| Access | The ability of media consumers to produce their own texts and to have those texts acknowledged by the agenda setting media. Also, the ability of media consumers to respond to the dominant media. | Media literacy |
| Active citizenship | Active citizenship emphasizes people’s active involvement in the processes that shape the lives of their communities; it promotes that human rights can be truly realised through responsible and active participation. Active citizenship is developed through learning. | Global education |
| Adaptation | Adjustment in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment that exploits beneficial opportunities or moderates negative effects. Adaptation to climate change is the act of adjusting to life in a changing climate and involves preparing for actual (current climate change) or expected future climate. In human systems, adaptation seeks to moderate or avoid harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In some natural systems, human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects. | Climate change |
| Adaptive capacity | The potential of a system, institutions, humans and other organisms to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes) to moderate potential damages, take advantage of opportunities, and cope with the consequences. | Climate change |
| Adaptive management | A structured process of flexible decision-making that incorporates learning from outcomes and new scientific information. The process facilitates decision-making by resource managers to manage and respond to climate change impacts. | Climate change |
| Adverse Side Effects | The negative effects that a policy or measure aimed at one objective might have on other objectives, irrespective of the net effect on overall social welfare. Adverse side effects are often subject to uncertainty and depend on local circumstances and implementation practices, among other factors. See also Co-Benefits and Risk. | Climate change |
| Aerosol (Atmospheric) | Aerosols are fine solid or liquid particles, caused by people or occurring naturally, that are suspended in the atmosphere. Aerosols can cause cooling by scattering incoming radiation or by affecting cloud cover. Aerosols can also cause warming by absorbing radiation. Related terms: Aerosol Effect, aerosols | Climate change |
| Agenda-setting | The ability of the media to tell people what and whom to talk and think about. | Media literacy |
| Agenda-setting theory | A theory that the news media shape public opinion by controlling the transmission of stories | Media literacy |
| Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) | Emissions and removals of greenhouse gases (resulting from direct human-induced land use, land-use change, and forestry activities, which may include or exclude agricultural emissions. AFOLU plays a central role for food security and sustainable development. The main mitigation options within AFOLU involve one or more of three strategies: 1) prevention—of emissions to the atmosphere by conserving existing carbon pools in soils or vegetation or by reducing emissions of methane and nitrous oxide; 2) sequestration—increasing the size of existing carbon pools and thereby extracting carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere; and 3) substitution—substituting biological products for fossil fuels or energy-intensive products, thereby reducing CO2 emissions. Demand-side measures (e.g., reducing losses and wastes of food, changes in human diet, or changes in wood consumption) may also play a role. | Climate change |
| Algal bloom | A sudden, rapid growth of algae in lakes and coastal oceans caused by a variety of factors including, for example, warmer surface waters or increased nutrient levels. Some algal blooms may be toxic or harmful to humans and ecosystems. | Climate change |
| Anomaly | In the natural sciences, an anomaly refers to changes from an average (that is, what's considered "normal") for a given time period. Examples include warmer/cooler temperatures or wetter/drier conditions. | Climate change |
| Anthropocene | The current geologic age, used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. | Climate change |
| Atmospheric river | This is a long, narrow region of concentrated water vapor in the atmosphere, like a river in the sky, that can bring rain and snow when it crosses over land. | Climate change |
| Audience | Anyone exposed to a media message, or anyone for whom a message is constructed. | Media literacy |
| Awareness | Awareness refers to the knowledge and information processing of citizens in developed countries about underdevelopment, developing countries, and the relations of these two to developed countries. Increased awareness usually leads to increased support for international development cooperation. Global education has a major role to play in raising awareness. | Global education |
| Baseline | Baseline (or reference) is the state against which change is measured. A baseline period is the period relative to which anomalies are computed. In the context of transformation pathways, the term baseline scenarios refer to scenarios that assume that no mitigation policies or measures will be implemented beyond those that are already in force and/or are legislated or planned to be adopted. Baseline scenarios are not intended to be predictions of the future, but rather counterfactual constructions that can serve to highlight the level of emissions that would occur without further policy effort. Baseline scenarios can be compared to mitigation scenarios that are constructed to meet different goals for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, atmospheric concentrations or temperature changes. The term baseline scenario is used interchangeably with reference scenario and no policy scenario. In much of the literature the term is also synonymous with the term business-as-usual (BAU) scenario. | Climate change |
| Bias | Partiality, preference, or prejudice for/against a person, thing, or idea. | Media literacy |
| Biodiversity | The diversity of life on earth, from genes to species to ecosystems. Biodiversity refers to the variety of living things on Earth, such as plants and animals. As our planet warms from human activities, we'll likely have less and less biodiversity over time, changing the balance of all ecosystems. | Climate change |
| Bioenergy | Energy produced using plant or animal matter such as corn or manure. | Climate change |
| Biofuel | Fuel produced from plant or animal matter such as corn or manure. | Climate change |
| Biogeochemical cycles | Fluxes, or flows, of chemical elements among different parts of the Earth: from living to non-living, from atmosphere to land to sea, from soils to plants. Related terms: biogeochemical cycle | Climate change |
| Biomass | The mass of living organisms in a given area, or material derived from organisms. | Climate change |
| Black carbon | Soot produced from coal burning, diesel engines, cooking fires, wildfires, and other combustion sources. These particles absorb solar energy and have a warming influence on the climate. | Climate change |
| Branding | Creating an identity for a product or service based on a name, slogan, symbol, or feeling. | Media literacy |
| Broadcasting | Producing and designing media content to appeal to a broad audience segment. The technology of broadcasting only applies to content carried through the airwaves. | Media literacy |
| Bullet Theory | A commonsense theory, much debunked, that people are passive recipients of media information. That media can touch people and change them directly. | Media literacy |
| Carbon capture and storage | The process of capturing carbon dioxide and injecting it into geologic formations underground for long-term storage. | Climate change |
| Carbon cycle | Circulation of carbon atoms through the Earth systems as a result of photosynthetic conversion of carbon dioxide into complex organic compounds by plants, which are consumed by other organisms, and return of the carbon to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide as a result of respiration, decay of organisms, and combustion of fossil fuels. | Climate change |
| Carbon sequestration | Storage of carbon through natural or technological processes in biomass or in deep geological formations. | Climate change |
| Censorship | Controlling or suppressing any part of a media message or text. | Media literacy |
| Civil society organizations | Civil society organisations comprise all those social initiatives (social, minority, religious, etc.), advocacy organisations, trade unions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that draw attention to domestic and international social problems and, according to the legislation in force, carry out public benefit activities alongside the official bodies of a state. They can play a prominent role in international development cooperation as they are able to get much closer to crucial problems than official actors. | Global education |
| Climate | 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 classic period for averaging these variables is 20 to 30 years. 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. | Climate change |
| Climate change | Climate change is one of the major challenges facing humanity today as it affects the functioning of societies and economies around the world, from causing dangerous weather anomalies to reducing yields and exacerbating international conflicts. | Global education |
| Climate Change Induced Migration | In this report, climate change-induced migration is migration that can be attributed largely to the slow-onset impacts of climate change on livelihoods owing to shifts in water availability and crop productivity, or to factors such as sea level rise or storm surge. | Climate change |
| Climate change refugia | Areas relatively buffered from contemporary climate change that are likely to increase species or ecosystem persistence. | Climate change |
| Climate Model | A numerical 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 parametrizations are involved. Coupled Atmosphere–Ocean General Circulation Models (AOGCMs) provide a representation of the climate system that is near or at the most comprehensive end of the spectrum currently available. Climate models are typically applied as a research tool to study and simulate the climate and for operational purposes, including monthly, seasonal and interannual climate predictions. | Climate change |
| Climate Prediction | Is a probabilistic statement about future climate conditions on timescales ranging from seasons to decades. It is based on conditions that are known at present and assumptions about the physical processes that will determine future changes. When a projection is branded "most likely" it becomes a prediction and outputs of which can enable some level of confidence to be attached to projections. | Climate change |
| Climate Projection | The simulated response of the climate system to a scenario of future emission or concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and aerosols, generally derived using climate models. Projections provide a potential future evolution of a quantity or set of quantities, often computed with the aid of a model. Climate projections are distinguished from climate predictions by their dependence on the emission/concentration/radiative forcing scenario used, which is in turn based on assumptions concerning, for example, future socio-economic and technological developments that may or may not be realized. Unlike predictions, projections are conditional on assumptions concerning, for example, future socio-economic and technological developments that may or may not be realized. | Climate change |
| Climate Risk | Potential for consequences from climate variability and change where something of value is at stake and the outcome is uncertain. Often represented as the probability that a hazardous event or trend occurs multiplied by the expected impact. Risk results from the interaction of vulnerability, exposure, and hazard. | Climate change |
| Climate sensitivity | This tells us how sensitive our climate is to rising greenhouse gas emissions from human activities — specifically, how much warmer the planet will get if we double our carbon dioxide emissions. | Climate change |
| Climate System | The highly complex system consisting of five major components: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere and the interactions between them. The climate system evolves in time under the influence of its own internal dynamics and because of external forcings such as volcanic eruptions, solar variations and anthropogenic forcings such as the changing composition of the atmosphere and land-use change. | Climate change |
| Climate Variability | Variations in the mean state and other statistics (i.e., standard deviations, occurrence of extremes, etc.) of the climate across all spatial and temporal scales beyond that of individual weather events. Variability may be due to natural internal processes within the climate system (internal variability), or to variations in natural or anthropogenic external forcing (external variability). Drivers of climate variability include the El Niño Southern Oscillation and other phenomena. | Climate change |
| Climatology | The study of the atmosphere and weather patterns over a time period, focused on the natural and artificial forces that influence long-term weather patterns. | Climate change |
| Coastal Erosion | Erosion of coastal landforms that results from wave action, exacerbated by storm surge and sea level rise. | Climate change |
| Cold wave | A period of abnormally cold weather lasting days to weeks. | Climate change |
| Confidence | The validity of a finding based on the type, amount, quality and consistency of evidence (e.g., mechanistic understanding, theory, data, models, expert judgment) and on the degree of agreement. | Climate change |
| Connote/Connotation | A description of value, meaning or ideology associated with a media text that is added to the text by the audience. | Media literacy |
| Construct or Construction | The process by which a media text is shaped and given meaning through a process that is subject to a variety of decisions and is designed to keep the audience interested in the text. | Media literacy |
| Consumers | Any person who experiences or interacts with a media message. The audience for whom a commercial media text is constructed and who responds to the text with commercial activity. | Media literacy |
| Consumption and production | Most production chains are now globalized and we often use products manufactured thousands of kilometres away. We are global consumers. With our choices as consumers we can now influence the situation in different parts of the world and influence goes hand in hand with responsibility. | Global education |
| Convergence | Several separate media industries (newspapers, video, music) operating together through advances in technology (e.g., smart phones) | Media literacy |
| Critical | A reflective position on the meaning, biases or value messages of a text. | Media literacy |
| Critical Autonomy | The process by which a member of the audience is able to read a media text in a way other than the preferred reading. Also used to describe the ability of media literacy students to deconstruct texts outside the classroom. | Media literacy |
| Critical Viewing | The ability to use critical thinking skills to view, question, analyse and understand issues presented overtly and covertly in movies, videos, television and other visual media. | Media literacy |
| Cultural relativism | Cultural relativism is the attitude when one tries to see and judge other people’s customs and beliefs through their perspective and within the context of their culture, not through one’s own. This approach does not require one to discard one’s own values, but it does require a learning process to learn and understand the values of others. | Global education |
| Cut | An edited transition between two images in which one image is immediately replaced by another. | Media literacy |
| Decarbonization | The process by which countries or other entities aim to achieve a low-carbon economy, or by which individuals aim to reduce their consumption of carbon. | Climate change |
| Deconstruction | The process by which the audience identifies the elements that make up the construction of meaning within a text. | Media literacy |
| Denote/Denotation | A description of a media text indicating its common sense, obvious meaning. The literal meaning of a media message (what is seen, heard, etc.). | Media literacy |
| Developing countries | Although the concept of developing countries has become widespread and has replaced the concept of the Third World since the early 1990s, in the last decade it has often been replaced by the term “Global South” (see Global South) or “Southern countries” or “Southern states”. Criticism of the term “developing countries” stems from the fact that the nature of development cannot be defined in a clear and value-neutral way, as it depends on the perception based on the current value system. | Global education |
| Digital | The storage and transmission of information by reducing it to digits and then reassembling it for an exact reproduction. | Media literacy |
| Digital media | Electronic media that use a digital code. | Media literacy |
| Disaster | Severe alterations in the normal functioning of a community or a society due to hazardous physical events interacting with vulnerable social conditions, leading to widespread adverse human, material, economic or environmental effects that require immediate emergency response to satisfy critical human needs and that may require external support for recovery. | Climate change |
| Diversity and intercultural relations | Societies are becoming increasingly diverse. This means that citizens need to understand each other in order to be able to live peacefully together. Intercultural relations are no longer limited to international travel but became part of our everyday experience. | Global education |
| Docudrama | A filmed dramatization based on fact that combines documentary and fictional elements. In the production process, "based on" allows the creators of the text wide creative latitude and a docudrama is, at best, a skilful representation of a real person or event. | Media literacy |
| Dominant | When a text is read by the audience in a way that is intended by the creators of the text. | Media literacy |
| Drought | A period of abnormally dry weather marked by little or no rain that lasts long enough to cause water shortage for people and natural systems. Drought is a relative term; therefore, any discussion in terms of precipitation deficit must refer to the particular precipitation-related activity that is under discussion. For example, shortage of precipitation during the growing season impinges on crop production or ecosystem function in general (due to soil moisture drought, also termed agricultural drought) and during the runoff and percolation season primarily affects water supplies (hydrological drought). Storage changes in soil moisture and groundwater are also affected by increases in actual evapotranspiration in addition to reductions in precipitation. A period with an abnormal precipitation deficit is defined as a meteorological drought. A megadrought is a very lengthy and pervasive drought, lasting much longer than normal, usually a decade or more. | Climate change |
| Dry spell | A period with little or no rain. Whether a dry spell becomes a drought depends on how long it lasts, expectations based on historical data and perceptions, and the water needs of people and natural systems. | Climate change |
| Early Warning System | The set of capacities needed to generate and disseminate timely and meaningful warning information to enable individuals, communities and organizations threatened by a hazard to prepare to act promptly and appropriately to reduce the possibility of harm or loss. | Climate change |
| Ecological corridor | An area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures. | Climate change |
| Ecosystem | An ecosystem is 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. 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. | Climate change |
| Ecosystem services | The benefits produced by ecosystems on which people depend, including, for example, fisheries, drinking water, fertile soils for growing crops, climate regulation, and aesthetic and cultural value. Related terms: ecosystem service. | Climate change |
| Education | Education is one of the Human Development Index components. Quality education should be inclusive and equitable, ensuring access especially within marginalised groups. Education is a fundamental trigger to promote sustainable development, challenge stereotypes and equip learners with skills, values and attitudes to take action in the world they live in. | Global education |
| El Niño and La Niña | El Niño and La Niña are part of the El Niño Southern Oscillation, a periodic fluctuation of ocean temperatures (warmer, colder, or average) along the equator in the tropical Pacific Ocean that affects the global climate. | Climate change |
| Emission Scenario | A plausible representation of the future development of emissions of substances that are potentially radiatively active (i.e., greenhouse gases, aerosols) based on a coherent and internally consistent set of assumptions about driving forces (such as demographic and socio-economic development, technological change, energy and land use) and their key relationships. Concentration scenarios, derived from emission scenarios, are used as input to a climate model to compute climate projections. | Climate change |
| Energy systems | The infrastructure and systems of electricity production, transport, storage and consumption. | Climate change |
| Environmental justice | The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, colour, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. | |
| Equality of opportunity | Equality of opportunity means ensuring equal opportunities for all members of society to participate in society and achieve their individual potential (in other words, it means prohibiting discrimination). Individuals and groups who are disadvantaged because of individual or group discrimination should be given the support they need (positive discrimination) to ensure that they have equal opportunities to succeed and participate in society. | Global education |
| Ethnocentrism | Ethnocentrism means putting one’s own culture at the centre, when one is able to judge cultural customs and behavioural norms solely through one’s own norms. Its manifestation in childhood is perfectly normal and necessary for a healthy sense of self. However, absolutizing ethnocentrism in adulthood can be harmful. It can lead to extreme manifestations of putting one’s own culture above those of others, such as xenophobia (xenophobia) or chauvinism (fanatical patriotism, nationalism). | Global education |
| Evaporation | Occurs when water vapor leaves the soil or a plant’s surface. Transpiration involves the passage of water through a plant, from its roots through its vascular system. The sum of evaporation and transpiration is evapotranspiration. | Climate change |
| Evapotranspiration | Evaporation of water from soil and plant leaves. | Climate change |
| External Forcing | External forcing refers to a forcing agent outside the climate system causing a change in the climate system. Volcanic eruptions, solar variations and anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere and land-use change are external forcings. Orbital forcing is also an external forcing as the insolation changes with orbital parameters eccentricity, tilt and precession of the equinox. | Climate change |
| Extreme Heat Event | Three or more days of above-average temperatures, generally defined as passing a certain threshold (for example, above the 85th percentile for average daily temperature in a year). | Climate change |
| Extreme precipitation events | An episode of abnormally high rain or snow. The definition of "extreme" is a statistical concept that varies depending on location, season, and length of the historical record. | Climate change |
| Extreme Weather Event | An extreme weather event is an event that is rare at a particular place and time of year. Definitions of rare vary, but an extreme weather event would normally be as rare as or rarer than the 10th or 90th percentile of a probability density function estimated from observations. By definition, the characteristics of what is called extreme weather may vary from place to place in an absolute sense. When a pattern of extreme weather persists for some time, such as a season, it may be classed as an extreme climate event, especially if it yields an average or total that is itself extreme (i.e., drought or heavy rainfall over a season). | Climate change |
| Fair Trade | Fair trade is a trade concept developed by NGOs that focuses on the need to ensure a more humane life for the producer of the products. Fair trade is a response to the massive price increases of agricultural raw materials in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The price increases have pushed millions of smallholder families into extreme poverty. | Global education |
| Feedback | The process through which a system is controlled, changed, or modulated in response to its own output. Positive feedback results in amplification of the system output; negative feedback reduces the output of a system. | Climate change |
| Fitness | An individual organism’s reproductive success. | Climate change |
| Flood | The overflowing of the normal confines of a stream or other body of water, or the accumulation of water over areas not normally submerged. Floods include river (fluvial) floods, flash floods, urban floods, pluvial floods, sewer floods, coastal floods and glacial lake outburst floods. | Climate change |
| Food and agriculture | We now eat food which comes from all around the globe. Food production exceeds our needs and yet isn’t distributed fairly. | Global education |
| Food Security | A state that prevails when people have secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth, development and an active and healthy life. | Climate change |
| Forcings | Forcings are the initial climate change drivers, such as greenhouse gas emissions. | Climate change |
| Fossil fuels | Fossil fuels come from decomposed plants and animals in Earth's crust. These fuels contain carbon and hydrogen, which can be burned for energy. Examples are coal, oil, and natural gas. | Climate change |
| Frontline communities | Those communities that experience climate change first and often feel the worst effects. They are communities that have higher exposures, are more sensitive, and are less able to adapt to climate change impacts for a variety of reasons. | Climate change |
| Gatekeepers | Those within the news media who control the flow of information and spread of ideas (see also agenda-setting theory). | Media literacy |
| Gender equality | According to the United Nations, gender equality is not only a universal human right, but it is also the foundation of a sustainable world in which people live in peace and prosperity. Ensuring equal access for women and girls to education, health care, decent work, and to participation in political and economic decision-making, will strengthen sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity as a whole. | Global education |
| Genetic rescue | A conservation tool used to increase the fitness of a small, imperiled population by adding genetic variation through a small number of immigrants. | Climate change |
| Genre | A category of media texts characterised by a particular style, form or content. | Media literacy |
| Geoengineering | Intentional modifications of the Earth system, usually technological, as a means to reduce future climate change. | Climate change |
| Global change | Changes in the global environment that may alter the capacity of the Earth to sustain life. Global change encompasses climate change, but it also includes other critical drivers of environmental change that may interact with climate change, such as land use change, the alteration of the water cycle, changes in biogeochemical cycles, and biodiversity loss. [See also climate change] | Climate change |
| Global Climate Models (GCM) | Mathematical models that simulate the physics, chemistry, and biology that influence the climate system. | Climate change |
| Global economy and international trade | International trade fuels the global economy which is a complex net of interdependencies between countries, international corporations and individuals. It influences production, consumption, employment, oftentimes environment and even our everyday life (e.g. through budgetary cuts due to financial crisis). | Global education |
| Global South | Also called “Southern countries” or “Southern states”. The Global South is an increasingly used term, replacing the formerly prevalent “Third World” and its successor, “developing countries” (see Developing countries); it is the umbrella term for the world’s less economically developed countries, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. These countries have low per capita GDPs, need to improve health and education, and often face significant restrictions on freedoms. Some of these countries lack political stability and are undemocratic. | Global education |
| Global warming | The observed increase in average temperature near the Earth’s surface and in the lowest layer of the atmosphere, as one of the consequences of radiative forcing caused by anthropogenic emissions. Global warming is a type of climate change; it can also lead to other changes in climate conditions, such as changes in precipitation patterns. | Climate change |
| Globalization | Globalisation is an increase in the intensity of social connections across the world, whereby distant places are linked together in such a way that events in one place are influenced by processes taking place many kilometres away, and vice versa. | Global education |
| Good governance | Good governance means transparent, accountable, corruption-free, effective government practices. The definition of good governance also includes the form of the political system, the management of economic and social resources for development, and the ability and willingness of a government to design, formulate and implement appropriate policies. According to the World Bank’s interpretation, good governance comprises six categories: (1) freedom of expression and external accountability; (2) political stability; (3) government effectiveness; (4) quality of regulation; (5) rule of law; (6) anti-corruption. | Global education |
| Greenhouse gases | Gases that absorb heat in the atmosphere near the Earth's surface, preventing it from escaping into space. If the atmospheric concentrations of these gases rise, the average temperature of the lower atmosphere will gradually increase, a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases include, for example, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane. Related terms: Heat trapping gases, Greenhouse Effect | Climate change |
| Hardware | The physical equipment used to produce, distribute and exhibit media texts. | Media literacy |
| Hazard | The potential occurrence of a natural or human-induced physical event or trend or physical impact that may cause loss of life, injury, or other health impacts, as well as damage and loss to property, infrastructure, livelihoods, service provision, ecosystems and environmental resources. Here, hazard usually refers to climate-related physical events or trends or their physical impacts. | Climate change |
| Health and well-being | Production of medicine is highly internationalized. Medicines are manufactured and distributed globally. Certain illnesses spread rapidly over borders, usually epidemics cannot be stopped locally. The well-being of a person is influenced by environmental factors, as well as the resources that they consume. | Global education |
| Heat stress | The negative health impacts, such as heat stroke or heat exhaustion, caused by exposure to extreme heat or long periods in hot environments. | Climate change |
| Heat Wave | While there is no universally accepted definition, heat waves are understood to be periods of unusually hot and dry or hot and humid weather that have a subtle onset and cessation, a duration of at least two–three days, usually with a discernible impact on human and natural systems. Because there is no absolute universal value, such as a given temperature that defines what is extreme heat, heatwaves are relative to a location’s climate: the same meteorological conditions can constitute a heatwave in one place but not in another. | Climate change |
| Heavy precipitation events | An episode of abnormally high rain or snow. The definition of "extreme" is a statistical concept that varies depending on location, season, and length of the historical record. | Climate change |
| Hegemony/hegemonic | When dominant groups persuade subordinate groups that the dominant ideology is in their own best interests. The media's function in this process is to encourage maintenance of the status quo. | Media literacy |
| Holocene | The geological epoch that covers the last 11,000 years. | Climate change |
| Homophobia | The fear of homosexuality as expressed by demeaning images in media texts. | Media literacy |
| HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) | Is a computer programming language that allows people to create links on the world wide web from one source of information to another in any order. | Media literacy |
| Human rights | Human rights are about ensuring that every human being has the conditions and freedoms to which he or she is entitled from birth, so that he or she can live a life of fulfilment that is adequate to his or her needs. No one may be arbitrarily deprived of his or her human rights. Human rights are much more than legal standards. They represent a moral standard designed to promote understanding, equality, tolerance, fairness and many other universal principles that are essential for a just and peaceful society. Governments are responsible for ensuring the human rights enshrined in international conventions and treaties, but the private sector, groups, communities and individuals are also responsible for knowing and understanding them, so that they can protect or hold their fellow human beings, government and society to account for behaviours that affect human rights. | Global education |
| Humanitarian assistance | It is an aid or assistance whose sole purpose is to reduce human suffering, save lives and protect and maintain human dignity during and after emergencies and disasters. | Global education |
| Hydrological Cycle | The cycle in which water evaporates from the oceans and the land surface, is carried over the Earth in atmospheric circulation as water vapor, condenses to form clouds, precipitates over ocean and land as rain or snow, which on land can be intercepted by trees and vegetation, provides runoff on the land surface, infiltrates into soils, recharges groundwater, discharges into streams and ultimately flows out into the oceans, from which it will eventually evaporate again. The various systems involved in the hydrological cycle are usually referred to as hydrological systems. | Climate change |
| Ice island | A large, heavy cap of ice sitting solidly on an underwater peak. | Climate change |
| Ideology/Ideological | How we as individuals understand the world in which we live. This understanding involves an interaction between our individual psychologies and the social structures that surround us. Mediating between these are the individual processes of communication as well as the technological processes of the mass media. These ideas are usually related to the distribution of power. | Media literacy |
| Impacts | Effects on natural and human systems from extreme weather and climate events and of climate change. Impacts generally refer to effects on lives, livelihoods, health, ecosystems, economies, societies, cultures, services and infrastructure due to the interaction of climate changes or hazardous climate events occurring within a specific time period and the vulnerability of an exposed society or system. Impacts are also referred to as consequences and outcomes. The impacts of climate change on geophysical systems, including floods, droughts and sea level rise, are a subset of impacts called physical impacts. | Climate change |
| Indigenous knowledges | In brief, refers to Indigenous peoples' systems of observing, monitoring, researching, recording, communicating, and learning that are required, as for any group, to support survival and flourishing in an ecosystem and the social adaptive capacity to adjust to or prepare for changes. | Climate change |
| Industry | The agencies and institutions involved with the production of media texts. The term is also used in a more restrictive sense to describe the commercial production of media texts for the purpose of making a profit. | Media literacy |
| Infrared light and false-colour images | What we perceive as colours are actually different wavelengths of light. Violet has the shortest wavelength visible to the human eye, and red has the longest. Light within a certain range of wavelengths longer than red (and therefore invisible to humans) is called "infrared." | Climate change |
| Infrared radiation | Infrared radiation is energy in the form of heat that comes from Earth’s surface and travels out toward space. Greenhouse gases block infrared radiation, trapping heat within the atmosphere and causing it to warm. | Climate change |
| Intertextuality | When a media text makes reference to another text that, on the surface, appears to be unique and distinct. | Media literacy |
| Invasive species | A non-native organism whose introduction within a particular ecosystem causes or is likely to cause economic or environmental harm, or harm to human, animal, or plant health. | Climate change |
| Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification | A classification system that categorizes climate zones throughout the world based on local vegetation. The system divides the world into five climate zones based on criteria, such as temperature, which allows for different vegetation growth. The zones are: Zone A (tropical or equatorial zone), Zone B (arid or dry zone), Zone C (warm/mild temperate zone), Zone D (continental zone), and Zone E (polar zone). Each zone is further subdivided based on temperature and dryness. | Climate change |
| Land Use and Land-Use Change | Land use refers to the total of arrangements, activities and inputs undertaken in a certain land cover type (a set of human actions). The term land use is also used in the sense of the social and economic purposes for which land is managed (i.e., grazing, timber extraction and conservation). In urban settlements it is related to land uses within cities and their hinterlands. Urban land use has implications on city management, structure and form and thus on energy demand, greenhouse gas emissions and mobility, among other aspects. | Climate change |
| Least developed countries, LDCs | Least developed countries are defined by the World Bank as countries with an annual per capita national income of less than $750, low levels of human development and economic vulnerability. There are currently 49 countries in this group. | Global education |
| Likelihood | The chance of a specific outcome occurring, where this might be estimated probabilistically. | Climate change |
| Mainstream media | Media that disseminate messages to the general public via the largest distribution channels. | Media literacy |
| Margin of error | This term refers to the range within which the true number of something resides ("give or take"). For example, since January 1993, global average sea level has risen 101 millimetres (mm), plus or minus 4 mm. | Climate change |
| Marketing | The way in which a product or media text is sold to a target audience. | Media literacy |
| Mass Communication | See mass media. | Media literacy |
| Mass Media | Any form of communication produced by a few for consumption by many people. Mass media are channels of communication through which messages flow. (see also mainstream media). | Media literacy |
| Media | Any physical object used to communicate. Common media are televisions, radios, telephones, and newspapers. Less common articles and building materials, paint, sculpture, dance and other conventions for communicating ideas. | Media literacy |
| Media (Medium) | The plural form of medium; the term has come to mean all the industrial forms of mass communication combined. | Media literacy |
| Media Agencies | Agencies who produce media. All media institutions and businesses. | Media literacy |
| Media Content | Messages which are produced by the few for the many and delivered to larger audiences simultaneously. | Media literacy |
| Media Education | Traditionally, it's the process by which one learns the technical production skills associated with creating media texts. More recently, it has also included the intellectual processes of critical consumption or deconstruction of texts. | Media literacy |
| Media Literacy | The process of understanding and using the mass media in an assertive and non-passive way. This includes an informed and critical understanding of the nature of the media, the techniques used by them and the impact of these techniques. The ability to access, analyse, evaluate, and create media in a variety of forms. | Media literacy |
| Media Log | A record of media use, often used to assess and control personal media use. | Media literacy |
| Media specialist | Someone knowledgeable about accessing a range of information in a variety of media formats. | Media literacy |
| Media Targets | Audiences are media targets. Audiences are targeted, sold and delivered to advertisers by media agencies. Groups are targeted on the basis of demographics, media use patterns, zip codes, and polling by those who wish to sell or persuade. | Media literacy |
| Media Use | The way people interact with media. Media use varies from person to person, group to group and at various times during an individual’s life. | Media literacy |
| Medium | The singular form of media, the term usually describes any single channel of communication such as radio, television, film, etc. | Media literacy |
| Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) | Meridional (north–south) overturning circulation in the ocean quantified by zonal (east–west) sums of mass transports in depth or density layers. In the North Atlantic, away from the subpolar regions, the MOC (which is in principle an observable quantity) is often identified with the thermohaline circulation, which is a conceptual and incomplete interpretation. It must be borne in mind that the MOC is also driven by wind and can also include shallower overturning cells such as occur in the upper ocean in the tropics and subtropics, in which warm (light) waters moving poleward are transformed to slightly denser waters and subducted equatorward at deeper levels. | Climate change |
| Migration | Movement that requires a change in the place of usual residence and that is longer term. In demographic research and official statistics, it involves crossing a recognized political/administrative border. | Climate change |
| Mitigation | Mitigation is the act of reducing the drivers of climate change. This involves cutting greenhouse (heat-trapping) gases going into the atmosphere, either by reducing their sources (such as fossil fuels) or by enhancing their “sinks," which absorb more carbon dioxide than they release. | Climate change |
| Mitigation scenario | A plausible description of the future that describes how the (studied) system responds to the implementation of mitigation policies and measures. | Climate change |
| Monopoly | Any commercial process in which one seller controls prices and supply of a product. | Media literacy |
| Moral Panic or “Moral Panic” | A sudden increase in public perception of the possible threat to societal values and interests because of exposure to media texts. | Media literacy |
| Multiculturalism | Multiculturalism means coexistence and understanding between different cultures, and even a healthy mixing and interaction of cultures. As a political ideal, multiculturalism encourages the preservation and acceptance of cultural diversity in “multi-ethnic” societies. It promotes the right of all minorities to exist beyond ethnic and religious groups with different traditions. | Global education |
| Narrative | How the plot or story is told. In a media text, narrative is the coherent sequencing of events across time and space. | Media literacy |
| Natural resources | Our societies cannot survive without access to natural resources. Some of them renew themselves if used wisely, others are depletable. Ensuring sound management of natural resources in a sustainable way is a key global challenge. | Global education |
| Negotiate | The process of give and take by which members of the audience interpret, deconstruct and find meaning within a media text. | Media literacy |
| Nutrients | Chemicals (such as nitrogen and phosphorus) that plants and animals need to live and grow. At high concentrations, particularly in water, nutrients can become pollutants. | Climate change |
| Ocean acidification | The process by which ocean waters have become more acidic due to the absorption of human-produced carbon dioxide, which interacts with ocean water to form carbonic acid and lower the ocean’s pH. Acidity reduces the capacity of key plankton species and shelled animals to form and maintain shells. | Climate change |
| Oppositional | A critical position that is in opposition to the values and ideology intended by the creators of a media text, usually the dominant reading of a text. | Media literacy |
| Ozone | A colorless gas consisting of three atoms of oxygen, readily reacting with many other substances. Ozone in the upper atmosphere protects the Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. In the lower atmosphere ozone is an air pollutant with harmful effects on human health. | Climate change |
| Paleoclimate | The climate that existed during the period before modern record-keeping. Paleoclimate can be measured with "natural thermometers" such as ice cores or tree rings. | Climate change |
| Parts per million | The term "parts per million" refers to the number of carbon dioxide molecules per million molecules of dry air. | Climate change |
| Parts per million by volume | This refers to the number of carbon dioxide molecules per million molecules of dry air when occupying a certain amount of space. | Climate change |
| Pathogen | Microorganisms (such as a bacteria or viruses) that causes disease. | Climate change |
| Peace and conflict | Conflicts on regional, national or international levels still hinder human development in numerous countries of the world. Therefore, conflict resolution remains a priority for the international community, especially at a time when threats to peace come from local, national as well as international levels. | Global education |
| Permafrost | Ground that remains at or below freezing for at least two consecutive years. | Climate change |
| Phenology | The pattern of seasonal life cycle events in plants and animals, such as timing of blooming, hibernation, and migration. | Climate change |
| Phenotypic plasticity | The ability of an organism to change its behaviour, physiology, or physical characteristics in response to its environment. This change occurs within an organism’s lifetime and therefore does not require genetic change. | Climate change |
| Phytoplankton | Microscopic organisms (single-celled plants, bacteria, and protists) capable of photosynthesis. Phytoplankton are found in oceans, seas, and freshwater, and are an essential component of aquatic ecosystems. | Climate change |
| Political power, democracy and human rights | Human rights and the struggle for democracy remain an important challenge. Since political regimes and economies throughout the globe are closely linked and interdependent, citizens of different countries can influence the situation in distant regions. | Global education |
| Poverty | Poverty is one of the biggest challenges of all time as it deprives billions of people from both the Global South and Global North of decent life. Global interdependencies can cause or sustain poverty; they can also lift communities and individuals out of poverty. | Global education |
| Precipitation | Water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail. It is the primary connection in the water cycle that provides for the delivery of atmospheric water to the Earth. | Climate change |
| Primary productivity | Energy captured from the atmosphere through photosynthesis. | Climate change |
| Prime Time | That part of a radio or television schedule expected to attract the largest audience. | Media literacy |
| Production | The industrial process of creating media texts as well as the people who are engaged in this process. | Media literacy |
| Projection | A potential future evolution of a quantity or set of quantities, often computed with the aid of a model. Unlike predictions, projections are conditional on assumptions concerning, for example, future socio-economic and technological developments that may or may not be realized. | Climate change |
| Propaganda | Any media text whose primary purpose is to openly persuade an audience of the validity of a particular point of view. | Media literacy |
| Proxies | A proxy is a way to indirectly measure aspects of climate. Biological or physical records from ice cores, tree rings, and soil boreholes are good examples of proxy data. | Climate change |
| Psychographics | A more sophisticated form of demographics that includes information about the psychological and sociological characteristics of media consumers such as attitudes, values, emotional responses and ideological beliefs. | Media literacy |
| Radiative forcing | The change in energy flux (expressed in Watts/square meter) at the tropopause or top of the atmosphere due to a change in a climate driver (such as changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations). | Climate change |
| Range shift | Change in the total areal extent of a species or the geographic limits within which a species can be found. Related terms: Range shifts | Climate change |
| Rapid-Onset Event | Event such as cyclones and floods which take place in days or weeks (in contrast to slow-onset climate changes that occur over long periods of time). | Climate change |
| Refugee | According to the 1951 Geneva Convention, a refugee is a person who, “owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” | Global education |
| Representation | The process by which a constructed media text stands for, symbolises, describes or represents people, places, events or ideas that are real and have an existence outside the text. | Media literacy |
| Resilience | A capability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from significant multi-hazard threats with minimum damage to social well-being, the economy, and the environment. | Climate change |
| Risk | Potential for consequences where something of value is at stake and where the outcome is uncertain, recognizing the diversity of values. Risk is often represented as probability or likelihood of occurrence of hazardous events or trends multiplied by the impacts if these events or trends occur. The term risk is often used to refer to the potential, when the outcome is uncertain, for adverse consequences on lives, livelihoods, health, ecosystems and species, economic, social and cultural assets, services (including environmental services) and infrastructure. | Climate change |
| Risk assessment | Studies that estimate the likelihood of specific sets of events occurring and their potential positive or negative consequences. | Climate change |
| Risk management | Planning to manage the effects of climate change to increase positive impacts and decrease negative impacts. | Climate change |
| Risk perception | The psychological and emotional factors that affect people’s behavior and beliefs about potential negative hazards or consequences. | Climate change |
| Risk-based framing | Planning based on the pros and cons of a given set of possibilities; includes assessment of a risk in terms of the likelihood of its occurrence and the magnitude of the impact associated with the risk. | Climate change |
| Saltwater intrusion | Saltwater intrusion is when ocean saltwater mixes underground with fresh groundwater along the coast, which can impair fresh water for drinking or irrigation. Excessive groundwater pumping and sea level rise can both contribute to saltwater intrusion. | Climate change |
| Scenario | Sets of assumptions used to help understand potential future conditions such as population growth, land use, and sea level rise. Scenarios are neither predictions nor forecasts. Scenarios are commonly used for planning purposes. | Climate change |
| Sea Level Rise | Increases in the height of the sea with respect to a specific point on land. Eustatic sea level rise is an increase in global average sea level brought about by an increase in the volume of the ocean as a result of the melting of land-based glaciers and ice sheets. Steric sea level rise is an increase in the height of the sea induced by changes in water density as a result of the heating of the ocean. Density changes induced by temperature changes only are called thermosteric; density changes induced by salinity changes are called halosteric. | Climate change |
| Sequestration | The uptake (i.e., the addition of a substance of concern to a reservoir) of carbon containing substances, in particular carbon dioxide (CO2), in terrestrial or marine reservoirs. Biological sequestration includes direct removal of CO2 from the atmosphere through land-use change (LUC), afforestation, reforestation, revegetation, carbon storage in landfills and practices that enhance soil carbon in agriculture (cropland management, grazing land management). In parts of the literature, but not in this report, (carbon) sequestration is used to refer to Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage (CCS). | Climate change |
| Sink | A natural or technological process that removes carbon from the atmosphere and stores it. | Climate change |
| Slow-Onset Climate Change | Changes in climate parameters—such as temperature, precipitation, and associated impacts, such as water availability and crop production declines—that occur over long periods of time (in contrast to rapid-onset climate hazards, such as cyclones and floods, which take place in days or weeks). | Climate change |
| Stereotypes | A form of media representation by which instantly recognized characteristics are used to label members of social or cultural groups. | Media literacy |
| Storm surge | Storm surge is a rise in ocean water due to an approaching storm. Its height can vary depending on factors like storm strength, ocean floor depth, and how the storm approaches. | Climate change |
| Stratification | The layering of water by temperature and density that can occur in lakes or other bodes of water, often seasonally. | Climate change |
| Stressor | Something that has an effect on people and on natural, managed, and socioeconomic systems. Multiple stressors can have compounded effects, such as when economic or market stress combines with drought to negatively impact farmers. | Climate change |
| Subtext | Indirect meaning contained in a media message. | Media literacy |
| Sustainability | The concept of sustainability was first introduced in 1987, when the United Nations defined sustainable development – since then known simply as sustainability – as development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. In other words, sustainable development means, for example, that we do not use up all the raw materials that are in limited supply or irreversibly pollute our waters. | Global education |
| Sustainable development | Human well-being can only be built upon three pillars of development: society, environment and economy. We cannot neglect any of them if we want to function sustainably. It remains a challenge for humanity at large as well as for every individual. | Global education |
| Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) | World leaders committed to end poverty, tackle climate change and fight injustice at a historic UN summit in New York in September 2015. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development offers a better future for the planet as a whole and for billions of people around the world. | Global education |
| Sustainable Livelihood | Livelihood that endures over time and is resilient to the impacts of various types of shocks including climatic and economic. | Climate change |
| Synergy | The combination of two separate media texts or products that share similar characteristics so that one helps market the other. | Media literacy |
| Target audience | The person or group that a media message is meant to reach. | Media literacy |
| Technology | The machinery, tools and materials required to produce a media text. In media literacy terms, technology greatly impacts upon the construction and connotation of a text. | Media literacy |
| Temperature | The expected temperature in degrees, valid for the indicated hour. Global temperature is an average of air temperature recordings from weather stations on land and sea as well as some satellite measurements. Extreme temperature events (i.e. maximum, minimum) may have short-term durations of a few days with temperature increases of over 5°C above the normal temperatures. | Climate change |
| Text | The individual results of any media production (a newspaper article, song, music video, podcast, etc.). | Media literacy |
| Tipping Element | Subsystems of the Earth system that are at least subcontinental in scale and can be switched—under certain circumstances—into a qualitatively different state by small perturbations. | Climate change |
| Tipping Point | A level of change in system properties beyond which a system reorganizes, often abruptly, and does not return to the initial state even if the drivers of the change are abated. For the climate system, it refers to a critical threshold when global or regional climate changes from one stable state to another stable state. The tipping point event may be irreversible. | Climate change |
| Traditional knowledge | Knowledge, practices and beliefs that have been handed down through generations. | Climate change |
| Transformation Pathway | The trajectory taken over time to meet different goals for greenhouse gas emissions, atmospheric concentrations, or global mean surface temperature change that implies a set of economic, technological and behavioral changes. This can encompass changes in the way energy and infrastructure are used and produced, natural resources are managed, and institutions are set up and, in the pace, and direction of technological change. | Climate change |
| Transparency | The quality of a media text by which it appears to be natural rather than constructed. | Media literacy |
| Transpiration | The evaporation of water through plant leaves. | Climate change |
| Uncertainty | An expression of the degree to which future climate is unknown. Uncertainty about the future climate arises from the complexity of the climate system and the ability of models to represent it, as well as the inability to predict the decisions that society will make. There is also uncertainty about how climate change, in combination with other stressors, will affect people and natural systems. | Climate change |
| Urban heat island effect | The tendency for higher air temperatures to persist in urban areas as a result of heat absorbed and emitted by buildings and asphalt, tending to make cities warmer than the surrounding countryside. Related terms: Heat island | Climate change |
| Virtual | Something which is a representation rather than the real thing. | Media literacy |
| Visual literacy | The ability to analyze, evaluate, and interpret visual elements. | Media literacy |
| Vulnerability | The propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected. Vulnerability encompasses a variety of concepts and elements including sensitivity or susceptibility to harm and lack of capacity to cope and adapt. | Climate change |
| Vulnerability assessment | An analysis of the degree to which a system is susceptible to or unable to cope with the adverse effects of climate change. Related terms: Vulnerability analysis | Climate change |
| Water security | Reliable availability of water in sufficient quantity and quality to sustain human health, livelihoods, and the environment. | Climate change |
| Water stress | Water stress occurs when demand for water by people and ecosystems exceeds available supply. | Climate change |
| Word-of-mouth | Informal way in which media products become known by audiences. | Media literacy |
| World Wide Web | The World Wide Web is the network of pages of images, texts and sounds on the Internet which can be viewed using browser software. | Media literacy |
