Glossary

Tuesday, 28 June 2011 07:53 Last Updated on Friday, 04 May 2012 13:30

Glossary of Climate Change terms.

Abatement: Reduction in the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions

ACF: - See Australian Conservation Foundation

Additionality: Projects registered as carbon reduction projects under the Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation Mechanism must cause a drop in emissions further to those which would have occurred in the absence of these mechanisms

Afforestation: Establishing and growing forests to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere on land which has not been forested in recent history. (cf. Reforestation)

Aerosols: Solid or liquid particles suspended within the atmosphere (see sulfate aerosols and black carbon aerosols). Aerosols have a net cooling effect, reducing solar radiation (global dimming) and increasing cloud cover. The term has also come to be associated, erroneously, with the propellant used in ―aerosol sprays.

Albedo: Refers to the ratio of light from the sun that is reflected by the Earth’s surface to the light received by it. Unreflected light is converted to infrared radiation (i.e., heat), which causes atmospheric warming (see ―radiative forcing‖). Thus, surfaces with a high albedo (e.g., snow and ice) generally contribute to cooling, whereas surfaces with a low albedo (e.g., forests) generally contribute to warming. Changes in land use that significantly alter the characteristics of land surfaces can therefore influence the climate through changes in albedo.

Albedo flip: Rapid change in climate occurring for example when large areas of ice sheets are lost as a result of warming.

Algae: Unicellular or multicellular photosynthetic organisms formerly classified as plants. Important component of oceanic phytoplankton, accounting for half of all photosynthetic activity on Earth. Phytoplankton are responsible for much of the oxygen present in the Earth's atmosphere – half of the total amount produced by all plant life.

Anthropogenic global warming: (AGW) Global warming with the presumption of human influence.

Amazon: see Rainforest

Annex I Countries: The 40 countries plus the European Economic Community listed in Annex I of the UNFCCC that agreed to try to limit their GHG emissions. They are developed countries.

Antarctica: Earth's southernmost and fifth largest continent, underlying the South Pole. The East and West Antarctic ice sheets contain most of the world’s ice.

Assigned Amount: The tonnes of greenhouse gases, in CO² equivalents, that a country is allowed to emit during a commitment period (the first period is 2008-2012)

Australian Conservation Foundation: Non-profit, community-based environmental organisation - est. 1963. Focused on advocacy, policy research and community outreach. In the late 1990s, ACF undertook extensive world-wide research which resulted in the 2000 publication of Natural Advantage: A Blueprint for a Sustainable Australia http://www.acfonline.org.au

Biochar: is charcoal created by incomplete combustion of biomass, and differs from charcoal only in the sense that its primary use is not for fuel, but for biosequestration or atmospheric carbon capture and storage.

Biodiesel: Vegetable oil- or animal fat-based diesel fuel.

Biodiversity: The variety of organisms found within a specified geographic region.

Biofuel: Ethanol, methanol, biodiesel, manufactured from biomass. Proposed as a sustainable fuel source because the emissions are part of the carbon cycle. See also Palm Oil

Biomass: The total dry organic matter or stored energy content of living organisms. Biomass can be used for fuel directly by burning it (e.g. wood), indirectly by fermentation to an alcohol (e.g. sugar) or extraction of combustible oils (e.g. soybeans).

Black Carbon Aerosols: Particles of carbon in the atmosphere produced by inefficient combustion of fossil fuels or biomass. Black carbon aerosols absorb light from the sun, shading and cooling the Earth’s surface, but contribute to significant warming of the atmosphere. See Radiative Forcing.

Brundtland Commission: Formally the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), known by the name of its Chair Gro Harlem Brundtland, was convened by the United Nations in 1983. The Report of the Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future, was published by Oxford University Press in 1987

“Business as usual”: Dangerous inaction on climate change based on the false assumption by business, governments and individuals that things will go on as they always have, and that the actions called for are unnecessary, impractical, unaffordable, or all three.

BZE - Beyond Zero Emissions: Victorian climate action group; authors of the The Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Stationary Energy Plan. http://www.beyondzeroemissions.org/

CANA - Climate Action Network Australia: Formed in 1998 to be the Australian branch of CAN Internatonal, is an alliance of over 65 regional, state and national environmental, health, community development, and research groups throughout Australia. http://www.cana.net.au/

Cap and Trade: See Emissions Cap; Emissions Trading Carbon: Chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. Basis of all known organiclife, and the pathways of the carbon cycle in the environment.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS): Alternatively referred to as carbon capture and sequestration, is a means of mitigating the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to globalwarming, based on capturing carbon dioxide from large point sources such as fossil fuel power plants, and storing it in such a way that it does not enter the atmosphere. It can also be used to describe the scrubbing of CO² from the atmosphere as a geoengineering technique.. Projects include capture in forests, land conservation, soil conservation and land use, waste CO2 recovery and injection into deep wells.

Carbon credit: Credits represent the right to emit a specific amount of greenhouse gases. Credits can be exchanged between businesses or bought and sold in the international market at the current market price.

Carbon cycle: The biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged between the earth, ocean, and atmosphere. One of the most important cycles of the earth, allowing for carbon to be recycled and reused throughout the biosphere and all of its organisms.

Carbon dioxide: Chemical formula CO² . A colourless, odourless, non-poisonous trace gas present in the Earth's atmosphere at a low concentration. It is a major component of the carbon cycle and acts as a greenhouse gas. Currently comprising (2010) 0.039% of the earth’s atmosphere (or 391 parts per million, ie. 110 ppm above the pre-industrial average).

Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO²e): Used to evaluate the impacts of releasing (or avoiding the release of) different greenhouse gases. The emissions of a gas, by weight, multiplied by its "global warming potential." CO² has been assigned a 100-year GWP of 1 (i.e., the warming effects over a 100-year time frame relative to other gases).

Carbon Dioxide Fertilization: The enhancement of the growth of plants as a result of increased atmospheric CO² concentration. Depending on their mechanism of photosynthesis, certain types of plants are more sensitive to changes in atmospheric CO² concentration

Carbon offset: A mechanism for individuals and businesses to neutralize rather than actually reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, eg., by planting trees, or by purchasing or trading the right to claim someone else's reductions as their own.

Carbon price: A price on greenhouse gas emissions to create a disincentive for their release (and incentive to capture or avoid them). A carbon price can be imposed through a carbon tax, an emissions trading scheme (which fixes emission level and allows price to vary) or a variety of other mechanisms.

Carbon Sequestration: see Carbon Capture and Storage

Carbon Sink: Any natural or artificial process or reservoir that removes and stores carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases or aerosols from the atmosphere. Forests are the most common form of sink, as well as soils, peat, permafrost, ocean water and carbonate deposits in the deep ocean.

Carbon Tax: see Carbon Price Carbon trading: see Emissions Trading CCN: See Community Climate Network CFC: See Chlorofluorocarbons.3

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs): CFCs are organic compounds that contain carbon, chlorine, and fluorine atoms. They are widely used as coolants in refrigeration and air conditioners, as solvents in cleaners, and as propellants in aerosols. CFCs are the main cause of stratospheric ozone depletion. One kilogram of the most commonly used CFCs may have a direct effect on climate thousands of times greater than that of one kilogram of CO². However, because CFCs also destroy ozone - itself a greenhouse gas - the actual effect on the climate is unclear.

Clean Development Mechanism: One of the three market mechanisms established by the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM is designed to promote sustainable development in developing countries and assist Annex I Parties in meeting their greenhouse gas emissions reduction commitments. It enables industrialized countries to invest in emission reduction projects in developing countries and to receive credits for reductions achieved.

Climate: The average and variations of weather in a region over long periods of time.

Climate adaptation: Refers to the ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes) to moderate potential damage, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences. Adaptation is not altogether passive, rather it is an active adjustment in response to new stimuli. However, while our present age must plan to adapt to the consequences of global warming,.there are other important proactive options. See Mitigation

Climate Change: Refers to changes in long-term trends in the average climate, such as changes in average temperatures or atmospheric composition whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity. Note: UNFCCC defines "climate change" as anthropogenic.

Climate Sensitivity: How responsive the temperature of the climate system is to a change in radiative forcing. The average global air surface temperature change resulting from a doubling of pre-industrial atmospheric CO² concentrations. The IPCC estimates climate sensitivity at 1.5-4.5°C (2.7-8.1oF).

Club of Rome: Global think tank that deals with a variety of international political issues, formed when a small international group of people from the fields of academia, civil society, diplomacy, and industry, met in 1968 at a villa in Rome, Italy. Famed for its 1972 report The Limits to Growth. Since 1 July 2008, the organization has its headquarters in Winterthur, Switzerland. http://www.clubofrome.org/eng/home/

Commitment Period: The period under the Kyoto Protocol during which Annex I Parties' GHG emissions, averaged over the period, must be within their emission targets. The first commitment period runs from January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2012.

Commons: In old English law, communal land shared for the benefit of all. Global commons refers to resources essential to survival, that no one person or nation should control.

Conference of the Parties (COP): The supreme decision-making body comprised of the parties that have ratified the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It meets on an annual basis. As of February 2010, it is comprised of 194 countries.

Community Climate Network (CCN): Organisation comprising over 100 Climate Action Groups throughout Australia. Established as process of Australian Climate Action Summit 2010. http://www.climatesummit.org.au/

Cooling: See Aerosols CSIRO: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation: The national government body for scientific research in Australia. http://www.csiro.au

Denialism: Psychological process of refusing to recognise that harmful events (such as climate change ) are actually happening. A defence mechanism in which the more dramatic the events, the stronger the denial.

Desertification: The degradation of land in arid and dry sub-humid areas, resulting primarily from natural activities and influenced by climatic variations

Dewpoint: The temperature at which water vapor condenses into water. Related to humidity. The higher the dewpoint, the more humid the weather.

Dimethyl sulfide: Gas released when ocean algae absorb carbon dioxide. Transformed into an aerosol contributing to cloud formation.

Ecosystem: A community of living organisms in a particular area together with the interactions between them and with the environment.

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO): Extensive warming of the central and eastern Pacific in which oceanic and atmospheric circulation lead to a major shift in weather patterns. In Australia, and more so for eastern Australia, El Niño events are associated with an increased probability of drier conditions.

Emissions Cap: A mandated restraint in a scheduled timeframe that puts a ―ceiling‖ on the total amount of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions that can be released into the atmosphere. This can be measured as gross emissions or as net emissions (emissions minus gases that are sequestered).

Emissions Trading: A market mechanism that allows emitters (countries, companies or facilities) to buy emissions from or sell emissions to other emitters. Sets a total emissions target for an industry or region which is decreased over time. Emitters buy permits, and as the number of permits is reduced, the price increases, resulting in incentive to switch to low pollution technology. Emissions trading is expected to bring down the costs of meeting emission targets by allowing those who can achieve reductions less expensively to sell excess reductions (permits) to those for whom achieving reductions is more costly.

Entry Into Force: The point at which international climate change agreements become binding. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has entered into force. In order for the Kyoto Protocol to do so as well, 55 Parties to the Convention must ratify (approve, accept, or accede to) the Protocol, including Annex I Parties accounting for 55 percent of that group's carbon dioxide emissions in 1990. As of June 2003, 110 countries had ratified the Protocol, representing 43.9 percent of Annex I emissions.

Extreme weather event: An event that is rare within its statistical reference distribution at a particular place. Definitions of "rare" vary, but an extreme weather event would normally be as rare as or rarer than the 10th or 90th percentile. By definition, the characteristics of what is called extreme weather may vary from place to place. An extreme climate event is an average of a number of weather events over a certain period of time, an average which is itself extreme (eg, rainfall over a season).

Feedback: see Negative Feedback; Positive Feedback Forcing: see Radiative Forcing

Fossil fuels: Naturally occurring complex mixtures of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, and other organic compounds, found within the top layer of the Earth's crust. Examples include coal, oil (petroleum), and methane. Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form, and fossil fuel reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being formed.

Friends of the Earth – FoE: World's largest grassroots network of environmental organisations in 77 countries. Founded in 1969 in the United States by David Brower after his split with the Sierra Club based in part on their reluctance to challenge the construction of nuclear power plants.

Gaia; Gaia Hypothesis: See Lovelock, James.

Global Carbon Project (GCP): Organisation established in 2001 with aim to fully understand the carbon cycle, and to quantify global carbon emissions and their causes. Works collaboratively with the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme, the World Climate Programme, the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change and Diversitas, under the Earth System Science Partnership.

Global dimming: The observed decrease in surface insolation (incoming solar radiation), that may have recently reversed.

Global Warming: Progressive average increase in the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth's surface and in the troposphere. In common usage, "global warming" often refers to the warming that can occur as a result of increased emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities.

Global Warming Potential (GWP): An index that compares the relative potential of the 6 greenhouse gases to contribute to global warming. The impact of all other greenhouse gases are compared with carbon dioxide (CO²) i.e Carbon dioxide has a GWP of 1, Methane has a GWP of 23. The cumulative warming effect, over a specified time period, of an emission of a mass unit of CO² is assigned the value of 1. Effects of emissions of a mass unit of non-CO² greenhouse gases are estimated as multiples.

Greenhouse Effect: Trapping and build-up of heat in the atmosphere (troposphere) near the Earth’s surface keeps the Earth's temperature about 33ºC warmer than it would be otherwise. Heat flowing back toward space from the Earth's surface is absorbed by water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, and several other gases in the atmosphere and then reradiated back toward the Earth’s surface. If the atmospheric concentrations of these greenhouse gases rise, the average temperature of the lower atmosphere will gradually increase. See Greenhouse Gas

Greenhouse gas (GHG): Gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and man-made, that absorb and re-emit radiation from the sun at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of thermal infrared radiation emitted by the Earth's surface, the atmosphere itself, and by clouds. Greenhouse gases are essential to maintaining a liveable temperature on Earth. Natural sources come from the Earth's ecosystems, and anthropogenic sources include industrial, transportation, residential, commercial and agricultural processes. In order, Earth's most abundant greenhouse gases are: water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, and CFCs. By effect, the most important greenhouse gases are: water vapor, which causes about 36-70% of the greenhouse effect on Earth; carbon dioxide, which causes 9-26%; methane, which causes 4-9%; and ozone, which causes 3-7%.

Gulf Stream: A powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, exits through the Strait of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

HFC: See Hydrofluorocarbons

Hadley Centre: The Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Change — named in honour of George Hadley — is part of, and based at the headquarters of the Met Office in Exeter. The Hadley Centre provides a focus in the United Kingdom for the scientific issues associated with climate change. www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/science/hadleycentre

Hansen, James E: (born March 29, 1941) heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City. Best known for his research in the field of climatology, his testimony on climate change to congressional committees in 1988 that helped raise broad awareness of global warming, and his advocacy of action to limit the impacts of climate change.

Hockey stick controversy: - a dispute over the reconstructed estimates of Northern Hemisphere mean temperature changes over the past millennium, frequently referred to as the MBH98 reconstruction.

Holocene: - Geological period, which began approximately 11,550 calendar years BP (about 9600 BC) after the last glacial retreat. Includes the whole period of human civilisation.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs): HFCs are synthetic industrial gases, primarily used in refrigeration and semi-conductor manufacturing as commercial substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). There are no natural sources of HFCs. The atmospheric lifetime of HFCs is decades to centuries , and they have 100-year "global warming potentials" thousands of times that of CO2, depending on the gas. HFCs are among the six greenhouse gases to be curbed under the Kyoto Protocol.

Ice sheet: A mass of land ice which is sufficiently deep to cover most of the underlying bedrock topography. There are only two large ice sheets in the modern world, on Greenlandand Antarctica, the Antarctic ice sheet being divided into East and West by the Transantarctic Mountains.

Indirect aerosol effect: Aerosols may lead to an indirect radiative forcing of the climate system through acting as condensation nuclei or modifying the optical properties and lifetime of clouds.

Infrared Radiation: Radiation emitted by the Earth's surface, the atmosphere and the clouds. Infrared radiation has a distinctive range of wavelengths ("spectrum") longer than the wavelength of the red colour in the visible part of the spectrum. Sometimes called terrestrial, long-wave, or heat radiation.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): A global scientific body established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environment Programme. The IPCC is responsible for providing the scientific and technical foundation for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC), primarily through the publication of periodic assessment reports; see Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007. http://www.ipcc.ch/

IUCN: The International Union for Conservation of Nature: The world's main authority on the conservation status of species. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, founded in 1948, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. http://www.iucnredlist.org/

Joint Implementation: Richer countries have the opportunity to achieve their emission reduction goals, formulated in the Kyoto Protocol, by financing energy saving projects for poorer countries that have also signed the treaty.

Kyoto Protocol: An international agreement adopted in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan. The Protocol sets binding emission targets for developed countries that would reduce their emissions on average 5.2 percent below 1990 levels. The Kyoto Protocol creates three market- based mechanisms that have the potential to help countries reduce the cost of meeting their emissions reduction targets. These mechanisms are Joint Implementation (Article 6), the Clean Development Mechanisms (Article 17).

La Niña: La Niña, sometimes informally called "anti-El Niño", is the opposite of El Niño, and corresponds instead to a lower sea surface temperature by a deviation of at least 0.5 °C, and its effects are often the reverse of those of El Niño. See El Niño

Little Ice Age: A period of cooling from the 16th to the 19th centuries occurring after a warmer era known as the Medieval Warm Period or Medieval Climate Optimum. See also Medieval Warm Period

Lovelock, James CH, CBE, FRS: Independent scientist, environmentalist and futurologist (born 26 July 1919) who lives in Devon, England. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the biosphere is a self-regulating entity with the capacity to keep our planet healthy by controlling the chemical and physical environment.

Medieval Warm Period (MWP) or Medieval Climate Optimum: was a time of warm climate in the North Atlantic region, that may also have been related to other climate events around the world during that time, including in China, New Zealand, and other countries lasting from about AD 950–1250. It was followed by a cooler period in the North Atlantic termed the Little Ice Age. Some refer to the event as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly as this term emphasizes that effects other than temperature were important.

Methane: The simplest hydrocarbon, methane, is a gas (at standard temperature and pressure) with a chemical formula of CH4. A greenhouse gas released by enteric fermentation in livestock, rice production, anaerobic (without oxygen) decomposition of waste in landfills, and fossil fuel extraction. When averaged over 100 years each kg of CH4 warms the earth 23 times as much as the same mass of CO2.

Methane clathrate: A compound in which a large amount of methane is trapped within a crystal structure of water, forming a solid similar to ice. Originally thought to occur only in the outer regions of the Solar System where temperatures are low and water ice is common, significant deposits of methane clathrate have been found in permafrost and under sediments on the ocean floors of Earth. The sudden release of large amounts of natural gas from methane clathrate deposits has been hypothesized as a cause of past and possibly future climate changes.

Millennium Development Goals: A UN global action plan to achieve eight anti-poverty goals and major new commitments for women's and children's health and other initiatives against poverty, hunger and disease. In September 2000, world leaders came together at United Nations Headquarters in New York to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership on a series of time-bound targets - with a deadline of 2015. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/index.shtml

Mitigation: In the context of climate change is any action taken to permanently eliminate or reduce the long-term risk to human life, property, and function from the hazards of climate change. See also Climate adaptation

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): A scientific agency within the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. Since 2001 the organization has hosted the senior staff of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's working group on climate science.

NCC - Nature Conservation Council: Non-profit, non-government organisation representing 120 community environment groups across NSW. Founded in 1955. Works to conserve nature and protect the environment. http://nccnsw.org.au/index.php

Negative Feedback: A process that results in a reduction in the response of a system to an external influence. For example, increased plant productivity in response to global warming would be a negative feedback on warming, because the additional growth would act as a sink for CO², reducing the atmospheric CO² concentration.

Nitrous Oxide (N²O): N²O is among the six greenhouse gases to be curbed under the Kyoto Protocol. N²O is produced by natural processes, but there are also substantial emissions from human activities such as agriculture and fossil fuel combustion. The atmospheric lifetime of N2O is approximately 100 years, and its 100-year GWP is currently estimated to be 296 times that of CO².

Palm Oil: Used to create biodiesel, as either a simply processed palm oil mixed with petrodiesel, or processed through transesterification to create a palm oil methyl ester blend. From 2007, all diesel sold in Malaysia must contain 5% palm oil. Malaysia is emerging as one of the leading biofuel producers with 91 palm oil plants approved and a handful now in operation. Although palm oil is useful for biodiesal the consequences of clearing the forests is devastating for orangutangs.

Photosynthesis: The process by which plants take CO² from the air (or bicarbonate in water) to build carbohydrates, releasing O2 in the process. There are several pathways of photosynthesis with different responses to atmospheric CO² concentrations. See carbon sequestration, carbon dioxide fertilization.

Positive Feedback: A process that results in an amplification of the response of a system to an external influence. For example, increased atmospheric water vapor in response to global warming would be a positive feedback on warming, because water vapor is a GHG.

ppm or ppb: Abbreviations for parts per million and parts per billion, respectively - the units in which concentrations of greenhouse gases are commonly presented. For example, since the pre-industrial era, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have increased from 270 ppm to 390 ppm.

Precautionary Principle: The UNFCCC (Article 3.3) states: Parties should take precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent or minimize the causes of climate change and mitigate its adverse effects. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing such measures taking into account that policies and measures to deal with climate change should be cost-effective so as to ensure global benefits at the lowest possible cost.

Proxy: A variable that can be related to one of interest (e.g. tree rings can be proxies for temperature variations).

Quantified Emission Limitation and Reduction QELRC: Also known as QELRO (Quantified Emission Limitation and Reduction Objective): The quantified commitments for GHG emissions listed in Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol. QELRCs are specified in percentages relative to 1990 emissions.

Radiative Forcing: The term radiative forcing refers to changes in the energy balance of the earth-atmosphere system in response to a change in factors such as greenhouse gases, land-use change, or solar radiation. The climate system inherently attempts to balance incoming (e.g., light) and outgoing (e.g. heat) radiation. Radiative forcing is most commonly measured in units of watts per square meter (W/m²).

Radiative forcing scenario: A plausible representation of the future development of radiative forcing associated, for example, with changes in atmospheric composition or land-use change, or with external factors such as variations in solar activity. Radiative forcing scenarios can be used as input into simplified climate models to compute climate projections.

Radiosondes: Sensors carried aboard weather balloons that have been in continuous use since 1979 for the monitoring of tropospheric temperatures.

Rainforest: Forest characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches). A total of 40 to 75% of all species of the world's habitats are indigenous to the rainforests. Once forest is cleared, without any decomposing plant life the soil is so infertile that it is nearly useless for growing anything.

Ratification: After signing the UNFCCC or the Kyoto Protocol, a country must ratify it, often with the approval of its parliament or other legislature. In the case of the Kyoto Protocol, a Party must deposit its instrument of ratification with the UN Secretary General in New York.

Recycling: Collecting and reprocessing a resource so it can be used again. An example is collecting aluminum cans, melting them down, and using the aluminum to make new cans or other aluminum products

Reforestation: Replanting of forests on lands that have recently been harvested.

Removal unit: A tradable carbon credit or 'Kyoto unit' representing an allowance to emit one metric tonne of greenhouse gases absorbed by a removal or Carbon sink activity in an Annex I country

Renewable Energy: Renewable Resource: Energy derived from the wind, the sun, the tides and other sources that, for all practical purposes, cannot be depleted (unlike fossil fuels, for example).

Reservoir emissions: Greenhouse gases, primarily methane (CH⁴) and carbon dioxide (CO²), that are emitted from the surface of a reservoir, at turbines and spillways, and for tens of kilometers downstream.

Re-use: Re-use is using an item more than once. This includes conventional re-use where the item is used again for the same function, as opposed to the use of disposable products, and new- life re-use where the item is used for a new function. In contrast, recycling is the breaking down of the used item into raw materials which are used to make new items. .

Runaway greenhouse effect: Somewhat ill-defined term, associated with the idea of large irreversible temperature rises.

Sierra Club: Oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California by the well-known conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president. (see also Friends of the Earth)

Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the world's oxygen turnover, often misunderstoodas oxygen production. Wthout the forest cover, these regions would reflect more heat into theatmosphere, warming the rest of the world.

Solar variation: Changes in the amount of radiant energy emitted by the Sun.

Stratosphere: Region of the atmosphere between the troposphere and mesosphere, having a lower boundary of approximately 8 km at the poles to 15 km at the equator and an upper boundary of approximately 50 km.

Sulfate Aerosols: Particulate matter that consists of compounds of sulfur formed by the interaction of sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide with other compounds in the atmosphere. Sulfate aerosols are injected into the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels and the eruption of volcanoes like Mt. Pinatubo. Recent theory suggests that sulfate aerosols may lower the Earth's temperature by reflecting away solar radiation (negative radiative forcing)

Sustainability: The capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans it is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which in turn depends on the maintenance of the natural world and natural resources.

Technology Transfer: The process by which energy-efficient or low emission intensive technologies developed by industrialised nations are made available to less industrialised nations. Technology transfer may occur through the sale of technology by private entities, through government programs, non-profit arrangements, or other means.

Tipping point: (Climatology) The point at which change due to human activity brings about sufficient new processes in nature to make any human reversal of the change impossible.

Tropopause: Atmospheric boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere.

Troposphere: The lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains approximately 75% of the atmosphere's mass and 99% of its water vapor and aerosols.

U.N.E.P - United Nations Environment Programme: Founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972, has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The designated authority of the United Nations system in environmental issues at the global and regional level. http://www.unep.org/

UNFCCC - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: International environmental treaty produced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 to 14 June 1992. The objective of the treaty is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. http://unfccc.int/2860.php

Urban heat island: A metropolitan area which is significantly warmer than its surroundings.

WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature: (formerly World Wildlife Fund) international non- governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formed in1961 in Morges, Switzerland.