Glossary

The potential or ability of a system, region, or community to adapt to the effects or impacts of climate change. Enhancement of adaptive capacity represents a practical means of coping with changes and uncertainties in climate, including variability and extremes. In this way, enhancement of adaptive capacity reduces vulnerabilities and promotes sustainable development.

Source: IPCC

Example: A country with strong adaptive capacity may be hit by more hurricanes due to climate change, but is able to effectively prepare, endure, and recover from this increase in natural disasters.

Agricultural practices that draw on natural processes (e.g., biological nitrogen fixation, biodiversity, and recycling) rather than chemicals (which reduce biodiversity and contribute to climate change), thus challenging the “business as usual” agricultural model. Agroecology is also often referred to as ecological agriculture or regenerative agriculture.

Source: UNEP

Example: Instead of using more and more pesticides, a farming community transitions to natural pest management methods (e.g., rotating crops each season), promoting soil health and biodiversity.

A situation where two or more parties engage in violent confrontation, often involving military forces or armed groups. International armed conflict (IAC) covers all cases of declared war and other de facto armed conflict between two or more States, even if the state of war is not recognised by one of them and/or the use of armed force is unilateral. Non-international armed conflict (NIAC) is protracted armed conflict occurring between governmental armed forces and the forces of one or more armed groups, or between such groups arising on the territory of a State.

Adapted from UNDRR (IAC, NIAC)

Example: The national government of a country has violent battles with a separatist group that wants to form its own government.

The variety of life on Earth and the natural patterns it forms. Over half of global GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature. Currently, around 1 million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction, many within decades.

Source: UNEP

Example: Tropical rainforests are extremely biodiverse, containing a vast array of plant and animal species including different types of trees, numerous bird species, insects, mammals, and reptiles, all living within the same ecosystem,

The decline or extinction of species and ecosystems due to a range of different pressures (e.g., habitat loss due to agricultural or urban expansion, pollution, desertification, invasive alien species, climate change, etc.) due to the unsustainable use of land and resources.

Source: Adapted from UNEP

Example: The rapid decline of pollinators like bees due to habitat destruction and pesticide use.

Acceptance of and willingness to actively support and participate in something (such as a proposed new plan or policy).

Source: Merriam-Webster

Example: Local farmers are engaged in the planning of an irrigation project and are invested in ensuring its success.

The process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in a fast-changing world. An essential ingredient in capacity-building is transformation that is generated and sustained over time from within; transformation of this kind goes beyond performing tasks to changing mindsets and attitudes.

Source: United Nations

Example: Training community health workers in rural areas to provide better healthcare services.

Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (i.e., climate mitigation) and strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-induced impacts (climate adaptation).

Source: UNESCAP SDG Help Desk

Example: Planting mangroves along nearby waterways to reduce flood risk and sequester carbon.

Long-term shifts in temperature, precipitation, and weather patterns. Since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.

Source: UNEP

Example: Increasing global temperatures causing more frequent heatwaves and extreme weather events.

Adjustments in ecological, social, or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli and their effects. Climate change adaptation involves changes in processes, practices, and structures to moderate potential damages or to benefit from opportunities associated with climate change. In simple terms, countries and communities need to develop adaptation solutions and implement actions to respond to current and future climate change impacts.

Source: UNFCCC

Example: A village conserving and restoring mangrove forests to mitigate flood risk when a nearby delta experiences heavy rainfall.

The field of research, practice, and policymaking focused on the linkages between climate change, peace and security and efforts to implement suitable risk reduction and response measures. As climate change accelerates, its impacts risk exacerbating existing social, economic, and environmental drivers of insecurity at local levels (where communities struggle to cope with converging pressures) and internationally (when resources and ecosystems are shared across borders). At the same time, insecurity hinders climate change adaptation efforts and risks leaving already vulnerable communities even poorer and less resilient to interlinked climate and security crises. Effective CPS solutions are derived from integrated approaches.

Adapted from UNEP, IPCC

Example: Rainfall variability and drought leading to competition over shared water resources, exacerbating historical tensions between ethnic groups.

The capacity of social, economic, and ecological systems to cope with a climate-related hazardous event, trend, or disturbance, responding or reorganising in ways that maintain their essential function, identity and structure as well as biodiversity in case of ecosystems while also maintaining the capacity for adaptation, learning and transformation. Climate resilience is a positive attribute when it maintains such a capacity for adaptation, learning, and/or transformation.

Source: IPCC

Example: Building drought-resilient water supply systems whose use is managed by community-led natural resource management and peacebuilding committees.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is an innovative approach based on the following three pillars: (1) sustainably increase agricultural productivity and incomes; (2) adapt and build resilience of people and agri-food systems to climate change; and (3) reduce or, where possible, avoid GHG emissions.

Source: FAO

Example: In Kenya, some farmers have adopted drought-resistant crops, improved irrigation techniques, and agroforestry to cope with erratic rainfall and reduce vulnerability to climate extremes.

Community-based organisations (CBOs) are not only based within a community and have direct access to it; they are also often led by members of the community. Because such smaller organisations are more than likely located within the physical space of the community that they are serving, they reach a wider audience using less effort. Additionally, members often speak the language(s) of the community, are intimately aware of the issues, idiosyncrasies, norms, and practices of the community, understand the community structures and power dynamic set in place, and are vigilant of the existing capacities within the community.

Source: UNHCR

Example: In southern Venezuela, the CBO Amazonas Originaria is training displaced indigenous families to sustainably care for and generate income from the natural resources of local tropical forests.

Community Environmental Action Planning (CEAP) refers to a capacity-building process through which individuals, communities and organisations (1) analyse their situation, (2) evaluate options for change, and then (3) plan, carry out, monitor and evaluate activities in a participatory and sustained basis. CEAP can be carried out on a community’s own initiative or with external assistance.

Source: UNEP

Example: In seasons when pastoralists are migrating, conflicts often erupt between farmers and pastoralists. A CEAP process in Sudan brought together pastoralists, farmers, and government representatives to assess these challenges, leading to the joint management of migratory routes in the area.

A context that has recently experienced, is in the midst of experiencing, or demonstrates the risk factors for violent unrest between forces (both organised and informal groups) that typically emerge from disputes over the distribution of resources (financial, political, natural, etc.) in a given society.

Source: UNDP

Example: Sudan has been affected by different periods of conflict for over 40 years.

Dynamic processes that contribute to the ignition or exacerbation of destructive conflict as a result of structural and/or proximate factors. Conflict drivers usually manifest themselves in violence or directly contribute to the emergence of violent conflict.

Source: UNSDG

Root/structural factors are the long-term factors underlying violent conflict. They normally are a mixture of long-standing, deep-rooted grievances.
Examples: limited or inequitable access to land and resources; illegitimate or ineffective government; low political participation; lack of equal economic and social opportunities.

Intermediate/proximate factors are visible, recent manifestations of the conflict. One way to differentiate an intermediate cause from a root factor is to use the ‘if not for’ test: i.e. ‘if not for x (the root factor), then y (the intermediate factor) would not have happened’.
Example: ‘If not for the lack of legislation protecting pastoralists right to access natural resources, then the violent seizure of water resources from local farmers would not have happened.’

Triggers are short-term, often sudden or unforeseen events that provoke a large-scale response from the population; triggers may provoke a violent manifestation, the outbreak of conflict or escalate a preexisting conflict.
Examples: tumultuous elections; environmental catastrophes; military coups; unexpected scarcity of basic commodities; a rapid rise in unemployment

Conflict sensitivity aims at promoting awareness of the interactions between activities and the peace and conflict context in which they are delivered. It aims, at a minimum, to “do no harm” and minimise the risk that activities could contribute to furthering tensions. It also helps leverage opportunities for activities to contribute to sustaining peace.

Source: UN Sustainable Development Group

Example: Ensuring that humanitarian aid in a conflict zone is distributed equally among all groups to avoid fuelling tensions between recipients.

Actions aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development. DRR involves strategies or systems designed to reduce the impact of natural disasters and provide timely alerts to vulnerable populations.

Source: UNDRR

Example: Installing early warning systems for tsunamis along ocean coasts.

The collection, documentation, control, and disposal of small arms, ammunition, explosives, and light and heavy weapons of combatants and often also of the civilian population. Disarmament also includes the development of responsible arms management programmes.

Source: UN IDDRS

Example: Rival factions handing over their weapons after signing a peace accord.

The movement of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters.

Source: IOM

Example: Conflict leading to over 8.8 million people in Sudan fleeing their homes and taking refuge in camps, host communities, rented accommodation, and other types of shelters.

Systems that identify signs of potential hazards early on and take preventive measures to address them. This can include natural hazards and risks related to conflict, vulnerability and exposure, and cascading impacts.

Source: Adapted from UNDRR

Example: Monitoring political tensions in a country to prevent violent outbreaks through diplomatic intervention.

Recovering ecosystems that have been degraded or destroyed and/or conserving ecosystems that are still intact.

Source: Adapted from UNEP

Example: A large-scale initiative to increase mangrove cover across Sri Lanka by more than 50%, reducing erosion and offering fish and other organisms an ecosystem for nurseries, food, and shelter.

Practices ensuring natural resources are used in ways that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Source: UN Brundtland Commission

Example: Sustainable agriculture that minimises water usage and preserves soil health.

Weather events that are rare at a particular place and time of year, with unusual characteristics in terms of magnitude, location, timing, or extent. The characteristics of what is called extreme weather may vary from place to place in an absolute sense.

Source: WMO

Example: Hurricanes becoming more frequent and powerful in the Atlantic due to rising sea surface temperatures.

The lack of regular access to sufficient safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life.

Source: FAO

Example: Families in conflict zones experiencing food shortages due to disrupted supply chains.

The combination of exposure to risk and the insufficient resilience of a state, system and/or community to manage, absorb, or mitigate those risks. Fragility comprises economic, environmental, political, security, societal and human dimensions.

Source: OECD

Example: A recently formed government lacking the capacity to address food insecurity in a drought-stricken area of the country.

An intersectional approach to research, practice, and policy  making based on the ways gender norms, roles, responsibilities, behaviours and power structures determine how different groups of people experience and manage climate-related risks. The understanding and meaningful consideration of these experiences can uncover new entry points for building and sustaining peace. Conversely, a gender-blind approach to addressing climate related security risks – or a “climate-blind” approach to women, peace and security programming – can exacerbate the vulnerabilities of groups most exposed to the impacts of climate change, deepening existing inequalities and potentially aggravating environmental and security threats.

Source: Adapted from UNEP, UN Women, UNDP, UNDPPA

Example: In Al Rahad, Sudan, faltering livelihoods due to climate and conflict have incentivized men to find new sources of work while women stay behind. For women, this change creates both challenges (e.g., a double burden to provide income and take care of the household) and potential opportunities (e.g., new roles in income generation may lead to opportunities to participate in other roles traditionally occupied by men).

Equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women, men, girls and boys. Equality does not imply sameness, but that the rights of women and men will not depend on the gender they were born with. Gender equality implies that the interests, needs and priorities of all genders are taken into consideration, recognising the diversity of different groups. Gender equality is not a women’s issue but should concern and fully engage all genders while recognising that neither all men nor all women are a homogenous group.

Source: UN Women

Example: A program providing women in rural areas with microloans to start small businesses.

The quality of whether or not analysis and action considers and responds to the ways in which women and men are affected differently by challenges (e.g., climate change) and their responses. Gender-responsive analysis examines the unequal social, political, and economic power dynamics between women, men, and non-binary people within society. It unpacks gender norms, looking at the social construction of the masculine and feminine in a specific context. Gender-responsive conflict analysis (GRCA) uses a gender lens to explore systems of power, institutions, and stakeholders, as well as root causes, triggers, and drivers of conflict and peace. It looks at how gender norms shape, are shaped by, and drive violent conflict and influence peacebuilding.

Source: UNEP DTU, UN Women

Example: An EU-UNEP project in North Darfur, Sudan actively engaged women in sustainable livelihoods and climate change adaptation initiatives, leading to gains beyond women’s economic empowerment, including improvements in social status and leadership within community structures.

Material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises. The principal motivation behind humanitarian aid is to save lives and alleviate suffering while upholding and restoring personal dignity.

Source: UNTERM, UNHCR

Example: An NGO delivering food to a community that experienced a major flood.

The coordinated development and management of water, land, and related resources to maximize economic and social welfare in an equitable manner, without compromising the sustainability of vital ecosystems. Integrated water resource management (IWRM) is a cross-sectoral approach that is increasingly recognized as the solution to traditional, fragmented sectoral approaches to water resources management that have led to unsustainable use and poor services. IWRM is based on the understanding that water resources are an integral component of the ecosystem, a natural resource, and a social and economic good.

Source: UNEP

Example: A community managing its river water resources in a balanced way that both diverts sufficient water to grow crops and keeps enough water in the river for its ecosystems and fisheries to flourish.

A concept and theoretical framework that facilitates recognition of the complex ways in which social identities overlap and, in negative scenarios, can create compounding experiences of discrimination and concurrent forms of oppression. By contrast, in more positive contexts, these multiple sources of the self can be enabling and enriching.

For example, intersectionality bears in mind racial discrimination and discrimination on grounds of language, religion and belief. Members of minorities may also face discrimination related to their caste, descent or inherited status, health, disability, migratory status, socioeconomic status, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or sex characteristics.

Source: OHCHR

Example: The lived experience of discrimination of a Muslim woman of African or Middle Eastern descent in a European country will be different from that of a Muslim man of similar descent in the same country owing to discrimination based on the intersecting grounds of race, ethnicity, religion and sex.

The relationship, whether legally or customarily defined, among people, as individuals or groups, with respect to land. Land tenure is an institution, i.e., rules invented by societies to regulate behaviour. Rules of tenure define how property rights to land are to be allocated within societies. They define how access is granted to rights to use, control, and transfer land, as well as associated responsibilities and restraints. In simple terms, land tenure systems determine who can use what resources for how long, and under what conditions. Land tenure is an important part of social, political and economic structures. It is multi-dimensional, bringing into play social, technical, economic, institutional, legal and political aspects that are often ignored but must be taken into account.

Source: FAO

Example: A community where individual families have exclusive rights to residential parcels, agricultural parcels, and certain trees, but all members of a community have the right to graze cattle on a common pasture.

A means of making a living. It comprises the capabilities, assets (natural, human, physical and financial) and activities required for survival and well-being.

Source: UN-REDD

Example: A family generates income from farming and selling vegetables.

Adequate and sustainable access to income and resources to meet basic needs (including adequate access to food, potable water, health facilities, educational opportunities, housing, time for community participation and social integration). The lack of income and resources to meet basic needs implies livelihood insecurity.

Source: FAO

Example: Fishermen in Southeast Asia struggling to maintain their livelihoods due to declining fish stocks.

Actions that may lead to increased risk of adverse climate-related outcomes, including via increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, increased or shifted vulnerability to climate change, more inequitable outcomes, or diminished welfare, now or in the future. Most often, maladaptation is an unintended consequence.

Source: IPCC

Example: Farmers in the Sahel, facing increasing hardship due to rainfall variability and land degradation, turning to artisanal mining to compensate for lost income; artisanal mining generates significant environmental degradation, further undermining resilience.

A community, people, population, or group that experiences discrimination and exclusion (e.g., social, political, and economic) because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, social, and cultural dimensions.

Source: IPBES

Example: An ethnic group that does not have representation in the government.

The movement of persons away from their place of usual residence, either across an international border or within a State. Migration can be driven by various factors, such as economic opportunities, population pressures, environmental changes, or conflict. In contexts affected by climate, peace, and security challenges, migration can be an adaptation strategy, helping individuals and communities cope with risks such as environmental degradation and resource scarcity. It can also be a risk factor, potentially having socioeconomic, environmental, and peace and security effects in receiving communities.

Source: IOM

Example: A family leaving their community and moving to a nearby city after their farmland is flooded by a hurricane.

A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to naturally-caused hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity. Natural disasters lead to human, material, economic, and/or environmental losses and impacts.

Source: UNDRR

Example: A flood that badly damages or destroys dozens of homes.

Actions aimed at protecting, conserving, restoring, and sustainably managing natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems. Such actions address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services, resilience and biodiversity benefits.

Source: UNEP

Example: Restoring wetlands to mitigate flood risks and enhance biodiversity.

Elements and/or processes that exist within a society that mitigate the emergence and proliferation of violent conflict, and strengthen foundations for peace. Peace engines draw upon and reinforce the innate resilience of a society. As with conflict drivers, factors contributing to peace engines might be structural or proximate, and triggers can serve to instigate large-scale positive responses as well as negative. (e.g., populations rallying around a cultural event).

Source: UNSDG

Examples: social equity; ceasefire agreements; a diverse population rallying around a cultural event

The presence or introduction into the environment of substances or energy that cause adverse effects on human health, the environment or living organisms; or that exceed the quality or quantity criteria established for certain environmental media.

Source: UN Environmental Management Group

Example: Industrial pollution contaminating rivers, causing health problems for nearby communities.

A structured process to rebuild relationships among people and groups in society and between the state and its citizens. Such processes are highly context sensitive; each society has to tailor its approach to the nature of the conflict and the character of the transition.

Source: UN Reconciliation Workshop (Accra, Ghana)

Example: Post-apartheid truth and reconciliation efforts in South Africa to heal societal divisions.

The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management.

Source: UNDRR

Example: Despite being subject to perennial flooding, a city continues to offer housing, public services, and economic opportunities for its residents.

Conflict or tension arising from competing demands on limited natural resources, such as water, land, or minerals.

Source: UN Interagency Framework Team for Preventive Action

Example: Farmers and herders clashing over access to water sources in the Sahel region.

A forecasting instrument that helps to develop and discuss a diverse set of possible futures. Using this method, future scenarios can be developed systematically and transparently. Scenarios not only demonstrate how a hypothetical situation may arise in the future, but also identify pathways that lead to them. On this basis, participants can identify opportunities to intervene and influence the process at each stage.

Source: UN Network on Migration

Example: Governments preparing for different climate change scenarios, from mild to extreme temperature rises.

Changes to the height of sea level at seasonal, annual, or longer time scales due to:

• to changes in the shape of the ocean basins and changes in the Earth’s gravitational and rotational fields, and local subsidence or uplift of the land.

• 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);

• to changes in ocean volume as a result of changes in ocean water density (e.g., expansion under warmer conditions), and

Source: UNDRR; UN

Example: Coastal villages in Bangladesh being submerged as sea levels rise.

The process by which efforts are made to ensure equal opportunities – that everyone, regardless of their background, can achieve their full potential in life. Such efforts include policies and actions that promote equal access to (public) services as well as enable citizen’s participation in the decision-making processes that affect their lives.

Source: UN DESA

Example: Programs aimed at integrating marginalised groups into the workforce through skills training.

Networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate co-operation within or among groups. Put together, these networks and understandings engender trust and so enable people to work together.

Source: IPBES Secretariat

Example: A small business owner gets support from their local community, receiving referrals, advice, and even financial backing from friends and neighbours, helping the business thrive.

The extent of trust in government and within society and the willingness to participate collectively toward a shared vision of sustainable peace and common development goals.

Source: UNDP

Example: Strengthened intercommunal trust built by participating in a community-level water-sharing initiative.

Practices aimed at minimising land degradation, rehabilitating degraded areas and ensuring the optimal use of land resources for the benefit of present and future generations. Sustainable land management’s application requires collaboration and partnership at all levels – land users, technical experts and policy-makers – to ensure that the causes of the degradation and corrective measures are properly identified, and that the policy and regulatory environment enables the adoption of the most appropriate management measures.

Source: FAO

Example: Rotational grazing techniques that prevent overgrazing and soil degradation in pasturelands.

A goal and process to build a common vision of a society, ensuring that the needs of all segments of the population are taken into account. This encompasses activities aimed at preventing the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of conflict, addressing root causes, assisting parties to conflict to end hostilities, ensuring national reconciliation, and moving towards recovery, reconstruction, and development. Sustaining peace is a shared task and responsibility that needs to be fulfilled by the government and all other national stakeholders and needs sustained international attention and assistance.

Source: UN General Assembly

Example: A community where people value building strong relationships with their neighbours and the environment around them.

When biodiversity and ecosystem services that contribute to human well-being are still maintained while contributing to human well-being. Unsustainable resource use risks the loss and damage of these species’ populations while also affecting the health and well-being of the current and next generation.

Source: UNEP

Example: Hunting regulations maintaining healthy game populations in a local forest.

The full range of processes and mechanisms associated with a society’s attempt to come to terms with a legacy of large-scale past conflict, repression, violations and abuses, Transitional justice seeks to ensure accountability, serve justice, and achieve reconciliation. Transitional justice aims to provide recognition to victims, enhance the trust of individuals in State institutions, reinforce respect for human rights and promote the rule of law, as a step towards reconciliation and the prevention of new violations. Transitional justice processes have repeatedly demonstrated they can help address grievances and divisions. To this end, such processes must be context-specific, nationally owned, and focused on the needs of victims.

Source: OHCHR

Example: Truth commissions established to promote peace and reconciliation after the Rwandan genocide and civil war.

The extent to which a community, structure, service, or geographical area is likely to be damaged or disrupted (on account of its nature or location) by the impact of a particular hazard.

Source: UNDRR

Example: A town at the lowest point in a river valley that experiences flooding whenever heavy rains cause the nearby river to overflow.

The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.

Source: UN Water

Example: A community continuing to have sufficient water resources despite a drought thanks to climate-resilient water infrastructure.