- Adaptation
- In the context of climate change, adaptation is the adjustment
in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected
climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits
beneficial opportunities.
- Anthropogenic
- Caused by humans or human activities; usually used in reference
to environmental degradation.
- Biome
- A regional ecosystem characterised by distinct types of
vegetation, animals, and microbes that have developed under
specific soil and climatic conditions.
- Biodiversity
- The variety of plant and animal life found in an ecosystem (see
below) and the variation in their genetic makeup. Biodiversity is a
measure of the health of an ecosystem, with healthy ecosystems
having greater variety and variation in plant and animal life than
unhealthy ones.
- Carbon dioxide saturation point
- The point at which oceans are no longer able to effectively
absorb carbon dioxide and act as a counterbalance to greenhouse gas
emissions.
- Climate
- The average, or typical, weather conditions of a given area
observed over a long period of time, usually 30 years or more.
- Climate zone
- An area with a prevailing climate that distinguishes it from
other areas by parameters such as temperature, rainfall even plant
species.
- Climate change
- Any significant, long-term modification in the climate of a
zone or region.
- Coral bleaching
- Loss of colour of corals due to loss of the symbiotic algae
that provide their nutrients and colouration. Bleaching occurs in
response to physiological shock as a result of abrupt changes in
temperature, salinity, and turbidity.
- Critically endangered species
- A plant or animal is critically endangered when it is
considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the
wild.
- Ecosystem
- A geographical area where a community of living (plants and
animals) and non-living things (climate, landscape) interact
together and affect each other.
- El Niño/El Niño – Southern Oscillation
- A climatic pattern that results from the interaction between
the ocean and the atmosphere in the Pacific and the follow-on
effect on global climate. It is caused when the trade winds that
blow from east to west along the equator in the Pacific decrease in
intensity (this is the Southern Oscillation) and bring about
warming of the ocean temperature. The consequences are felt in the
Pacific as well as globally.
- Endangered species
- A plant or animal is endangered when it is considered to be
facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
- Endemic/endemism
- Found only in a certain strictly limited geographical region,
i.e. restricted to a specified region or locality. This can apply
to a disease or to an animal or plant species.
- Extinct (in the wild)
- A plant or animal considered extinct in the wild when it is
known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a
naturalised population (or populations) well outside the range in
which it previously occurred.
- Fossil fuels
- A fuel produced by the remains of living organisms that built
up underground over geological periods. They mainly consist of
carbon and hydrogen and are therefore also known as hydrocarbons.
They are found in different states: liquid (for example, oil),
solid (for example, coal, peat) and gaseous (for example, natural
gas).
- Greenhouse effect
- The warming effect of the Earth's atmosphere. Light energy from
the sun that passes through the Earth's atmosphere is absorbed by
the Earth's surface and re-radiated into the atmosphere as heat
energy. The heat energy is then trapped by the atmosphere, creating
a situation similar to that which occurs in a greenhouse.
Greenhouse gases (see below) allow incoming solar radiation to pass
through the Earth's atmosphere, but prevent most of the outgoing
infrared radiation from the surface and lower atmosphere from
escaping into outer space. This process occurs naturally and has
kept the Earth's temperature about 60 degrees Fahrenheit warmer
than it would otherwise be. Current life on Earth could not be
sustained without the natural greenhouse effect.
- Greenhouse gases
- The atmospheric gases that absorb and emit radiation at
specific wavelengths within the spectrum of infrared radiation
emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere and clouds. Water
vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane
(CH4), and ozone (O3) are the primary greenhouse gases in the
Earth’s atmosphere.
- Habitat
- The location and environmental conditions in which a particular
organism (plant, animal fungus or bacterium) normally lives.
- Ice age
- A period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the
Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of
continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers.
- Ice core
- Cylinders of ice obtained by drilling into a glacier. Since the
different layers of ice are formed over time through build-up of
snow, ice cores provide information on climate from different
periods (up to almost one million years) that can be used for
research.
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- Established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization
and the UN Environment Programme, the IPCC surveys world-wide
scientific and technical literature and publishes assessment
reports that are widely recognized as the most credible existing
sources of information on climate change. The IPCC also works on
methodologies and responds to specific requests from the subsidiary
bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC – see below) The IPCC is independent of the
Convention.
- Invasive species
- Plants and animals that are introduced to an area
from another and successfully establish themselves and then
overcome, otherwise intact, pre-existing native ecosystems.
- Kyoto Protocol
- An international agreement that is linked to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Its major
feature is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialized
countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions. These amount to an average of five per cent
against 1990 levels over the five-year period 2008-2012.
- Mitigation
- Interventions to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of
greenhouse gases.
- Native species
- All plants and animals that naturally occur, either presently
or historically, in an ecosystem.
- Photosynthesis
- The process a plant uses to combine sunlight, water, and carbon
dioxide to produce oxygen and energy (sugar).
- (Carbon) Sequestration
- The removal and storage of carbon from the atmosphere in carbon
sinks (such as oceans, forests or soils) through physical or
biological processes, such as photosynthesis.
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- The Convention on Climate Change sets an overall framework for
intergovernmental efforts to tackle the global challenge posed by
climate change. It recognises that the climate system is a
shared resource whose stability can be affected by industrial and
other emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
The Convention enjoys near universal membership, having been
ratified by 192 countries.
- Vulnerable species
- A plant or animal is vulnerable when it is considered to be
facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
- Weather
- Short-term atmospheric conditions. Weather is measured by
temperature, humidity, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, cloudiness
and precipitation.
Sources:
Green Facts Glossary
IPCC Glossary of Climate change
Terms
IUCN
La Cité des Sciences et de
l'industrie