All keywords

An occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or skilled artistry. (Source: AMHER)

No definition needed.

The financial facility or system by which goods and services are provided in return for deferred, instead of immediate, payment. (Source: ODE)

The help and support from banks and other financial institutions in providing money or goods without requiring present payment. (Source: ISEP / OED)

An official course of action adopted by a business, financial institution or state to regulate, restrict or increase deferred payment arrangements for goods, services or money. (Source: ODE)

A narrow inlet or bay, especially of the sea. (Source: CED)

Any act done in violation of those duties which an individual owes to the community, and for the breach of which the law has provided that the offender shall make satisfaction to the public. (Source: BLACK)

That body of the law that deals with conduct considered so harmful to society as a whole that it is prohibited by statute, prosecuted and punished by the government. (Source: DUHA)

The rules of law governing the procedure by which crimes are investigated, prosecuted, adjudicated, and punish. (Source: BLACK)

A violation of the law, punishable by the State in criminal proceedings. (Source: WEBSTEa)

The technique, practice or science of handling or controlling situations of acute difficulty, danger or instability; or the total of measures taken to provide a solution for political, economic, environmental or other similar dangers and conflicts. (Source: ISEP)

General term referring to the concentration limit beyond which a substance can cause dangerous effects to living organisms. (Source: RRDA)

The maximum load that a given system can tolerate before failing. (Source: GRAHAWa)

A taxon is Critically Endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria A to E for Critically Endangered, and it is therefore considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. (Source: IUCN web site)

Any large tropical reptile of the family Crocodylidae: order Crocodylia. They have a broad head, tapering snout, massive jaws, and a thick outer covering of bony plates. (Source: CED)

The act or process of yielding produce from farmland, for livestock or human consumption. (Source: RHW / AGP)

The problem of crop protection has changed dramatically since 1945. There is now a whole arsenal of chemicals with which to combat agricultural pests and diseases, but this development has itself many drawbacks. Such sophisticated techniques are available only to a minority of farmers; in most parts of the world the standard of crop protection remains abysmally low. In addition, modern crop protection methods have been criticized for relying too heavily on chemical control. Biological controls, both natural and contrived, have been neglected. In some cases involving misuse of agricultural chemicals, crops must be protected from the very measures intended for their protection. Meanwhile previously localized pests and diseases continue to spread worldwide. (Source: WPR)

An agricultural technique in which, season after season, each field is sown with crop plants in a regular rotation, each crop being repeated at intervals of several years. Crop rotation minimizes the risks of depleting the soil of particular nutrients. In rotation systems, a grain crop is often grown the first year, followed by a leafy-vegetable crop in the second year, and a pasture crop in the third. The last usually contains legumes; such plants can restore nitrogen to the soil. Notwithstanding, high yields tend to depend upon the continued addition of chemical fertilizers to the soil. (Source: GILP96)

Use of chemicals in order to avoid damage of crops by insects or weeds. (Source: WRIGHTa)

Any unusable portion of plant matter left in a field after harvest. (Source: CNI)

A place, often shown by markings, lights, or poles, where a street, railway, etc. may be crossed. (Source: CED)

Bridges and tunnels provided for animals for crossing roads and railways. Railway and road infrastructures represent an hindrance to wildlife migration. (Source: DOBRIS)

A comparatively volatile liquid bitumen composed principally of hydrocarbon, with traces of sulphur, nitrogen or oxygen compounds; can be removed from the earth in a liquid state. (Source: MGH)

Travelling by sea in a liner for pleasure, usually calling at a number of ports. (Source: CED)

A class of arthropod animals having jointed feet and mandibles, two pairs of antennae, and segmented, chitin-encased bodies. (Source: MGH)

A large group of plants, comprising the Thallophyta, Bryophyta and Pteridophyta, the last of which are cryptogams. (Source: ALL)

The formation of crystalline substances from solutions or melts. (Source: MGH)

The branch of science that deals with the geometric description of crystals and their internal arrangement. (Source: MGH)

Plants specially bred or improved by cultivation. (Source: CED)

The practice of growing and nurturing plants outside of their wild habitat (i.e., in gardens, nurseries, arboreta). (Source: DUNSTE)

Any procedure or approach used to prepare land or soil for the growth of new crops, or to promote or improve the growth of existing crops. (Source: RHW / AGP)

Cultivation of land for the production of plant crops. Agricultural land may be employed in an unimproved state with few, if any, management inputs (extensive rangeland), or in an intensively managed state with annual inputs of fertilizer, pest, control treatments, and tillage. (Source: DUNSTE)

Any overall structure or set-up used to organize the activity of preparing land or soil for the growth of new crops, or the activity of promoting or improving the growth of existing crops. (Source: RHW / AGP)

The process whereby the capabilities or possibilities inherent in a people's beliefs, customs, artistic activity and knowledge are brought out or made more effective. (Source: PPP / RHW)

Any building or structure used for programs or activities involving the arts or other endeavors that encourage refinement or development of the mind. (Source: WCD / OED)

The inherited body of beliefs, customs, artistic activity and knowledge that has been transmitted by ancestors. (Source: RHW)

Cultural indicators give information about societies, which may be interesting even when one is not trying to evaluate the cultures of these societies from any normative point of view. Cultural indicators may also have an evaluative purpose involving explicit or implicit normative criteria. (Source: UNESCO)

The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits constituting a distinct complex of tradition of a racial or social group. (Source: WEBSTE)

The aggregate of courses of study provided in a particular school, college, university, adult education program, technical institution or some other educational program. (Source: RHW)

A group pattern of habitual activity usually transmitted across generations and, in some instances, having the force of law. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

Duties charged upon commodities on their importation into, or exportation out of, a country.

A body of rules or orders generally issued by the executive authority of a government to establish and direct the taxes, duties or tariffs payable upon merchandise exported or imported. (Source: BLD)

An official list or schedule setting forth the duties imposed by a government on imported or exported goods. (Source: OED)

The act or process of felling or uprooting standing trees, in order to produce timber products. (Source: TIM)

In plant propagation, young shoots or stems removed for the purpose of growing new plants by vegetatively rooting the cuttings. (Source: DUNSTE)

A salt or ester of cyanic acid containing the radical OCN. (Source: MGH)

Any of a group of compounds containing the CN group and derived from hydrogen cyanide, HCN. (Source: MGH)

Part of the road or a special path for the use of people riding bicycles. (Source: CAMB)

A storm characterized by the converging and rising giratory movement of the wind around a zone of low pressure (the eye) towards which it is violently pulled from a zone of high pressure. Its circulation is counterclockwise round the center in the northern hemisphere, clockwise in the southern hemisphere. (Source: GUNN)

A branch of the biological sciences which deals with the structure, behaviour, growth, and reproduction of cells and the functions and chemistry of cell components. (Source: MGH)

The degree to which an agent possesses a specific destructive action on certain cells or the possession of such action; used particularly in referring to the lysis of cells by immune phenomena and to antineoplastic drugs that selectively kill dividing cells.

A commercial establishment for processing or selling milk and milk products. (Source: AMHER)

Production of food made from milk or milk products. (Source: MGH)

Products derived from milk, such as butter, cheese, lactose, etc. (Source: CED)

Structure constructed across a watercourse or stream channel. (Source: LANDY)

The drawing of water from a reservoir by means of draining pipes located at the bottom of the basin and controlled by a system of sluices which ensure, if necessary, the emptying of the basin in a given period of time in respect of downstream conditions. (Source: MANCOS)

An injury or harm impairing the function or condition of a person or thing. (Source: CED)

The evaluation or determination of losses, harm and injuries to persons, property or the environment. (Source: TOE)

Injury or harm resulting from the planned movement of armed forces or from the tactical exercises simulating war operations that is carried out for training and evaluation purposes. (Source: GT2 / JSS)

A commercial product which provides a guarantee against damage to property in return for premiums paid. (Source: RHW / ISEP)

The aggregate of approaches and measures to ensure that human action or natural phenomena do not cause damage. It implies the formulation and implementation of long-range policies and programmes to eliminate or prevent the damages caused by disasters. (Source: GUNN)

The process of evaluating the scale and probability of harm caused by any hazard to persons, property or the environment. (Source: ISEP / DDP)

Goods or products that are full of hazards or risks when used, transported, etc. (Source: ISEP)

Rules on the handling of articles or substances capable of posing a significant risk to health, safety, or property, and that ordinarily require special attention when being transported. (Source: TOLGARa)

Installations whose functioning involves the possibility of major hazards such as chemical plants, nuclear, coal and oil power production plants, etc. (Source: WPRa)

Type of transport regulated by special safety rules. (Source: RRDA)

The act of collecting and gathering individual facts, statistics or other items of information. (Source: RHW)

The evaluation of digital data, i.e. data represented by a sequence of code characters. (Source: MGH)

A computerized compilation of data, facts and records that is organized for convenient access, management and updating. (Source: WIC)

A medium on which data can be recorded, and which is usually easily transportable, such as cards, tape, paper, or disks. (Source: MGH)

An organization established primarily to acquire, analyze, process, store, retrieve, and disseminate one or more types of data. (Source: MGH)

A taxon is Data Deficient when there is inadequate information to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk of extinction based on its distribution and/or population status. A taxon in this category may be well studied, and its biology well known, but appropriate data on abundance and/or distribution are lacking. Data Deficient is therefore not a category of threat. Listing of taxa in this category indicates that more information is required and acknowledges the possibility that future research will show that threatened classification is appropriate. It is important to make positive use of whatever data are available. In many cases great care should be exercised in choosing between DD and a threatened status. If the range of a taxon is suspected to be relatively circumscribed, and a considerable period of time has elapsed since the last record of the taxon, threatened status may well be justified. (Source: IUCN web site)

A reciprocal transfer of individual facts, statistics or items of information between two or more parties for the purpose of enhancing knowledge of the participants. (Source: RHW)

No definition needed.

Any operation or combination of operations on data, including everything that happens to data from the time they are observed or collected to the time they are destroyed. (Source: MGH)

An assembly of computer hardware, firmware and software configured for the purpose of performing various operations on digital information elements with a minimum of human intervention. (Source: JON)

Policies, procedures or devices designed to maintain the integrity or security of informational elements in storage or in transmission. (Source: ISEP)

The body of specialized procedures and methods used for the preservation, collocation or registration of individual elements of information. (Source: RHW / APD)

Any of several techniques such as radioactive dating, dendrochronology, or varve dating, for establishing the age of rocks, palaeontological or archaeological specimens, etc. (Source: CED)

A persistent organochlorine insecticide, also known as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, that was introduced in the 1940s and used widely because of its persistence (meaning repeated applications were unnecessary), its low toxicity to mammals and its simplicity and cheapness of manufacture. It became dispersed all over the world and, with other organochlorines, had a disruptive effect on species high in food chains, especially on the breeding success of certain predatory birds. DDT is very stable, relatively insoluble in water, but highly soluble in fats. Health effects on humans are not clear, but it is less toxic than related compounds. It is poisonous to other vertebrates, especially fish, and is stored in the fatty tissue of animals as sublethal amounts of the less toxic DDE. Because of its effects on wildlife its use in most countries is now forbidden or strictly limited. (Source: MGH / ALL)

Series of processes by which various types of printing inks are removed from paper fibre pulp during the pre-processing and recycling of recovered paper products. Particularly necessary where high quality and whiteness of the finished product are required. (Source: GRAHAW)

Something owed to someone else. (Source: SCRUZ)

The fees or amount of money necessary to pay interest on an outstanding debt, the principal of maturing serial bonds, and the required contributions to an amortization or sinking fund for term bonds. (Source: EFP)

Sizing or classifying particulate matter by suspension in a fluid (liquid or gas), the larger particulates tending to separate by sinking. (Source: ECHO2)

An isotope formed by the radioactive decay of some other isotope. This newly formed isotope possesses physical and chemical properties that are different from those of its parent isotope, and may also be radioactive. (Source: LEE)

Basic organizational leadership concept and process of shifting and delegating power and authority from a higher level to subordinate levels within the administrative/managerial hierarchy in order to promote independence, responsibility, and quicker decision-making in applying or interpreting policies and procedures to the needs of these levels.

Removal of chlorine from a substance. (Source: MGH)

A unit used to express relative difference on power, usually between acoustic or electric signals, equal to ten times the common logarithm of the ratio of the two level. (Source: AMHER)

The temperate forests comprised of trees that seasonally shed their leaves, located in the east of the USA, in Western Europe from the Alps to Scandinavia, and in the eastern Asia. The hardwood of these forests have been exploited since the 16th century. The trees of deciduous forests usually produce nuts and winged seeds. (Source: WRIGHT)

Tree losing its leaves in autumn and growing new ones in the spring. (Source: CAMB)

Means the exercise of agency authority at any stage of an undertaking where alterations might be made in the undertaking to modify its impact upon historic and cultural properties. (Source: LANDY)

A coordinated assemblage of people, devices or other resources that analyzes, typically, business data and presents it so that users can make business decisions more easily. (Source: WIC)

Administrative Act giving the right to take private property for public use. (Source: BLACKa)

The more or less permanent breakdown of a molecule into simpler molecules or atoms. (Source: MGH)

The removing of chemical, biological, or radiological contamination from, or the neutralizing of it on a person, object, or area. (Source: LANDY)

A declaration of the court announcing the legal consequences of the facts found. (Source: BLACK)

Region of open ocean beyond the continental shelf. (Source: ECHO1)

Fishing in the deepest parts of the sea. (Source: PHC)

The most valuable of the marine mineral resources is petroleum. About 15% of the world's oil is produced offshore, and extraction capabilities are advancing. One of the largest environmental impacts of deep sea mining are discharged sediment plumes which disperse with ocean currents and thus may negatively influence the marine ecosystem. Coal deposits known as extensions of land deposits , are mined under the sea floor in Japan and England. (Source: PARCOR / ERIB)

The disposal of solid waste or sludge by carrying the wastes out to sea, usually in a barge, and dumping into deep water. (Source: WWC)

The common name for 41 species of even-toed ungulates that compose the family Cervidae in the order Artiodactyla; males have antlers. (Source: MGH)

The act or process of protecting citizens or any geographical area by preparing for or by using military means to resist the attack of an enemy. (Source: OED)

1) The drop of foliage from plants caused by herbicides such as Agent Orange, diuron, triazines, all of which interfere with photosynthesis. The use of defoliants, as in Vietnam or in jungle clearance for agriculture, can permanently destroy tropical forests. Once the tree cover is removed, the soil is subjected to erosion and precious nutrients are rapidly leached away. 2) Destroying (an area of jungle, forest, etc.) as by chemical sprays or incendiary bombs, in order to give enemy troops or guerilla forces no place of concealment. (Source: PORT / WEBSTE)

The removal of forest and undergrowth to increase the surface of arable land or to use the timber for construction or industrial purposes. Forest and its undergrowth possess a very high water-retaining capacity, inhibiting runoff of rainwater. (Source: GILP)

The capacity of being decomposed chemically or biologically. (Source: CED)

A type of organic chemical reaction in which a compound is converted into a simpler compound in stages. (Source: ALL2)

The result of the cumulative activities of farmers, households, and industries, all trying to improve their socio-economic well being. These activities tend to be counterproductive for several reasons. People may not completely understand the long-term consequences of their activities on the natural resource base. The most important ways in which human activity is interfering with the global ecosystem are: a) fossil fuel burning which may double the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration by the middle of the next century, as well as further increasing the emissions of sulphur and nitrogen very significantly; b) expanding agriculture and forestry and the associated use of fertilizers (nitrogen and phosphorous) are significantly altering the natural circulation of these nutrients; c) increased exploitation of the freshwater system both for irrigation in agriculture and industry and for waste disposal. (Source: WPR)

The process by which the environment is progressively contaminated, overexploited and destroyed. (Source: RRDA)

Those chemicals resulting from partial decomposition or chemical breakdown of substances. (Source: LEE)

1) Removing grease from wool with chemicals. 2) Removing grease from hides or skins in tanning by tumbling them in solvents. 3) Removing grease, oil, or fatty material from a metal surface with fumes from a hot solvent. (Source: MGH)

Sludge whose water content has been reduced by physical means. (Source: LEEa)

The process of assigning or transferring authority, decision making or a specific administrative function from one entity to another. (Source: OED)

A delta is a vast, fan-shaped creation of land, or low-lying plain, formed from successive layers of sediment washed from uplands to the mouth of some rivers, such as the Nile, the Mississippi and the Ganges. The nutrient-rich sediment is deposited by rivers at the point where, or before which, the river flows into the sea. Deltas are formed when rivers supply and deposit sediments more quickly that they can be removed by waves of ocean currents. The importance of deltas was first discovered by prehistoric man, who was attracted to them because of their abundant animal and plant life. Connecting waterways through the deltas later provided natural routes for navigation and trade, and opened up access to the interior. Deltas are highly fertile and often highly populated areas. They would be under serious threat of flooding from any sea-level rise. (Source: WRIGHT)

The desire, ability and willingness of an individual to purchase a good or service. The consumer must have the funds or the ability to obtain funds in order to convert the desire into demand. The demand of a buyer for a certain good is a schedule of the quantities of that good which the individual would buy at possible alternative prices at a given moment in time. (Source: GREENW)

A body of water that is owned and maintained by a national governmental body or agency. (Source: OED)

A system of governance in which ultimate authority power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their freely elected agents. (Source: APS)

Growth in the number of individuals of a population. (Source: ZINZANa)

The gradual pattern of change in the growth of human populations in a particular region or country, from a rapid increase in the birth and death rates to a leveling off in the growth rate due to reduced fertility and other factors. (Source: DOE / ANT)

The statistical study of human vital statistics and population dynamics. (Source: LANDY)

The activity of reducing buildings or other structures to rubble. (Source: OED)

Masonry or rubble wastes arising from the demolition of buildings or other civil engineering structures.

No definition needed.

The science of dating the age of a tree by studying annual growth rings. It is also employed to interpret previous environments and climatic variations by examining certain kinds of trees. It is based on the theory that the width of the growth ring reflects the amount of rainfall and the temperature of the year in which it was formed. (Source: WRIGHT)

The measuring of the diameter of standing trees from the ground with a dendrometer that can also be used to measure tree heights. (Source: DUNSTE)

1) The loss of nitrogen from soil by biological or chemical means. It is a gaseous loss, unrelated to loss by physical processes such as through leachates. 2) The breakdown of nitrates by soil bacteria, resulting in the release of free nitrogen. This process takes place under anaerobic conditions, such as are found in water-logged soil, and it reduces soil fertility. (Source: WRIGHT / ALL)

Current methods for controlling NOx emissions in motor vehicles include retardation of spark timing, increasing the air/fuel ratio, injecting water into the cylinders, decreasing the compression ratio, and recirculating exhaust gas. For stationary sources, one abatement method is to use a lower NOx producing fuel or to modify the combustion process by injecting steam into the combustion chamber. (Source: PZ)

The mass of unit volume of a substance. (Source: UVAROV)

The process by which polluting material is precipitated from the atmosphere and accumulates in ecosystems. (Source: APD)

The removal or relaxation of government control over the economic activities of some commercial entity, industry or economic sector. (Source: ODE)

Removal of salt, as from water or soil. (Source: MGH)

1) Plants for the extraction of fresh water from saltwater by the removal of salts, usually by distilling. 2) Parts of the world with severe water shortages are looking to desalination plants to solve their problems. Desalination of water is still nearly four times more expensive than obtaining water from conventional sources. However technology is improving and costs are likely to decrease slightly in the future. There is now more interest in building distillation plants beside electric installations so that the waste heat from power generation can be used to drive the desalination process. (Source: ALL / WRIGHT)

A wide, open, comparatively barren tract of land with few forms of life and little rainfall. (Source: MGH)

A climate type which is characterized by insufficient moisture to support appreciable plant life; that is, a climate of extreme aridity. (Source: MGH)

1) The development of desert conditions as a result of human activity or climatic changes. 2) The process of land damage which allows the soil to spread like a desert in arid and semi-arid regions. There is a loss of vegetative cover and the soil deteriorates in texture, nutrient content and fertility. Desertification affects the lives of three-quarters of the world's population, 70% of all drylands and one quarter of the total land area of the planet. There are many reasons for desertification, but the majority are caused by human activities, overgrazing, deforestation, poor land management and over-exploitation. Agenda 21 states that the priority in combating desertification should be establishing preventive measures for lands that are not yet, or are only slightly, degraded. (Source: LBC / WRIGHT)

Remedial and preventive actions adopted against desertification include irrigation, planting of trees and grasses, the erection of fences to secure sand dunes, and a careful management of water resources. (Source: WRIGHT)

A graphic representation, especially a detailed plan for construction or manufacture. (Source: AMHER)

No definition needed.

The process of removing a sorbed substance by the reverse of adsorption or absorption. (Source: MGH)

The targeted place to which persons, materials or commodities are conveyed over land, water or through the air. (Source: RHW)

The removal of sulphur, as from molten metals or petroleum oil. Sulphur residues in fuels end up as sulphur dioxide when the fuel is burned causing acid rain. (Source: MGH)

Removal of sulfur from fossil fuels (or removal of sulfur dioxide from combustion fuel gases) to reduce pollution. (Source: LEE)

The act or process of discovering evidence or proof of governmental, legal or ethical violations. (Source: RHW)

A mechanical, electrical, or chemical device that automatically identifies and records or registers a stimulus, such as an environmental change in pressure or temperature, an electrical signal, or radiation from a radioactive material. (Source: AMHER)

A surface-active agent used for removing dirt and grease from a variety of surfaces and materials. Early detergents contained alkyl sulphonates, which proved resistant to bacterial decomposition, causing foaming in rivers and difficulties in sewage treatment plants. These hard detergents were replaced during the 1960s with soft biodegradable detergents. Apprehension continues to be expressed about the use of phosphates in detergents, helping to promote the process of eutrophication. No satisfactory substitute has yet emerged. (Source: GILP96)

Method employed in the assessment or in the evaluation of a quantity, a quality, a fact, an event, etc. (Source: ZINZANa)

Punishment aiming at deterring the criminal from repeating his offences or deterring others from committing similar acts. (Source: DICLAW)

Any measure, implement or policy designed to discourage or restrain the actions or advance of another agent, organization or state. (Source: RHW)

The act or process of removing a poison or the toxic properties of a substance in the body. (Source: MGH)

A nation possessing a relatively high degree of industrialization, infrastructure and other capital investment, sophisticated technology, widespread literacy and advanced living standards among its populations as a whole. (Source: UIA)

A country whose people are beginning to utilize available resources in order to bring about a sustained increase in per capita production of goods and services. (Source: GREENW)

The economic assistance or other types of support provided to developing countries to promote or encourage advancement in living standards, institutions, infrastructure, agricultural practices and other aspects of an economy, and to resolve problems typically associated with developing countries. (Source: ODE)

Area which has been given special help from a government to encourage business and factories to be set up there. (Source: PHC)

A description, representation, or conception of the economic advancement process of a region or people. (Source: ISEP / OED)

The combination of qualities, structures, acts and tendencies characterizing the economic and social growth of a community or human group. (Source: RHW)

The statement of local planning policies that each local planning authority is required by statute to maintain, and which can only be made or altered by following the procedures prescribed for that purpose, which include obligations to consult widely and to hold a public local inquiry into objections. The development plan includes: 1) the structure plan for the area (normally prepared by the country council); 2) an area-wide development plan for each district council area. (Source: GRAHAW)

The act or process of formulating a course of action that promotes the economic advancement of a region or people, particularly in countries known to have low levels of economic productivity and technological sophistication. (Source: OED / WBG)

The act of assigning or entrusting authority, powers or functions to another as deputy or agent, typically to a subordinate in the administrative structure of an organization or institution. (Source: RHW)

A process of selective diffusion through a membrane; usually used to separate low-molecular-weight solutes which diffuse through the membrane from the colloidal and high-molecular-weight solutes which do not. (Source: MGH)

Unicellular algae, some of which are colonial, green or brownish in colour (but all contain chlorophyll) and with siliceous and often highly sculptured cell walls. Diatoms make up much of the producer level in marine and freshwater food chains, and they have contributed to the formation of oil reserves. Deposits of diatomaceous earths were formed by the accumulation of diatom cell walls. (Source: ALL)

A reference book containing an explanatory alphabetical list of words, as a book listing a comprehensive or restricted selection of the words of a language; identifying usually, the phonetic, grammatical, and semantic value of each word, often with etymology, citations, and usage guidance and other information. (Source: RHW / ISEP)

The art or science of teaching. (Source: CED)

An internal combustion engine operating on a thermodynamic cycle in which the ratio of compression of the air charge is sufficiently high to ignite the fuel subsequently injected into the combustion chamber. (Source: MGH)

Heavy oil residue used as fuel for certain types of diesel engines. (Source: MGH)

The development of cells so that they are capable of performing specialized functions in the organs and tissues of the organisms to which they belong. (Source: UVAROV)

Pollution from widespread activities with no one discrete source, e.g. acid rain, pesticides, urban run-off etc. (Source: HGD)

Pollution which arises from various activities with no discrete source. (Source: GRAHAW)

The spontaneous movement and scattering of particles (atoms and molecules), of liquid, gases, and solids. (Source: MGH)

Sludge or thickened mixture of sewage solids with water that has been decomposed by anaerobic bacteria. (Source: MGH)

Machine which takes refuse and produces gas such as methane from it. (Source: PHC)

The reduction in volume and the decomposition of highly putrescible organic matter to relatively stable or inert organic and inorganic compounds. Sludge digestion is usually done by aerobic organisms in the absence of free oxygen.

Techniques employed in the calibration of image data, the correction or reduction of errors occurring during capture or transmission of the data and in various types of image enhancement-operations which increase the ability of the analyst to recognize features of interest. (Source: YOUNG)

A representation of a surface's topography stored in a numerical format. Each pixel has been assigned coordinates and an altitude. (Source: CCRS)

The process of converting data to a form used in computers, transmitted or stored with digital technology and expressed as a string of 0's and 1's. (Source: WIC)

A less concentrated acid. (Source: MGH)

A by-product formed during the preparation of the herbicide 2, 4, 5-T, and sometimes produced by the incineration of chlorinated organic compounds. It may also occur naturally and is distributed widely in the environment, except locally in extremely low concentrations. Substantial amounts were released by the industrial accident of Seveso in 1976. (Source: ALL)

Factories and industrial concerns which do not discharge their sewage directly into public sewers, but directly into a waterway. (Source: AZENP)

The second rank of administrative acts (inferior to regulations, superior to decisions) made by the council or commission of the European Communities on order to carry out their tasks in accordance with the Treaties. They must be addressed to states, not individuals, but many create rights for individuals or allow the directive to be pleaded before municipal court.

Person lacking one or more physical power, such as the ability to walk or to coordinate one's movements, as from the effects of a disease or accident, or through mental impairment. (Source: CED)

The result of a vast ecological breakdown in the relations between man and his environment, a serious and sudden event (or slow, as in drought) on such a scale that the stricken community needs extraordinary efforts to cope with it, often with outside help or international aid. (Source: GUNN)

A course or procedure of activity designed to clear the debris or remove harmful substances left by an ecological calamity, natural or human in origin, in a given area. (Source: ISEP / TOE)

An anticipatory emergency plan to be followed in an expected or eventual disaster, based on risk assessment, availability of human and material resources, community preparedness, local and international response capability, etc. (Source: ECHO1)

Work done or agency established to analyze, plan, assign and coordinate available resources in order to prepare for, respond to, mitigate and recover from damage caused by an ecological calamity, natural or human in origin. (Source: ISEP / PPB)

The aggregate of measures to be taken in view of disasters, consisting of plans and action programmes designed to minimize loss of life and damage, to organize and facilitate effective rescue and relief, and to rehabilitate after disaster. Preparedness requires the necessary legislation and means to cope with disaster or similar emergency situations. It is also concerned with forecasting and warning, the education and training of the public, organization and management, including plans, training of personnel, the stockpiling of supplies and ensuring the needed funds and other resources. (Source: GUNN)

The aggregate of approaches and measures to ensure that human action or natural phenomena do not cause or result in disaster or similar emergency. It implies the formulation and implementation of long-range policies and programmes to eliminate or prevent the occurrence of disasters. (Source: GUNN)

Money, food or other assistance provided for those surviving a sudden, calamitous event causing loss of life, damage or hardship. (Source: RHW)

Zone that has been stricken by a disaster and where measures must be taken to reduce the severity of the human and material damage caused by it. (Source: GUNN)

The rate of flow of a river at a particular moment in time, related to its volume and its velocity. (Source: WHIT)

A definite pathological process having a characteristic set of signs and symptoms which are detrimental to the well-being of the individual. (Source: KOREN)

An agent, such as heat, radiation, or a chemical, that disinfects by destroying, neutralizing, or inhibiting the growth of disease-carrying microorganisms. (Source: AMHER)

The complex of physical, chemical or mechanical operations undertaken to destroy pathogenic germs. (Source: CED / ZINZAN)

A distribution of finely divided particles in a medium. (Source: MGH)

The calculation of pollutant dispersion is based on the use of air dispersion models that mathematically simulate atmospheric conditions and behaviour. Dispersion models can provide concentration or deposition estimates and can be used to evaluate both existing and hypothetical emissions scenarios. (Source: ENVAR)

Persons who, for different reasons or circumstances, have been compelled to leave their homes. (Source: GUNN)

Disposal of the material remnants of war, which can seriously impede development and cause injuries and the loss of lives and property. The disposal of warfare waste is problematic because it can be highly dangerous, toxic, long-living and requires the utilization of specific and sophisticated technologies, particularly in the case of mines and unexploded bombs which have been left on the war territories. (Source: WPR)

Dissolving of a material. (Source: MGH)

The fraction of total organic carbon (all carbon atoms covalently bonded in organic molecules) in water that passes through a 0.45 micron pore-diameter filter. (Source: WQA)

The amount of oxygen dissolved in a stream, river or lake is an indication of the degree of health of the stream and its ability to support a balanced aquatic ecosystem. The oxygen comes from the atmosphere by solution and from photosynthesis of water plants. The maximum amount of oxygen that can be held in solution in a stream is termed the saturation concentration and, as it is a function of temperature, the greater the temperature, the less the saturation amount. The discharge of an organic waste to a stream imposes an oxygen demand on the stream. If there is an excessive amount of organic matter, the oxidation of waste by microorganisms will consume oxygen more rapidly than it can be replenished. When this happens, the dissolved oxygen is depleted and results in the death of the higher forms of life. (Source: PORT)

The process of producing a gas or vapour from a liquid by heating the liquid in a vessel and collecting and condensing the vapours into liquids. (Source: MGH)

A sector of the economy in which an aggregate of commercial enterprises is engaged in the manufacture and marketing of alcoholic beverages made by a distillation process of vaporization and condensation, such as vodka, rum, whiskey and other related beverages. (Source: RHW / SIC)

Article 85(1) of the EEC Treaty prohibits all agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between member states and which have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the common market. All such arrangements are automatically null and void under Article 85(2), unless exempted by the Commission pursuant to Article 85(3). The text of Article 85 is as follows: \1. The following shall be prohibited as incompatible with the common market: all agreements between undertakings decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between member states and which have as their object or effect the prevention restriction or distortion of competition within the common market and in particular those which: (a) directly or indirectly fix purchase or selling prices or any other trading conditions; (b) limit or control production markets technical development or investment; (c) share markets or sources of supply; (d) apply dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage; (e) make the conclusion of contracts subject to acceptance by the other parties of supplementary obligations which by their nature or according to commercial usage have no connection with the subject of such contracts. (Source: CLAORG)

In an environmental context, the term refers to the dispersion of air pollutants and depends on the type of pollution source (point source, line source, diffuse source), the wind velocity and the wind direction. Distribution can be active or passive. (Source: RRDA)

1) The overall geographical distribution of a talon. 2) The range occupied by a community or other group. (Source: LBC)

Distribution of material goods to consumers, through retailing and wholesaling. (Source: GOODa)

The supply of heat, either in the form of steam or hot water, from a central source to a group of buildings. (Source: MGH)

Plant for heating all houses in a district; it consists of a large, efficient, centralized boiler plant or waste steam from a power station. The heat is distributed by means of low-pressure steam or high-temperature water to the consumers. (Source: PHC / PORT)

Military site where all activity has ceased. Such areas, being extremely well sheltered against outside disturbances and in many ways less affected by human landuse than many other open landscapes, can contain significant natural habitats and rare or endangered wildlife. Abandoned military territories constitute an important source of natural landscapes to be managed and restored in an environmentally sound way. (Source: RRDA / DOBRIS)

A long, narrow excavation artificially dug in the ground; especially an open and usually unpaved waterway, channel, or trench for conveying water for drainage or irrigation, and usually smaller than a canal. Some ditches may be natural watercourses. (Source: BJGEO)

The principal material of inheritance. It is found in chromosomes and consists of molecules that are long unbranched chains made up of many nucleotides. Each nucleotide is a combination of phosphoric acid, the monosaccharide deoxyribose and one of four nitrogenous bases: thymine, cytosine, adenine or guanine. The number of possible arrangements of nucleotides along the DNA chain is immense. Usually two DNA strands are linked together in parallel by specific base-pairing and are helically coiled. Replication of DNA molecules is accomplished by separation of the two strands, followed by the building up of matching strands by means of base-pairing, using the two halves as templates. By a mechanism involving RNA, the structure of DNA is translated into the structure of proteins during their synthesis from amino acids. (Source: ALL)

A rule, principle, theory, or tenet of the law, as the doctrine of merger, the doctrine of relation, etc. (Source: WESTS)

Material of any kind, regardless of physical form, which furnishes information, evidence or ideas, including items such as contracts, bills of sale, letters, audio and video recordings, and machine readable data files. (Source: CCL)

The service provided by a library in which the library's clients are temporarily allowed to use books and other printed materials outside the library. (Source: RHW)

Any one of a number of diverse classes of written, printed or digitized items furnishing information or evidence, and distinguished by content, form or function. (Source: RHW)

Any motion picture or movie in which an actual event, era or life story is presented factually, with little or no fiction. (Source: C / RHW)

A coordinated assemblage of people, devices or other resources providing written, printed or digitized items that furnish or substantiate information or evidence. (Source: RHW)

The process of accumulating, classifying and disseminating information, often to support the claim or data given in a book or article. (Source: OED)

Centre for assembling, coding, and disseminating recorded knowledge comprehensively treated as an integral procedure, utilizing various techniques for giving documentary information maximum accessibility and usability. (Source: WEBSTE)

A common four-legged animal, especially kept by people as a pet or to hunt or guard things. (Source: CAMB)

A machine or device, especially an electrical one used domestically. (Source: CED)

Fuels obtained from different sources that are used for domestic heating. (Source: RRDA)

Liquid petroleum product used in domestic heaters. (Source: CED)

Noise caused by domestic facilities and activities. (Source: RRDA)

Trade wholly carried on at home; as distinguished from foreign commerce. (Source: WESTS)

Waste generated by residential households and comprised of any material no longer wanted or needed. (Source: EED)

Site for the disposal of wastes arising from domestic activities. (Source: RRDA)

Wastewater principally derived from households, business buildings, institutions, etc., which may or may not contain surface runoff, groundwater or storm water. (Source: WWC)

1) Wild animal which has been trained to live near a house and not be frightened of human beings; 2) species which was formerly wild, now selectively bred to fill human needs. (Source: PHC)

The amount of a substance required to produce an effect. (Source: CONFER)

The amount of test substance administered. Dose is expressed as weight of test substance (g, mg) per unit weight of test animal (e.g., mg/kg), or as weight of food or drinking water. (Source: LEE)

The relation between the quantity of a given substance and a measurable or observable effect. (Source: KOREN)

An initial unsigned agreement, treaty, or piece of legislation which is not yet in force. (Source: DICLAW)

Any of the insects composing six families of the suborder Anisoptera and having four large, membranous wings and compound eyes that provide keen vision. (Source: MGH)

1) Removal of groundwater or surface water, or of water from structures, by gravity or pumping. 2) The discharge of water from a soil by percolation (the process by which surface water moves downwards through cracks, joints and pores in soil and rocks). (Source: MGH / WHIT)

A surface stream, or a body of impounded surface water, together with all other such streams and water bodies that are tributary to it and by which a region is drained. An artificial drainage system includes also surface and subsurface conduits. (Source: BJGEO)

Incidental surface waters from diverse sources such as rainfall, snow melt or permafrost melt. (Source: JJK)

The removal of water from a marshy area by artificial means, e.g. the introduction of drains. (Source: WHIT)

To cause to discharge from an abscess or wound or to obtain a sample of tissue or organic liquid for examination. (Source: CEDa)

Unconsolidated material removed from rivers, streams, and shallow seas with machines such as the bucket-ladder dredge, dragline dredge, or suction dredge.

Removing solid matter from the bottom of a water area. (Source: MGH)

The use of fishing nets of great length and depth, aptly described as walls of death because of the huge numbers of marine mammals birds and turtles that became ensnared in them. The Tarawa Declaration of 1989 formulated at the 20th South Pacific Forum aimed at banning drift netting in the South Pacific. In June 1992 the UN banned drift netting in all the world's oceans. (Source: GILP96)

The act of boring holes in the earth for finding water or oil, for geologic surveys, etc. (Source: ZINZAN)

Boring a hole for extracting oil. (Source: PHC)

The structural base upon which the drill rig and associated equipment is mounted during the drilling operation. (Source: MGH)

Water that is agreeable to drink, does not present health hazards and whose quality is normally regulated by legislation. (Source: GUNN)

Area surrounding a water recovery plant in which certain forms of soil utilization are restricted or prohibited in order to protect the groundwater. (Source: AZENP)

The provision and storage of potable water, or the amount of potable water stored, for the use of a municipality, or other potable water user. (Source: ISEP)

The Directive on the Quality of Surface Water Intended for Drinking Water defines three categories of water treatment (A1, A2, A3) from simple physical treatment and disinfection to intensive physical and chemical treatment. The treatment to be used depends on the quality of the water abstracted. The Directive uses imperative values for parameters known to have an adverse effect on health and also guide values for those which are less adverse. There is also a directive which complements the surface water abstraction Directive by indicating the methods of measurement and the frequency of sampling and analysis required. (Source: PORT)

A period of abnormally dry weather sufficiently prolonged so that the lack of water causes a serious hydrologic imbalance (such as crop damage, water supply shortage) in the affected area. (Source: MGH)

Measures taken to prevent, mitigate or eliminate damage caused to the ecosystem, especially crops, by a sustained period of dry weather. (Source: ISEP)

A chemical substance used internally or externally as a medicine for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment or cure of disease, for the relief of pain or to control or enhance physical or mental well-being. (Source: RHW, APD)

To clean fabrics etc. with a solvent other than water. (Source: CED)

The accumulation of both particles and gases as they come into contact with soil, water or vegetation on the earth's surfaces. (Source: DES)

A system of extensive agriculture allowing the production of crops without irrigation in areas of limited rainfall. Dry farming involves conserving soil moisture through mulching, frequent fallowing, maintenance of a fine tilth by cross-ploughing, repeated working of the soil after rainfall and removal of any weeds that would take up some of the moisture. (Source: GOOD)

No definition needed.

The process of partially or totally removing water or other liquids from a solid. (Source: ZINZAN)

Removal of water from any substance. (Source: MGH)

An economy based upon two separate/distinct economic systems which co-exist in the same geographical space. Dualism is characteristic of many developing countries in which some parts of a country resemble advanced economies while other parts resemble traditional economies, i.e. there are circuits of production and exchange. (Source: GOOD)

To reduce the quantity of packaging waste, and thereby of overall MSW, Germany introduced a far-reaching legislation to reduce waste, based on the producer's responsibility principle. Industry was given the option to set up a third party organization which would carry out the collection and sorting of sales packaging for care of manufacturers and retailers. Thus, Some 600 companies created Duales System Deutschland in 1990 (Dual because it meant creating a second collection system in parallel to the existing waste collection system of the local authorities). Duales System Deutschland (DSD) now has overall responsibility for the separate collection and recycling of packaging. At present the Dual System is the only nationwide system for the collection and sorting of sales packaging. Packaging participating in this collection system is marked with the Green Dot. (Source: EPEBE)

The discarding of waste in any manner, often without regard to environmental control. (Source: RHW / ERG)

A low mound, ridge, bank, or hill of loose, windblown granular material (generally sand, sometimes volcanic ash), either bare or covered with vegetation, capable of movement from place but always retaining its characteristic shape. (Source: BJGEO)

Goods which have a reasonably long life and which are not generally consumed in use: e.g. refrigerator. (Source: WESTS)

Period of the day during which the sun is shining. (Source: RAMADE)

Any kind of solid material divided in particles of very small size. (Source: ZINZAN)

The removal of dust from air by ventilation or exhaust systems. (Source: KOREN)

Any enclosed space wholly or partially used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking, and eating. (Source: KOREN)

A coloring material. (Source: LEE)

An artificial wall, embankment, ridge, or mound, usually of earth or rock fill, built around a relatively flat, low-lying area to protect it from flooding; a levee. A dyke may be also be constructed on the shore or border of a lake to prevent inflow of undesirable water. (Source: BJGEO)

The addition of material to strengthen the structure of the dykes. (Source: HARRIS)

Any series of procedures and devices designed to detect sudden or potential threats to persons, property or the environment at the first sign of danger; especially a system utilizing radar technology. (Source: RHW)

The science that deals with the earth or any part thereof; includes the disciplines of geology, geography, oceanography and meteorology, among others. (Source: MGH)

The outer layers of the Earth's structure, varying between 6 and 48 km in thickness, and comprising all the material above the Mohorovicic Discontinuity (a seismic discontinuity occurring between the crust of the earth and the underlying mantle; the discontinuity occurs at an average depth of 35 km below the continents and at about 10 km below the oceans). The earlier idea of a cool solid skin overlaying a hot molten interior has now been replaced by a concept of a crust composed of two shells: an inner basic unit composed of sima (oceanic crust) and an outer granitic unit composed of sial (continental crust). (Source: WHIT)

The Earth depends on the sun for its existence as a planet hospitable to life, and solar energy is the major factor determining the climate. Hence, conditions on the sun and conditions on Earth are inextricably linked. Although the sun's rays may appear unchanging, its radiation does vary. Many scientists suspect that sunspot activity has a greater influence on climatic change than variations attributed to the greenhouse effect. (Source: WRIGHT)

The violent shaking of the ground produced by deep seismic waves, beneath the epicentre, generated by a sudden decrease or release in a volume of rock of elastic strain accumulated over a long time in regions of seismic activity (tectonic earthquake). The magnitude of an earthquake is represented by the Richter scale; the intensity by the Mercalli scale. (Source: GUNN)

Any of numerous oligochaete worms of the genera Lumbricus, Allolobophora, Eisenia, etc., which burrow in the soil and help aerate and break up the ground. (Source: CED)

Any of various insects of the order Dermaptera, especially Forficula auricularia, which typically have an elongated body with small leathery forewings, semicircular membranous hindwings, and curved forceps at the tip of the abdomen. (Source: CED)

The rights of use over the property of another; a burden on a piece of land causing the owner to suffer access by another. (Source: DUHA)

A geographic region of the African continent that includes Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia, and also Mt. Kilimanjaro and Lake Victoria. (Source: ENA / CIA)

Trade between countries and companies of the Western hemisphere with those of the Eastern hemisphere (usually referring to former Communist countries of Eastern Europe).

A geographic region of the Asian continent bordered by the Pacific Ocean in the east that includes China, Japan, Korea, Macao, Taiwan and Siberia. (Source: RHW)

A geographic region of the European continent west of Asia and east of Germany and the Adriatic Sea, traditionally consisting of countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria. (Source: INP / CIA)

The organ of the EU that is primarily concerned with the formulation of policy and the adoption of Community legislation. The Council consists of one member of government of each of the member states of the Community, and its presidency is held by each state in turn for periods of six months. (Source: DICLAW)

A type of legislation issued by the European Union which is binding on Member States in terms of the results to be achieved but which leaves to Member States the choice of methods. (Source: BUSIN)

Directive regulating the placing of biocidal products on the market. (Source: GRAHAW)

EC Directive proposed on 15 July 1992 aiming at harmonizing national measures concerning the management of packaging and packaging waste; the directive covers all packaging placed on the market. (Source: PORT)

EC Directive whose main object concerns waste prevention, recycling and transformation into alternative energy sources. (Source: DIRAMB)

Directive concerning the use and management of water resources for a rational economical and social development and the protection of the related environmental features. (Source: DIRAMB)

The European Community (EC) initiative to encourage the promotion of environmentally friendly products. The scheme came into operation in late 1992 and was designed to identify products which are less harmful to the environment than equivalent brands. For example, eco-labels will be awarded to products that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which damage ozone layer, to those products that can be, or are, recycled, and to those that are energy efficient. The labels are awarded on environmental criteria set by the EC. These cover the whole life cycle of a product, from the extraction of raw materials, through manufacture, distribution, use and disposal of the product. The first products to carry the EC eco-labels were washing machines, paper towels, writing paper, light bulbs and hairsprays. (Source: WRIGHT)

Regulation designed to identify and control of risks deriving from existing chemicals. According to this program the main goal is the collection of basic information about existing chemicals including their uses and characteristics, environmental fate and pathways, toxicity and ecotoxicity. (Source: DOBRIS)

Marine coelomate animals distinguished from all others by an internal skeleton composed of calcite plates, and a water-vascular system to serve the needs of locomotion, respiration, nutrition or perception. (Source: MGH)

An eco-balance refers to the consumption of energy and resources and the pollution caused by the production cycle of a given product. The product is followed throughout its entire life cycle, from the extraction of the raw materials, manufacturing and use, right through to recycling and final handling of waste. (Source: DUNI)

Branch of medical science concerning the study and the therapy of children diseases caused by environmental factors. (Source: CEDa / RRDA)

A sudden, widespread disaster or calamity causing extensive damage to the environment that threatens the quality of life for people living in the affected area or region, potentially leading to many deaths. (Source: ALL)

1) Conservative development based on long term optimization of biosphere resources. 2)An approach to development through rational use of natural resources by means of appropriate technology and system of production which take into account and provide for the conservation of nature. (Source: GREMES / UNUN)

A mark, seal or written identification attached or affixed to products that provides specific ecological information allowing consumers to make comparisons with other similar products, or instructions on how to safely use or properly recycle or dispose of both products and packaging. (Source: OPP)

The European Community's initiative to encourage the promotion of environmentally friendly products. The scheme came into operation in late 1992 and was designed to identify products which are less harmful to the environment than equivalent brands. It was hoped that by buying labelled goods, consumers would be able to put pressure on manufacturers and retailers both to make and to stock greener products. This includes the effects they have on the environment at all stages. The labels are awarded on environmental criteria set by the EC. (Source: WRIGHT)

Number of individual specimens of an animal or plant seen over a certain period of time in a certain place. (Source: PHC)

Change in an organism so that it is better able to survive or reproduce, thereby contributing to its fitness. (Source: PHC)

Ecological assessment consists in monitoring the current and changing conditions of ecological resources from which success or failure of the ecosystem can be judged without bias; understanding more fully the structure and function of ecosystems in order to develop improved management options; developing models to predict the response of ecosystems to changes resulting from human-induced stress from which possible ecosystem management strategies can be assessed and assessing the ecological consequences of management actions so that decisionmakers can best understand the outcomes of choosing a particular management strategy. (Source: ESEPA)

The condition of equilibrium among the components of a natural community such that their relative numbers remain fairly constant and their ecosystem is stable. Gradual readjustments to the composition of a balanced community take place continually in response to natural ecological succession and to alterations in climatic and other influences. (Source: ALL)

The systematic accounting or recordkeeping of a company's impact on the environment or its progress towards environmentally sound business practices. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

1) The maximum number of species an area can support during the harshest part of the year, or the maximum biomass it can support indefinitely. 2) The maximum number of grazing animals an area can support without deterioration. (Source: ALL)

1) All of the plants and animals in an area or volume; a complex association usually containing both animals and plants. 2) Any naturally occurring group of organisms that occupy a common environment. (Source: LANDY / ALL)

An environmental factor that, under some definite conditions, can exert appreciable influence on organisms or their communities, causing the increase or decrease in the number of organisms and/or changes in the communities. (Source: UNUN)

Any imbalance or disparity among inhabitants of the same living environment deemed inappropriate, unjust or detrimental to that environment's integrity. (Source: TOE / RHW)

1) The space occupied by a species, which includes both the physical space as well as the functional role of the species. 2) Ecological niche refers to the characteristics of an environment that provides all the essential food and protection for the continued survival of a particular species of flora or fauna. In addition to food and shelter, there is no long-term threat to existence in that place from potential predators, parasites and competitors. The concept of the ecological niche goes a long way beyond the idea of the species habitat. (Source: LBC / WRIGHT)

A variable, measurable property whose value is a determinant of the characteristics of an ecosystem. (Source: EPAGLOa)

Taking stock of, evaluating, or inventorying a company's impact on the environment or its progress towards environmentally sound business practices. (Source: RHW)

Area where it is likely that a change in some parts of the system will produce a recognizable response. (Source: ALL2a)

Grouping of individuals and organizations dedicated to the protection of the environment. (Source: PHC)

The study of the interrelationships between living organisms and their environment. (Source: LBC)

The buying, selling, advertising, shipping, and storing of goods in compliance with ecological principles. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

A private, non-profit facility where plants and animals can be viewed in a natural outdoor setting. (Source: AGRENV)

Any effort, work, function or sphere of action pertaining to the production of goods, services or any other resource with exchange value. (Source: RHW / NDECON)

The quantitative and qualitative identification, study, and evaluation of the nature of an economy or a system of organization or operation. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

The market condition where an individual or firm that wants to buy or sell a commodity or service has a choice of possible suppliers or customers. (Source: ODE)

The extent to which a market is taken up by producers within a given industry. (Source: ODE)

No definition needed.

The state of nations and the historical processes of change experienced by them, the extent to which the resources of a nation are brought into productive use; the concept of development subsumes associated social, cultural and political changes as well as welfare measures. (Source: GOOD)

The production of estimates of future financial and commercial trends, based on econometric models or surveys. (Source: ODE)

The geography of people making a living, dealing with the spatial patterns of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. The development of economic geography over the past three decades has witnessed the substitution of analysis for description, leading to an identification of the factors and an understanding of the processes affecting the spatial differentiation of economic activities over the earth's surface. (Source: GOOD)

An increase over successive periods in the productivity and wealth of a household, country or region, as measured by one of several possible variables, such as the gross domestic product. (Source: ODE)

Rewards or penalties offered by government or management to induce an economic sector, company or group of workers to act in such a way as to produce results that plan objectives or policy goals. (Source: ODE)

Any tool or method used by an organization to achieve general developmental goals in the production of, or in the regulation of, material resources. (Source: OED)

A tool or method used by any organization in the management of developmental processes used in the production of, or in the regulation of, material resources. (Source: OED)

A design, scheme or project pertaining to the production, distribution and use of income, wealth and commodities. (Source: RHW)

An economy in which prices, incomes etc. are determined centrally by government rather than through the operation of the free market, and in which industrial production is governed by an overall national plan.

A definite course of action adopted and pursued by a government, political party or enterprise pertaining to the production, distribution and use of income, wealth and commodities. (Source: RHW)

A district or an administrative division of a city or territory that is designed according to some material, distributive or productive criteria. (Source: RHW)

The just claims and legal guarantees to access, participate in and profit from the production, distribution and use of property, intellectual property, income and wealth. (Source: RHW)

A part of a country's or region's commercial, industrial and financial activity, delimited either by public, corporate and private organization of expenditures or by agriculture, manufacturing and service product types. (Source: ODE)

The complex of elements which, in a given period, characterize the condition or state of a country or region's ability to produce goods, services and other resources with exchange value. (Source: trZ / RHW)

The underlying framework, including transportation and communications systems, industrial facilities, education and technology, that enables a country or region to produce goods, services and other resources with exchange value. (Source: MGHME / RHW)

Any form of financial assistance or inducement for persons or institutions. (Source: ISEP)

Organized sets of procedures used within or between communities to govern the production and distribution of goods and services. (Source: TEA)

The study of relationships in the economy. Its purpose is to analyze and explain the behaviour of the various economic elements. The body of economic theory can be divided into two broad categories, positive theory and welfare theory. Positive theory is an attempt to analyze the operation of the economy without considering the desirability of its results in terms of ultimate goals. Welfare theory is concerned primarily with an evaluation of the economic system in terms of ethical goals which are not themselves derived from economic analysis. (Source: GREENW)

Changes of variables and parameters of an economic system, analysed in statistical calculations.

Capability of developing and surviving as a relatively independent social, economic or political unit. (Source: WEBSTEa)

A land-use planning design or control where specific types of businesses or private sector investment are encouraged within designated boundaries. (Source: ALL / EEN)

The competency in performance in business matters involving the relation between financial and environmental principles. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

The social study of the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. (Source: GREENW)

The system of activities and administration through which a society uses its resources to produce wealth. (Source: GOOD)

The study of biophysical, biochemical and physiological processes used by animals to cope with factors of their physical environment, or employed during ecological interactions with other organisms. (Source: PARCOR)

A community of organisms and their physical environment interacting as an ecological unit. (Source: LBC)

Detailed study of an ecosystem carried out to ascertain its features from the point of view of its soil composition, energy flux, biogeochemical cycles, biomass, organisms and their relationship with the environment. (Source: RRDA)

Degradation or destruction of large natural environments. When one ecosystem is under attack as a result of natural or man-made disaster it is extremely difficult to calculate the ripple effects throughout nature. When two or more ecosystems are being degraded the probabilities of synergistic destructiveness multiply. Ecosystems in many regions are threatened, despite their biological richness and their promise of material benefits. (Source: WPR)

Study of the ways in which plants, animals, and microbes interact with each other and with their physical environment and of the processes involving the circulation, transformation and accumulation of both matter, especially nutrient materials, and energy. (Source: CULTER / PARCORa)

Ecosystems can be classified according to various criteria: from the point of view of energy source, two major types of ecosystems can be distinguished. Autotrophic ecosystems have primary producers as a principal component and sunlight has the major initial energy source; etherotrophic ecosystems depend upon preformed organic matter that is imported from autotrophic ecosystems elsewhere. Ecosystems can also be classified in terrestrial, marine and freshwater. (Source: PARCOR)

Excursions to relatively untouched lands, which for the tourist promise the chance to observe unusual wildlife and indigenous inhabitants. The travel industry, in an attempt to market adventure and authenticity to those travellers weary of civilisation promote travel to environments free of modern technology. Ecotourism's inherent contradiction is the promotion of untouched lands which immediately become touched by the hands of tourism. (Source: WPR)

Quality of some substances or preparations which present or may present immediate or delayed risks for one or more sectors of the environment. (Source: GRAHAW)

Evaluation of the adverse effects of chemicals, physical agents, and natural products on population and communities and plants, animals and human beings. (Source: GILP96)

The science dealing with the adverse effects of chemical, physical agents, and natural products on populations and communities of plants, animals and human beings. (Source: GILP96)

Species that has special characteristics which allow it to live in a certain habitat. (Source: PHC)

A broad geographic area in which there are distinctive climate patterns, ocean conditions, types of landscapes and species of plants and animals. (Source: SCHNET) Homogeous unit for landscape analysis based on the biophysical characteristics of the territory covered by the survey

The study of the relationships between soil and organisms, including the use made of land by mankind. (Source: WHIT)

An oil that can be eaten as a food or food accessory. (Source: MGH)

The act or process of imparting or acquiring knowledge or skills. (Source: RHW)

A course of action adopted and pursued by government or some other organization, which promotes or determines the goals, methods and programs to be used for training, instruction or study that leads to the acquisition of skills or knowledge, or the development of reasoning and judgment. (Source: RHW)

An organization or establishment devoted to the act or process of imparting or acquiring knowledge or skills. (Source: RHW)

A guided trail, designed to explain to children a piece of countryside, the type of soil, flora, fauna, etc. Such trails may be self-guiding, using either explanatory notices set up at intervals or numbered boards referring to a printed leaflet: in other cases parties may be led by a demonstrator or warden. (Source: GOOD)

The process of making arrangements or preparations to facilitate the training, instruction or study that leads to the acquisition of skills or knowledge, or the development of reasoning and judgment. (Source: RHW)

Any formulated, regular or special organization of instruction, training or knowledge disclosure, especially the institutional structures supporting that endeavor. (Source: ISEP / OED)

Effects include: a) direct effects, which are caused by the action and occur at the same time and place, b) indirect effects, which are caused by the action and are later in time or farther removed in distance, that are still reasonably foreseeable. (Source: LANDY)

No definition needed.

Resultant of natural or manmade perturbations of the physical, chemical or biological components making up the environment. (Source: LANDY)

Parameter or rule for assessing the competency in performance of production relative to the input of resources. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

The ratio of output to input, usually given as a percentage. (Source: ECHO2)

The waste liquid from domestic sewage, industrial sites or from agricultural processes. Effluents are harmful when they enter the environment, especially in freshwater, because of their polluting chemical composition. (Source: WRIGHT)

A large, female sex cell enclosed in a porous, calcareous or leathery shell, produced by birds and reptiles. (Source: MGH)

The identification, evaluation and appraisal of the ecological consequences of a proposed project or development in a city, town or region, and the measures needed to minimize adverse effects. (Source: ALL)

Council Directive of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (85/337/EEC). The Directive applies to projects which are likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of their nature, size or location. (Source: PENEL)

Law concerning the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, based on the EC Directive n. 85/337. (Source: PENELa)

Ability of a material to return to original dimensions after deformation. (Source: LEE)

Someone who has reached the later stage of life or who has attained a specified age within that stage. (Source: RHW)

A direct-current voltage source made up of one or more units that convert chemical, thermal, nuclear, or solar energy into electrical energy. (Source: MGH)

Wires conducting electric power from one location to another; also known as electric power line. (Source: MGH)

The rate at which electric energy is converted to other forms of energy, equal to the product of the current and the voltage drop. (Source: MGH)

A stationary plant containing apparatus for large-scale conversion of some form of energy (such as hydraulic, steam, chemical, or nuclear energy) into electrical energy. (Source: MGH)

Vehicle driven by an electric motor and characterized by being silent and less polluting. (Source: RRDA)

Engineering that deals with practical applications of electricity; generally restricted to applications involving current flow through conductors, as in motors and generators. (Source: MGH)

Economic activity for manufacturing electric material and devices. (Source: RRDA)

Industry for the production of electric energy. (Source: CED)

No definition needed.

A general term used for all phenomena caused by electric charge whether static or in motion. (Source: UVAROV)

Company which is responsible for the supply and distribution of electric energy to a given area. (Source: RRDA)

Amount of electricity consumed by an apparatus. (Source: PHC)

The act or process of transforming other forms of energy into electric energy. (Source: LEE)

The value or amount of money exchanged for the production and sustained supply of charged ion current used as a power source. (Source: EFP / OED)

Industry for the supply and distribution of electric power. (Source: RRDA)

The study of the motion of electric charges, especially of steady currents in electric circuits, and of the motion of electrified particles in electric or magnetic fields. (Source: MGH)

The production of a chemical reaction by passing an electric current through an electrolyte. In electrolysis, positive ions migrate to the cathode and negative ions to the anode. (Source: DICCHE)

A system of interrelated computer and telecommunications devices linked to permit the exchange of data in digital or analog signals. (Source: WIC)

Information or computer stored messages that are transmitted or exchanged from one computer terminal to another, through telecommunication. (Source: CED / WIC)

No definition needed.

Any material from electronic devices and systems, generated as a waste stream in a processing operation or discarded after service. (Source: APD / RHW)

Government or management prescribed rule for the disposal and recycling of electric parts, circuits and systems, especially computer devices. (Source: BLD / RHW)

Study, control, and application of the conduction of electricity through gases or vacuum or through semiconducting or conducting materials. (Source: MGH)

Pollution caused by electric and magnetic fields generated by power lines, electrical equipment, mobile and cordless phones, radar, electrical household appliances, microwave ovens, radios, computers, electric clocks, etc. (Source: NPLa)

All the equipment connected with the technological use of electric power. (Source: CEDa)

A sector of the economy in which an aggregate of commercial enterprises is engaged in the design, manufacture and marketing of machinery, apparatus and supplies for the generation, storage and utilization of electrical energy, such as household appliances, radio and television receiving equipment, and lighting and wiring equipment. (Source: SIC)

A group of monatomic gaseous elements forming group 18 (formerly group 0) of the periodic table: helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), and radon (Rn). (Source: DICCHE)

Any of the monovalent metals lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, and francium, belonging to group 1A of the periodic table. They are all very reactive and electropositive. (Source: CED)

Any of the divalent electropositive metals beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, and radium, belonging to group 2A of the periodic table. (Source: CED)

Group III consists of two subgroups: group IIIb and group IIIa. Group IIIa consists of scandium, yttrium, and lanthanium, which is generally considered with the lanthanoids, and actinium, which is classified with the actinoids. Group IIIb, the main group, comprises boron, aluminium, gallium, indium, and thallium. (Source: CHSK)

Group IV consists of two subgroups: group IVb, main group, and group IVa. Group IVa consists of titanium, zirconium, and hafnium which are generally classified as transition metals. The main group consists of carbonium, silicium, germanium, tin, and lead. The main valency of the elements is IV, and the members of the group show a variation from nonmetallic to metallic behaviour in moving down the group. The reactivity of the elements increases down the group from carbon to lead. All react with oxygen on heating. (Source: CHSK)

Group V consists of two subgroups: group Vb, the main group, and group Va. Group Va consists of vanadium, niobium, and tantalum, which are generally considered with the transition elements. The main group consists of nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth.

Group VI consists of two subgroups: group VIb, the main group, and group VIa. Group VIa consists of chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten. The main group consists of oxygen, sulphur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium. (Source: CHSK)

Any of the elements of the halogen family, consisting of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine. (Source: MGH)

The state of being free from social or political restraint or from the inhibition of moral or social conventions.

An early stage of development in multicellular organisms. (Source: MGH)

The formation and development of an embryo from an egg. (Source: MGH)

Housing or dwelling space provided for victims of a sudden, urgent and usually unexpected occurrence, especially when harm has been done to human life, property or the environment. (Source: RHW)

Program of procedures to be undertaken in the event of a sudden, urgent and usually unexpected occurrence requiring immediate action, especially an incident of potential harm to human life, property or the environment. (Source: RHW)

Money, food or other assistance provided for those surviving a sudden and usually unexpected occurrence requiring immediate action, especially an incident of potential harm to human life, property or the environment. (Source: RHW)

Shelter given to persons who are deprived of the essential needs of life following a disaster. (Source: GUNNa)

A discharge of particulate gaseous, or soluble waste material/pollution into the air from a polluting source. (Source: UNUN)

Procedures aiming at reducing or preventing the harm caused by atmospheric emissions. (Source: RRDA)

Data concerning pollutants released into the environment from a permanent or mobile installation or from products. (Source: AZENP)

The relationship between the amount of pollutants produced to the amount of raw materials processed, or fuel consumed, in any polluting process. (Source: TOE)

The final step in a clean air plan is to predict future air quality to demonstrate that we can (if we can) meet the health standards by implementing the measures proposed in the plan. This is done by first projecting the emission inventory into the future, taking into account changes in population, housing, employment in specific business sectors, and vehicle miles traveled. These data are obtained from various sources and the resulting emissions are adjusted to account for regulations and control measures scheduled for implementation during the same time period. Additional adjustments are made to reflect large facilities that are expected to start up, modify, or shut down. The resulting inventory is an emission forecast, and is usually expressed in tons per day of particular pollutants for a given year. Additional steps may be required to determine how the forecasted quantities of air pollution will affect the overall air quality. One way to accomplish this is through computer modeling. A computer model simulates how pollutants disperse, react, and move in the air. The inputs to such a computer model are complex. They include weather patterns, terrain, and the chemical nature of air pollutants. (Source: APCD)

The act or process of limiting or restricting the discharge of pollutants or contaminants, such as by setting emission limits or by modifying the emission source. (Source: EEN)

A system for recording qualified air emission reductions for later use in bubble, offset, or netting transactions. Plant complexes that reduce emissions substantially may bank their credits or sell them to other industries. (Source: EPAGLO) a system for recording qualified air emission reductions for later use in bubble, offset or netting transactions (emission trading) <D>

A listing, by source, of the amounts of air pollutants discharged in the atmosphere of a community daily. (Source: LANDY)

A chemical process, building, furnace, plant or other entity responsible for the discharge of pollutants or contaminants into the environment. (Source: DES / DEP)

The maximum amount of discharge legally allowed from a single source, mobile or stationary. (Source: LANDY)

The discharge of solid, liquid or gaseous pollutants or contaminants into a body of water. (Source: WWC)

The work or occupation in which a person is employed. (Source: CED)

Issues or initiatives pertaining to the inter-relationship between ecological concerns and the economics of employment, including sustained, environmentally safe development; the effect of environmental activism on jobs; and the creation of environmental occupations. (Source: WAE)

The result or impact of a specific policy, action or event upon the number of working-age persons holding jobs in a specific region, nation or sector of the economy. (Source: ODE / RHW)

The organization and proportions of the various job types and skill levels in an enterprise or economy. (Source: LAB)

The process of dispersing one liquid in a second immiscible liquid. (Source: MGH)

A stable dispersion of one liquid in a second immiscible liquid, such as milk (oil dispersed in water). (Source: MGH)

The enclosure of any polluting product with a material that prevents its release in the environment. (Source: RRDA)

A comprehensive, often multivolume, reference work containing articles on a wide rage of subjects or on various aspects of a particular field, usually, alphabetically arranged. (Source: AMHER)

An approach to pollution control which concentrates upon effluent treatment or filtration prior to discharge into the environment, as opposed to making changes in the process giving rise to the wastes. (Source: GRAHAW)

One of the three degrees of rarity drawn up by the International Union for the Conservation of Natural Resources. All plants and animals in these categories need special protection. Endangered species are those species in danger of extinction unless steps are taken to change the cause of threat and decline. (Source: BRACK)

Animals, birds, fish or other living organisms threatened with extinction by natural or human-induced changes in their environment. (Source: TOE)

The plants threatened with extinction by human or natural changes in the environment. (Source: KOREN)

Species native to, and restricted to, a particular geographical region. (Source: LBC)

The chemical coordinating system in animals, that is, the endocrine glands that produce hormones. (Source: MGH)

The study of the endocrine glands and the hormones that they synthesize and secrete. (Source: MGH)

The capacity to do work; involving thermal energy (heat), radiant energy (light), kinetic energy (motion) or chemical energy; measured in joules. (Source: LBC)

The energetic state of a system at any given time. (Source: WRIGHT)

The strategy for reducing energy requirements per unit of industrial output or individual well-being without affecting the progress of socio-economic development or causing disruption in life style. In temperate developed countries most energy is used in heating and lighting industrial and domestic buildings. Industrial processes, transport and agriculture are the other main users. During the 1970s it was demonstrated that substantial savings could be achieved through appropriate building technologies and the use of energy-efficient equipment for heating, air-conditioning and lighting. Most goods could and should be both manufactured and made to work more efficiently. (Source: WRIGHT)

Amount of energy consumed by a person or an apparatus shown as a unit. (Source: PHC)

The process of changing energy from one form to another. (Source: MGH)

Any loss of energy, generally by conversion into heat. (Source: MGH)

Any publicly or privately organized setup in which usable power such as electricity is delivered to homes and businesses. (Source: RHW)

The production, distribution, and consumption of usable power such as fossil fuel, electricity, or solar radiation. (Source: RHW)

Refers to actions to save fuels by better building design, the modification of production processes, better selection of road vehicles and transport policies, the adoption of district heating schemes in conjunction with electrical power generation, and the use of domestic insulation and double glazing in homes. (Source: WRIGHT)

Industry which converts various types of fuels as well as solar, water, tidal, and geothermal energy into other energy forms for a variety of household, commercial, transportation, and industrial application. (Source: PZ)

The administration or handling of power derived from sources such as fossil fuel, electricity and solar radiation. (Source: RHW / FFD)

The trade or traffic of energy sources treated as a commodity (such as fossil fuel, electricity, or solar radiation). (Source: RHW)

A statement of a country's intentions in the energy sector. (Source: BRACK)

Any natural phenomenon or series of actions by which energy is converted or made more usable. (Source: MES)

Generation of energy in a coal fired power station, in an oil fired power station, in a nuclear power station, etc. (Source: RRDA)

A form of resource recovery in which the organic fraction of waste is converted to some form of usable energy. Recovery may be achieved through the combustion of processed or raw refuse to produce steam through the pyrolysis of refuse to produce oil or gas; and through the anaerobic digestion of organic wastes to produce methane gas. (Source: LANDY)

Potential supplies of energy which have not yet been used (such as coal lying in the ground, solar heat, wind power, geothermal power, etc.). (Source: PHC)

Avoiding wasting energy. (Source: PHC)

Potential supplies of energy including fossil and nuclear fuels as well as solar, water, wind, tidal and geothermal power. (Source: PHC)

Sources from which energy can be obtained to provide heat, light, and power. Energy resources, including fossil and nuclear fuels as well as solar, water, tidal and geothermal energy, may be captured or recovered and converted into other energy forms for a variety of household, commercial, transportation, and industrial applications. (Source: PARCOR)