Glossary of Terms




refers to the adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates barn or exploits beneficial opportunities

refers to the ability of ecological, social or economic systems to adjust to climate change including climate variability and extremes, to moderate or offset potential damages and to take advantage of associated opportunities with changes in climate or to cope with the consequences thereof

refer to causes resulting from human activities or produced by human beings

refers to a change in climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period typically decades or longer, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity

refers to resources that have been allocated or may be utilized towards the climate change adaptation and mitigation requirements of the country and its vulnerable communities

refers to the product of climate and related hazards working over the vulnerability of human and natural ecosystems

refers to the variations in the average state and in other statistics of the climate on all temporal and spatial scales beyond that of individual weather events

refers to a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts which exceed the ability of the affected community or society to cope using its own resources

refers to the systematic process of using administrative directives, organizations, and operational skills and capacities to implement strategies, policies and improved coping capacities in order to lessen the adverse impacts of hazards and the possibility of disaster. Prospective Disaster Risk Reduction and Management refers to risk reduction and management activities that address and seek to avoid the development of new or increased disaster risks, especially if risk reduction policies are not put in place

refers to the strategy for making the concerns and experiences of women as well as those of men an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies and programs in all political, economic, environmental or ecological and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. It is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies, or programs in all areas and at all levels

refers to the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s near-surface air and oceans that is associated with the increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

refers to the process by which the absorption of infrared radiation by the atmosphere warms the Earth

refers to constituents of the atmosphere that contribute to the greenhouse effect including, but not limited to, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride

refers to the integration of policies and measures that address climate change into development planning and sectoral decision-making

in the context of climate change, refers to human intervention to reduce anthropogenic emissions sources and enhance removals by sinks of all GHG, including- ozone-depleting substances and their substitutes

shall refer to the scale of GHG reductions that could be made, relative to emission baselines, for a given level of carbon price (expressed in cost per unit of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions avoided or reduced)

refers to an increase in sea level which may be influenced by factors like global warming through expansion of sea water as the oceans warm and melting of ice over land and local factors such as land subsidence

refers to the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extreme climate events. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity