are likely to be magnified in the future. Diversification of fisheries and aquaculture means a substantial change in the production activity, responding to changes in the availability of fish stocks and/or changes in the environmental state of the marine system driven by climate and other challenges. Diversification strategies include a shift towards alternative species or – in the case of aquaculture – towards new genetic strains. 

Source: Adriadapt Project

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Drought

An exceptional period of water shortage for existing ecosystems and the human population (due to low rainfall, high temperature and/or wind).

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Early Warning Systems - EWS

The set of technical and institutional capacities to forecast, predict and communicate timely and meaningful warning information to enable individuals, communities, managed ecosystems and organisations threatened by a hazard to prepare to act promptly and appropriately to reduce the possibility of harm or loss. Depending upon context, Early Warning Systems (EWS) may draw upon scientific and/or indigenous knowledge, and other knowledge types. EWS are also considered for ecological applications, for example, conservation, where the organisation itself is not threatened by hazard but the ecosystem under conservation is (e.g., coral bleaching alerts), in agriculture (e.g., warnings of heavy rainfall, drought, ground frost and hailstorms) and in fisheries (e.g., warnings of storms, storm surges and tsunamis).

Source:IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Ecosystem

A functional unit consisting of living organisms, their non-living environment and the interactions within and between them. The components included in a given ecosystem and its spatial boundaries depend on the purpose for which the ecosystem is defined: in some cases, they are relatively sharp, while in others they are diffuse. Ecosystem boundaries can change over time. Ecosystems are nested within other ecosystems, and their scale can range from very small to the entire biosphere. In the current era, most ecosystems either contain people as key organisms or are influenced by the effects of human activities in their environment.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Enabling conditions

Conditions that enhance the feasibility of adaptation and mitigation options. Enabling conditions include finance, technological innovation, strengthening policy instruments, institutional capacity, multi-level governance and changes in human behaviour and lifestyles.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Environmental disaster

A ‘serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental losses and impacts’.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Erosion

Soil erosion is defined as the accelerated removal of topsoil from the land surface through water, wind and tillage. This phenomenon occurs naturally under all climatic conditions and on all continents, but it is significantly increased and accelerated by unsustainable human activities through intensive agriculture, deforestation, overgrazing and improper land use changes. Soil erosion rates are much higher than soil formation rates, meaning its loss and degradation is not recoverable within a human lifespan.

Fonte: FAO

Fire management

Fire management refers to the possibility of land management included in the IPCC special report on climate change and land aimed at safeguarding life, property and resources through the prevention, detection, control, restriction and suppression of fire in forests and other vegetation. It includes both wildfire control and prescribed and controlled burning that can be applied to reduce vegetation fuels and avoid the risk of large, uncontrollable and destructive fires in forest areas. Some sectors that already use controlled fire as a way to facilitate land use are agriculture, forest resources management, and pastoral and wildlife management.

Source: Adriadapt project

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Flood

The overflowing of the normal confines of a stream or other water body, or the accumulation of water over areas that are not normally submerged. Floods can be caused by unusually heavy rain, for example during storms and cyclones. Floods include river (fluvial) floods, flash floods, urban floods, rain (pluvial) floods, sewer floods, coastal floods, and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOF).

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Food security

Situation in which all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Source: The World Bank

Global warming

Global warming refers to the increase in global surface temperature relative to a baseline reference period, averaging over a period sufficient to remove interannual variations (e.g., 20 or 30 years). A common choice for the baseline is 1850–1900 (the earliest period of reliable observations with sufficient geographic coverage), with more modern baselines used depending upon the application.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Governance

The structures, processes and actions through which private and public actors interact to address societal goals. This includes formal and informal institutions and the associated norms, rules, laws and procedures for deciding, managing, implementing and monitoring policies and measures at any geographic or political scale, from global to local.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Green infrastructure

The strategically planned interconnected set of natural and constructed ecological systems, green spaces and other landscape features that can provide functions and services including air and water purification, temperature management, floodwater management and coastal defence often with co-benefits for human and ecological well-being. Green infrastructure includes planted and remnant native vegetation, soils, wetlands, parks and green open spaces, as well as building and street-level design interventions that incorporate vegetation.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Greenhouse effect

The process by which greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere absorb infrared radiation from the sun, reflect some of it back into space and emit some of it towards the earth. This natural process provides for relatively stable and mild temperatures on earth and in the atmosphere. However, human activity can change the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which can amplify the greenhouse effect.

Source: UN-REDD Programme

Heatwave

A period of abnormally hot weather, often defined with reference to a relative temperature threshold, lasting from two days to months. Heatwaves and warm spells have various and, in some cases, overlapping definitions.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Integrated Coastal Areas Management

In order to preserve fragile coastal ecosystems for future generations and reconcile nature conservation with such dynamic human activities, since the mid 1980s Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) has been implemented in the Mediterranean. It appeared as a response to the concentration of population and economic activities as close to the sea as possible, aiming to protect valuable habitats and landscapes, and aiming to find sustainable solutions for often conflicting uses of the coastal space and resources. 

Source: Adriadapt Project

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Integrated Water Resources Management

Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is a process that promotes the coordinated development and management of water, land and related resources in order to maximize economic and social welfare in an equitable manner without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems.

Source: UN-REDD Programme

Kyoto Protocol



A subsidiary agreement to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that was signed at COP-3 to the UNFCCC in Kyoto, Japan, December 1997. It specifies emission obligations for the Annex-B countries and defines the three so-called Kyoto mechanisms (or “flexible mechanisms”) Joint Implementation (JI), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and emissions trading. It entered into force in 2005.

Sources:UN-REDD Programme, UNFCCC

Land degradation

A negative trend in land condition, caused by direct or indirect human-induced processes including anthropogenic climate change, expressed as a long-term reduction or loss of at least one of the following: biological productivity, ecological integrity or value to humans.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Land use

The total of arrangements, activities and inputs applied to a parcel of land. The term land use is also used in the sense of the social and economic purposes for which land is managed (e.g., grazing, timber extraction, conservation and city dwelling). In national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories, land use is classified according to the IPCC land-use categories of forest land, cropland, grassland, wetlands, settlements and other lands.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Loss and damage

Research has taken Loss and Damage (capitalised letters) to refer to political debate under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) following the establishment of the Warsaw Mechanism on Loss and Damage in 2013, which is to ‘address loss and damage associated with impacts of climate change, including extreme events and slow onset events, in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.’ Lowercase letters (losses and damages) have been taken to refer broadly to harm from (observed) impacts and (projected) risks and can be economic or non-economic. 

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Machine learning

Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science which focuses on the use of data and algorithms to imitate the way that humans learn, gradually improving its accuracy

Fonte: IBM

Mega-fires

Mega-fires are fires that cover more than 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares or 400 square kilometers), whose expansion is accelerated by high temperatures and drought. They are extremely difficult to contain: usually their limit depends only on the amount of burnable vegetation available. Mega-fires can also be considered as such based on the significance of their socioeconomic impact. Due to climate change, mega-fires will increasingly be part of future forest fire regimes. For this reason, forest management agencies must strive to develop strategies to reduce their undesirable impacts.

Source: UNEP – Are megafires the new normal? e Temperate and boreal forest mega-fires: characteristics and challenges (Scott et al., 2014)

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Mitigation

A human intervention to reduce emissions or enhance the uptake of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Multi-risk approach

Multi-hazard risk (or multi-risk) approaches are crucial to define successful disaster risk reduction measures. raditionally, disaster risk reduction measures are implemented to decrease the risk of a single hazard type despite their potential of having unwanted effects on other hazard typologies. Multi-hazard risk approaches allow improving the understanding of these asynergies, identifying measures able to successfully reduce the impacts of disasters across different hazards.

Source: European Geosciences Union

Nature-based Solutions - NBS

Actions to protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Net zero

Net zero refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. This doesn’t necessarily mean eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions but rather balancing any residual and inevitable ones with an equivalent uptake.

Source: CMCC Foresight: Net zero

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Ocean Model

Ocean models are numerical models of ocean properties and their circulation. They consist of structured imitations of the ocean system’s attributes and mechanisms to mimic its appearance or functioning for variations in physical parameters and inputs. Models can provide short and long term analysis of different marine areas at different resolutions going from global to local scale. Ocean models play a large role in our understanding of the ocean’s influence on weather and climate.

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information & IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Participatory processes

The participatory process is a structured path of dialogue and confrontation, which is initiated with reference to a future project or a future norm within the competence of the Region, local authorities or other public authorities, bringing together institutions, private parties, associations and people who live and work in any capacity on the territory, in order to obtain the complete representation of positions, interests and needs on the issue, as well as to formulate a proposal and its possible mediation or negotiation for a common decision, seeking an agreement of the parties involved on the issue that is the subject of the actions under discussion.

Source: Art. 3, comma 1, lettera a), legge regionale n. 15 del 2018 – Emilia Romagna

Planned coastal retreat

Planned coastal retreat is a process that reduces flooding and erosion, and involves the intentional flooding of a coastal area already defended against flooding. Technically speaking, it involves moving the barrier inland to allow habitats found in the areas between low and high tide (intertidal) to reclaim coastal areas. The advantage of creating these habitats is that they are highly effective in attenuating wave energy. The reduction of sediment transport into the sea and the dense root layers formed by the vegetation help reduce coastal erosion.

In most cases, planned retreat is technically implemented by creating coastal wetlands. The necessary conditions for their creation are the presence of coastal low lands to be abandoned during the flooding, a willingness to improve defence systems, and a land management vision oriented toward sustainability.

Source: Adriadapt Project

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Risk assessment

A qualitative or quantitative approach to determine the nature and extent of risk by analysing potential hazards and evaluating existing conditions of exposure and vulnerability that together could harm people, property, services, livelihoods and the environment on which they depend.

Source: UNDRR

Salinization

The process of increasing the salt content in soil is known as salinization. Salinization can be caused by natural processes such as mineral weathering or by the gradual withdrawal of an ocean. It can also come about through artificial processes such as irrigation.

Fonte: Ipbes

Salt-water intrusion

Displacement of fresh surface water or groundwater by the advance of salt water due to its greater density. This usually occurs in coastal and estuarine areas due to decreasing land-based influence (e.g., from reduced runoff or groundwater recharge, or from excessive water withdrawals from aquifers) or increasing marine influence (e.g., relative sea level rise).

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Scientific consensus

In broad terms, a scientific consensus is what an overriding majority of scientists or experts establish to be true about a given issue once they have addressed all evidence currently available to them. This is done by looking at scientific papers, which are themselves papers that have been reviewed by a host of other experts who pick through their experimental processes, findings and limitations (peer-review). Consensus on climate change and its human cause exists. Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that human activities are the primary cause of the observed climate-warming trend over the past century.

Source: CMCC Foresight: Scientific consensus

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Sea level rise

Rise in sea level, both globally and locally (at seasonal, annual or longer time scales) due to (1) a change in ocean volume as a result of a change in the mass of water in the ocean (e.g., due to melt of glaciers and ice sheets), (2) changes in ocean volume as a result of changes in ocean water density (e.g., expansion under warmer conditions), (3) changes in the shape of the ocean basins and changes in the Earth’s gravitational and rotational fields and (4) local subsidence or uplift of the land.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Seagrass meadows

Posidonia oceanica and other phanerogamic plants, marine plants that evolved about 100 million years ago not to be confused with algae, can form dense underwater seagrass meadows, some of which are large enough to be seen from space. In the phenomenon of coastal erosion, an important “defence role” is played by these seagrass beds, which trap sediment, stabilise the seafloor and thus prevent coastal erosion. In fact, with the presence of seagrass meadows, the seabed becomes shallower and waves break farther from the coast, resulting in less coastal erosion during storm surges. Seagrasses also play an important role in climate change mitigation: they have significant potential for carbon sequestration through their biomass and by filtering fine organic material from the surrounding water. 

Source: Adriadapt Project

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Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) are a collection of climate scenarios, found in the IPCC’s periodic reports. The scenarios merge together different aspects of climate change research, from the physical to the socioeconomic, with the goal of generating holistic knowledge that gives greater meaning to the various elements by placing them in an overall context. They then provide a common framework through which the impacts of climate change adaptation and mitigation policies (or lack thereof) and the climate system can be analysed. Currently, scientists have compiled five “possible climate futures,” exploring as many scenarios with different levels of greenhouse gas emissions, ranging from “very low emissions” SSP1-1.9, “low” SSP1-2.6, “intermediate” SSP2-4.5, to “high” SSP3-7.0 and “very high” SSP5-8.5.

Source: CMCC Foresight: Shared Socioeconomic Pathways 

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Stakeholder

Any person or group (including governmental and non-governmental institutions, traditional communities, universities, research institutions, development agencies and banks, donors, etc.) with an interest or claim (whether stated or implied) which has the potential of being impacted by or having an impact on a given project and its objectives.

Source: UN-REDD Programme

Subsidence

Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth’s surface. Subsidence – sinking of the ground because of underground material movement—is most often caused by the removal of water, oil, natural gas, or mineral resources out of the ground by pumping, fracking, or mining activities. Subsidence can also be caused by natural events such as earthquakes, soil compaction, glacial isostatic adjustment, erosion, sinkhole formation, and adding water to fine soils deposited by wind (a natural process known as loess deposits). Subsidence can happen over very large areas like whole states or provinces, or very small areas like the corner of your yard. In the Chesapeake Bay area, for example, land subsidence may be caused by a combination of sediment loading (when rivers deposit sediment in an area that then sinks under the additional weight) and sediment compaction after groundwater is removed.

Source: NOAA

Sustainable development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs and balances social, economic and environmental concerns.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

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Tropical cyclone

The general term for a strong, cyclonic-scale disturbance that originates over tropical oceans. Distinguished from weaker systems (often named tropical disturbances or depressions) by exceeding a threshold wind speed. A tropical storm is a tropical cyclone with one-minute average surface winds between 18 and 32 m s−1. Beyond 32 m s−1, a tropical cyclone is called a hurricane, typhoon or cyclone, depending on geographic location.

Source: IPCC AR6 Glossary

Uncertainty

  1. A state of incomplete knowledge that can result from a lack of information or from disagreement about what is known or even knowable. It may have many types of sources, from imprecision in the data to ambiguously defined concepts or terminology, or uncertain projections of human behaviour. Uncertainty can therefore be represented by quantitative measures (e.g. a probability density function) or by qualitative statements (e.g. reflecting the judgment of a team of experts)
  2. The degree of confidence that a decision-maker has about possible outcomes of specific decisions and/or probabilities of these outcomes. Reasons behind this lack of confidence might include a judgement of the information as incomplete, blurred, inaccurate, unreliable, inconclusive, or potentially false

Source: Climate Adapt Platform

Water recycling

Water recycling encompasses several alternative or complementary measures with the overall goal of safeguarding water resources and encouraging more responsible and efficient water use, especially in light of climate change. These measures include initiatives to reuse greywater: the use of alternative water resources (e.g., rainwater harvesting) and the recycling of wastewater for other purposes can be viable options to enable a regular supply in areas where water resources are limited. Rainwater harvesting involves the accumulation and storage of rainwater for on-site reuse, while recycling typically involves the reuse of greywater (washing machines, showers, sinks). Recycled or stored water can be reused for agricultural purposes, domestic irrigation, or industrial applications. 

Source: Adriadapt project

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