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8.0 Glossary
Adaptation
Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climate stimuli and their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. There are various types of adaptation, including anticipatory, autonomous, and planned adaptation. 1*
Adaptive capacity
The whole of capabilities, resources, and institutions of a country, region, community, or group to implement effective adaptation measures. 2*
Adaptive management
Management that is responsive to, or even anticipatory of, changing functions of natural and human systems, evolving management purposes, and changing contextual conditions. This management approach acknowledges uncertainty, designing and implementing actions that are deliberately experimental and focused on learning from the effects of management. It emphasizes monitoring and participatory approaches as well.
Climate
Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the average weather or, more rigorously, as the statistical description of mean values and variability of variables such as surface temperature, precipitation, and wind over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. Climate in a wider sense describes the state of the climate system.1*
Climate change
Climate change refers to 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.1*
Climate design values
Statistics pertaining to weather and climate events that inform engineering design criteria. These values include calculated return periods for extreme weather (such as intense rain, wind, snow, extreme cold, and freezing rain) of varying intensities and durations. Climate design values generally reflect historical conditions for a given geographical location, an approach that is challenging in a changing climate.
Command and control
A type of policy instrument that relies on regulation (permission, prohibition, standard setting, and enforcement) as opposed to financial incentives to achieve a policy outcome.3*
Critical infrastructure
Physical and information-technology facilities, networks, services and assets that, if disrupted or destroyed, would have a serious impact on the health, safety, security, or economic well-being of a population or the effective functioning of governments.4
Disaster
Social phenomenon resulting from the intersection of a hazard with a vulnerability that exceeds or overwhelms the ability to cope and may cause harm to the safety, health, welfare, property or environment of people.5
Ecosystem
The interactive system formed from all living organisms and their physical and chemical environment within a given area. Ecosystems cover a hierarchy of spatial scales.1*
Ecozone
Ecologically distinct zones with characteristic plant and animal life and physical features.
Emergency
A present or imminent event that requires prompt coordination of actions concerning persons or property to protect the health, safety or welfare of people or to limit damage to property or the environment. 5
Governance
The process whereby societies or organizations make important decisions, determine whom they involve, and how they render account.6
Incentives
Incentives broadly refer to mechanisms that encourage or discourage certain types of behaviour. Incentives can include relevant information, price signals, regulations, and financial rewards or penalties. Provision of or access to these incentives can be design or unintentional.
Infrastructure
The physical foundation of a society, community, or enterprise. Infrastructure comprises assets, installations, or systems used to provide goods or services.7
Institutions
Rules and norms that guide how people within societies live, work, and interact. Formal institutions are codified rules, such as the constitution, organized markets, or property rights. Informal institutions are rules governed by social or behavioural norms of a family, community or society.8
Knowledge-based economy
A term encompassing trends in advanced economies toward greater dependence on knowledge, information and high skill levels, and the increasing need for ready access to all of these by the business and public sectors. 9
(Adaptation) Mainstreaming
The integration of adaptation considerations (or climate risks) such that they become part of policies, programs, and operations at all levels of decision making. The goal is to make the adaptation process a component of existing decision-making and planning frameworks.10
Mitigation
In the context of climate change, mitigation is an intervention intended to reduce adverse human influence on the climate system; it includes strategies to reduce greenhouse gas sources and emissions and enhance greenhouse gas sinks. Mitigation in the context of disaster management refers to sustained actions taken to eliminate or reduce risks and impacts posed by hazards well before an emergency or disaster occurs.1*,5*
Feedback
When the result of an initial process triggers changes in a second process that in turn influences the initial one. A positive feedback intensifies the original process, and a negative feedback reduces it.1*
Permafrost
Ground (soil or rock and included ice and organic material) that remains at or below 0C for at least two consecutive years.11
Redundancy
Duplication of critical components of a system in order to increase its reliability. As an example, buildings may be equipped with backup power generators to maintain essential services in case of power failure.
Resilience
The ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the same capacity for self-organization and the same capacity to adapt to stress and change.1
Risk
A combination of the likelihood (probability of occurrence) and the consequences of an adverse event (e.g., climate-related hazard).10
Risk management
A systematic approach to setting the best course of action under uncertainty, by applying management policies, procedures and practices to the tasks of analyzing, evaluating, controlling and communicating about risk issues.12
Security
In the context of climate change and other global change drivers, security is more than protection of territory or national interests. Human security, for example, means protecting people from critical and pervasive threats and situations, building on their strengths and aspirations, through strategies of protection and empowerment. 13*
Stakeholder
A person or an organization that has a legitimate interest in a project or entity, or would be affected by a particular action or policy.1
Tailings
Residue of raw material or waste separated out during the processing of crops or mineral ores. 14
Traditional knowledge
A cumulative body of knowledge, practice, and belief, evolving by adaptive processes and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the relationship of living beings (including humans) with one another and with their environment.15
Vulnerability
Vulnerability to climate change is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability to climate change is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate variation to which a system is exposed, as well as its sensitivity and its adaptive capacity.1*
Weather
State of the atmosphere at a given time and place with regard to temperature, air pressure, humidity, wind, cloudiness and precipitation. The term is mainly used to describe conditions over short periods of time.16
Glossary References
1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2007. Appendix I: glossary. In Parry, M.L., O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden and C.E. Hanson, eds. Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) (p. 869?883). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. http://www. ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-app.pdf. As cited in Lemmen, D.S., F.J. Warren, J. Lacroix, and E. Bush, eds. 2008. ?Chapter 11: Glossary,? From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007, 442?448. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada.
2. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2007. ?Appendix A.2: glossary,? in Climate Change 2007: Synthesis Report, 869?883. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessmentreport/ ar4/syr/ ar4_syr_appendix.pdf. As cited in Lemmen, D.S., F.J. Warren, J. Lacroix, and E. Bush, eds. 2008. ?Chapter 11: Glossary,? From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007, 442?448. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada.
3. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms. http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/ detail.asp?ID=383 Accessed August 20, 2009.
4. Public Safety Canada. Critical Infrastructure Protection. http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/prg/em/cip-eng.aspx Accessed August 20, 2009.
5. Public Safety Canada. Emergency Management Framework. http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/prg/em/emfrmwrk-eng. aspx#a06 Accessed August 10, 2009.
6. Institute on Governance. What is Governance? http://www. iog.ca/page.asp?pageID=3&htmlarea=home Accessed April 21, 2009.
7. Natural Resources Canada. 2008. Critical Infrastructure Information Identification. http://www.geoconnections.org/publications/ Key_documents/NRCan_GeoConnections_CI
_Identification_ Final_Report_v4_3_EN.htm Accessed August 20, 2009.
8. The Resilience Alliance. 2007. Assessing and Managing Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems: A Practitioner?s Workbook, Volume 1, version 1.0; The Resilience Alliance. http://www.resalliance. org/3871.php As cited in Lemmen, D.S., F.J. Warren, J. Lacroix, and E. Bush, eds. 2008. ?Chapter 11: Glossary,? From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007, 442?448. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada.
9. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms. http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/ detail.asp?ID=6864 Accessed August 20, 2009.
10. United Nations Development Programme. 2005. Adaptation Policy Frameworks for Climate Change. United Nations Development Programme. http://www.undp.org/gef/undpgef_ publications/publications/apf%20annexes %20a&b.pdf As cited in Lemmen, D.S., F.J. Warren, J. Lacroix, and E. Bush, eds. (2008). ?Chapter 11: Glossary,? From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007, 442?448. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada.
11. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 2007. Annex I: glossary. In Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and H.L. Miller, eds. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis (Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), 941?954. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. http://ipcc-wg1.ucar. edu/wg1/wg1-report.html As cited in Lemmen, D.S., F.J. Warren, J. Lacroix, and E. Bush, eds. 2008. ?Chapter 11: Glossary,? From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007, 442?448. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada.
12. Canadian Standards Association. 1997. Risk Management: Guidelines for Decision Makers, Canadian Standards Association, CAN/CSAQ850-97. As cited in Lemmen, D.S., F.J. Warren, J. Lacroix, and E. Bush, eds. 2008. ?Chapter 11: Glossary,? in From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007, 442?448. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada.
13. Commission on Human Security. 2003. Final Report of the Commission on Human Security to the United Nations. http:// www.humansecurity-chs.org/finalreport/index.html Accessed August 20, 2009.
14. United States Environmental Protection Agency. Terms of Environment: Glossary, Abbreviations and Acronyms http://www.epa.gov/OCEPAterms/tterms.html Accessed August 20, 2009.
15. Berkes, F., J. Colding, and C. Folke. 2000. Rediscovery of Traditional Ecological Knowledge as Adaptive Management. Ecological Applications, v. 10, p. 1251-1262. As cited in Lemmen, D.S., F.J. Warren, J. Lacroix, and E. Bush, eds. 2008. ?Chapter 11: Glossary,? From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate 2007, 442-448. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada.
16. Environment Canada: Glossary. 2008. As cited in: Lemmen, D.S., F.J. Warren, J. Lacroix, and E. Bush, eds. (2008). ?Chapter 11: Glossary,? in From Impacts to Adaptation: Canada in a Changing Climate, 442?448. Ottawa, ON: Government of Canada. * Modified from source
