Glossary
Agricultural assets: The volume of stored inputs and production (seeds, fertilizer, feed, stored crops and livestock produce, harvested fish, stored wood, etc.) as well as machinery and equipment used in crop and livestock farming, forestry, and fisheries and aquaculture. It encompasses a wide array of items, including but not limited to: tractors, balers, combine harvesters, threshers, fertilizer distributors, ploughs, root or tuber harvesting machines, seeders, soil machinery, irrigation facilities, tillage implements, track-laying tractors, milking machines, dairy machines, specialized wheeled equipment, portable chainsaws, fishing vessels, fishing gear, aquaculture feeders, pumps, aerators and support vessels for aquaculture.
Agricultural production loss: Declines in the volume of crop, livestock (and also fisheries and aquaculture and forestry) production resulting from a disaster, as compared to pre-disaster expectations.
Agrifood systems: Systems that encompass the primary production of food and non-food agricultural products, as well as in food storage, aggregation, post-harvest handling, transportation, processing, distribution, marketing, disposal and consumption. Within agrifood systems, food systems comprise all food products that originate from crop and livestock production, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, and from other sources such as synthetic biology, that are intended for human consumption.
Anthropogenic climate forcings: Short for human-induced forcings that influence the climate system’s internal dynamics. Anthropogenic forcings include emissions of greenhouse gases, aerosols, ozone-depleting substances and land-use change.139
Attribution: The process of evaluating the relative contributions of multiple causal factors to a change or event with an assessment of confidence.139
Biological hazards: Hazards of organic origin or conveyed by biological vectors, including pathogenic microorganisms, toxins and bioactive substances. Examples include bacteria, viruses or parasites, as well as venomous wildlife and insects, poisonous plants and mosquitoes carrying disease-causing agents.
Climate: Climate is usually defined as the average weather, but it is more rigorously defined as 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.139
Climate change: Climate change refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or the variability of its properties that persist for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings such as modulations of the solar cycles, volcanic eruptions and persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use.139 In its Article 1, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change defines climate change as “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.”
Climate change adaptation: In human systems, adaptation seeks to moderate or avoid harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In some natural systems, human intervention may facilitate adjustment to the expected climate and its effects.139
Climate resilience: The capacity of social, economic and environmental systems to cope with current or expected climate variability and changing average climate conditions, responding or reorganizing in ways that maintain their essential function, identity and structure, while also maintaining the capacity for adaptation, learning and transformation.139
Climate variability: Variations in the mean state and other statistics (standard deviations, the occurrence of extremes, etc.) of the climate on 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).
Climatological disasters: A disaster caused by long-lived, meso- to macro-scale atmospheric processes ranging from intraseasonal to multidecadal climate variability.1
Coping capacity/capacity to cope: The ability of people, organizations and systems, using available skills and resources, to manage adverse conditions, risk or disasters. The capacity to cope requires continuing awareness, resources and good management, both in normal times as well as during disasters or adverse conditions. Coping capacities contribute to the reduction of disaster risks.1
Damage: The monetary value of the total or partial destruction of physical assets and infrastructure in disaster affected areas, expressed as replacement and/or repair costs. In agriculture, damage is considered in relation to standing crops, farm machinery, irrigation systems, livestock shelters, fishing vessels, pens and ponds, etc.1
Disaster: A serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society at any scale due to hazardous events interacting with conditions of exposure, vulnerability and capacity, leading to one or more of the following: human, material, economic and environmental loss and impacts.1
Disaster risk: The potential loss of life, injury, or destroyed or damaged assets which could occur to a system, society or a community in a specific period, determined probabilistically as a function of hazard, exposure, vulnerability and capacity. The definition of disaster risk reflects the concept of hazardous events and disasters as the outcome of continuously present conditions of risk.1
Disaster risk reduction: The policy objective of disaster risk management. DRR strategies and plans are designed with the objective of preventing the emergence of new disaster risks, reducing existing risks and effectively managing any remaining risks. These efforts collectively enhance resilience and align with the overarching aim of promoting sustainable development.1
Displacement: Situations where people are forced or obliged to leave their homes or places of habitual residence due to a disaster or to avoid the impact of an immediate and foreseeable natural hazard. This displacement occurs because individuals who are exposed to a natural hazard are in a situation where they are exceptionally vulnerable and lack the resilience necessary to withstand the impacts of that hazard. It is the effects of natural hazards, including the adverse impacts of climate change, that may overwhelm the resilience or adaptive capacity of an affected community or society, thus leading to a disaster that potentially results in displacement. Disaster displacement may take the form of spontaneous flight, an evacuation ordered or enforced by authorities, or an involuntary planned relocation process. This displacement can take place within a single country, referred to as internal displacement, or it can extend across international borders, known as cross-border disaster displacement.266
Early-warning system: An integrated system of hazard monitoring, forecasting and prediction, disaster risk assessment, communication and preparedness activities, systems and processes that enable individuals, communities, governments, businesses and others to take timely action to reduce the effects of disaster in advance of hazardous events.1
Extreme event (extreme weather event or climate extreme event): An event that is rare at a particular place and time of year. Definitions of rare vary, but the occurrence of an extreme weather event would be at a value of a weather or climate of weather variable above or below a threshold value near the upper or lower ends of the range of observed values of the variable. By definition, the characteristics of extreme weather may vary from place to place. When a pattern of extreme weather persists for a season or longer, it may be classified as an extreme climate event, especially if it yields an average or total that is itself extreme (e.g. drought or heavy rainfall over a season).139
Food chain crises: Threats to the human food chain such as transboundary plant, forest, animal, aquatic and zoonotic pests and diseases, food safety events, radiological and nuclear emergencies, dam failures, industrial pollution, oil spills, etc. These have the potential to significantly affect food security, livelihoods, human health, national economies and global markets.268
Food insecurity: A situation that exists when people lack secure access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life. It may be caused by the unavailability of food, insufficient purchasing power, inappropriate distribution or inadequate use of food at the household level. Food insecurity, poor conditions of health and sanitation, and inappropriate care and feeding practices are the major causes of poor nutritional status. Food insecurity may be chronic, seasonal or transitory.267
Food security: A situation that exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. Based on this definition, four food security dimensions can be identified: food availability, economic and physical access to food, food utilization and stability over time.268
Geophysical disasters: Disasters that originate from the Earth’s internal processes, such as earthquakes, volcanic activity and emissions, and related geophysical processes such as mass movements, landslides, rockslides, surface collapses, and debris or mud flows. Hydrological and meteorological factors are important to some of these processes. Tsunamis are difficult to categorize because they are triggered by undersea earthquakes and other geological events, but they essentially become an oceanic process that is manifested as a coastal water-related hazard.1
Hazard: A process, phenomenon or human activity that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation. Hazards may be natural, anthropogenic or socionatural in origin. Natural hazards are predominantly associated with natural processes and phenomena.1
Hunger: An uncomfortable or painful physical sensation caused by insufficient consumption of dietary energy.268
Hydrological disasters: Disasters caused by the occurrence, movement, and distribution of surface and subsurface freshwater and saltwater.1
Loss: The change in economic flows occurring due to a disaster. In agriculture, loss may include declines in crop production, decline in income from livestock products, increased input prices, reduced overall agricultural revenues and higher operational costs and increased unexpected expenditures to meet immediate needs in the aftermath of a disaster.1
Loss and Damage, and losses and damage: The term Loss and Damage (capitalized) refers to political debate under the UNFCCC following the establishment of the Warsaw Mechanism on Loss and Damage in 2013, which is to “address loss and damage associated with impacts of climate change, including extreme events and slow onset events, in developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change.” Losses and damage (lowercase) refer broadly to harm from (observed) impacts and (projected) risks and can be economic or non-economic. In this report, the term loss and damage refers to the definition of damage and losses as described individually in this glossary.5
Meteorological disasters: Events caused by short-lived and/or small- to meso-scale atmospheric processes (in the spectrum from minutes to days).1
Micronutrients: Vitamins, minerals and other substances that are required by the body in very small but specific amounts. Micronutrients are measured in milligrams or micrograms.268
Migration: The movement of a person or a group of people, either across an international border or within a state. It is a population movement, encompassing any kind of movement of people, whatever its length, composition and causes. It includes migration of refugees, displaced persons, economic migrants and persons moving for other purposes, including family reunification.269
Mitigation (of disaster risk and disaster): The efforts aimed at reducing the potential adverse impacts of a hazardous event, including those caused by human activities. This reduction is achieved through actions that target the reduction of hazard, exposure and vulnerability.1
Preparedness: The knowledge and capacities developed by governments, response and recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to and recover from the impacts of a likely, imminent or current disaster.1
Prevention: Activities and measures to avoid existing and new disaster risks. Disaster prevention expresses the concept and intention to completely avoid potential adverse impacts of hazardous events.1
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 socioeconomic and technological developments that may or may not be realized.5
Recovery: Restoring or improving the livelihoods and health, as well as economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets, systems and activities of a disaster-affected community or society, aligning to the principles of sustainable development and “build back better” to avoid or reduce future disaster risk.1
Rehabilitation: The restoration of basic services and facilities for the functioning of a community or a society affected by a disaster.1
Resilience: The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt to, transform and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions through risk management.1
Residual risk: The disaster risk that remains even when effective disaster risk reduction measures are in place, and for which emergency response and recovery capacities must be maintained. The presence of residual risk implies a continuing need to develop and support effective capacities for emergency services, preparedness, response and recovery, together with socioeconomic policies such as safety nets and risk transfer mechanisms, as part of a holistic approach.1
Severe food insecurity: The level of severity of food insecurity at which people have likely run out of food, experienced hunger and, at the most extreme, gone for days without eating, putting their health and wellbeing at grave risk, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale.268
Slow-onset disaster: A disaster that emerges gradually over time. Slow-onset disasters could be associated with drought, desertification, sea-level rise, epidemic diseases, etc.1
Societal hazard: Hazards brought about entirely or predominantly by human activities and choices, that have the potential to endanger exposed populations and environments. They are derived from sociopolitical, economic activity, cultural activity, human mobility and the use of technology, but also by societal behaviour – either intentional or unintentional.3
Sudden-onset disaster: A disaster triggered by a hazardous event that emerges quickly or unexpectedly. Sudden-onset disasters could be associated with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flash floods, chemical explosions, critical infrastructure failures, transport accidents, etc.1
Vulnerability: The conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes that increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets or systems to the impacts of hazards.1
