Terminology

Ecosystem Services

biological and physical processes that occur in natural/semi natural ecosystems and maintain the habituality and livelihood of people on the planet.

Supporting services

foundation for all services, all forms of primary production.

Provisioning services

goods people use/harvest from nature, e.g. water, seafood, meat, timber

Regulating services

control of natural processes, capacity of ecosystems to regulate soil, climate, water, moderate disease.

Cultural services

religious, spiritual, aesthetic, education, recreational, tourism benefits

Climate change

Any change in climate over time due to natural processes or human activities.

Global warming

the long term rise in Earth's average surface temperature due to greenhouse gasses

Greenhouse Effect

Trapping of heat in Earth's atmosphere, natural and necessary process. Without it, Earth would be much colder, average surface temperature would be -18 C, inhabitable.

Enhanced Greenhouse Effect

Unnatural process, accelerated greenhouse effect, undesired

Primary greenhouse gases

CO2, methane, nitrous oxide, water vapour.

Causes of enhanced greenhouse effect

fossil fuels, cows, agriculture, cars

Biodiversity

the variety of all life on Earth, including flora, fauna, microorganisms, and the complex ecosystems they form.

Urbanisation

proportion of total national population living in areas classified as urban.

Urban growth

absolute increase in the population of people in urban areas over time

Impacts of increased urbanisation

land clearance, loss of biodiversity, polluted waterways, urban heat island effect, air pollution.

Urban heat island effect

urban temperatures higher than rural areas

Causes of urban heat island effect

dark roof/materials, lack of green space, not energy efficient

Impacts of urban heat island effect

higher costs, health impacts

Management strategies for urban heat island effect

more green space, more public transport, more energy efficient/renewable energy

Urban consolidation

planning strategy, increases population density in existing urban areas through medium to high density development, such as apartments/town houses.

Aim of urban consolidation

reduce urban sprawl, minimise environmental impact, maximise use of existing infrastructure

Urban sprawl

expansion of geographic extent of cities and towns, often characterised by long-density residential housing.

Slum

informal, often illegal housing. Unsafe, overcrowded, limited access to basic services, unstable/weak structures, no land rights.

Megacity

very large city, population over 10 million people

Urban greening

aims to create more sustainable, liveable, cooler urban environments. Involves planting more trees to provide shade, cleaner air.

Currents

the movements of water from one region to another over long distances and time periods.

Why currents are important

interconnect the world's oceans and seas, transport heat, oxygen, carbon dioxide, salts, nutrients, sediments, marine creatures.

Types of currents

surface currents, deep water currents, global ocean conveyor belts, upwellings (move nutrients from bottom of ocean to top).

Marine pollution

any harmful substance or product that enters the ocean. Most are human pollutants including fertilisers, chemicals, sewerage, plastics.

Wellbeing

the ability of people to access the things they need in order to live happy, healthy, content lives.

The 3 most important variables that influence levels of wellbeing around the world

wealth, health, education.

Human wellbeing

having what you need for life to be good and meaningful.

MEDC

More economically developed countries

LEDC

Less economically developed countries

Development

Includes changing the environment to enhance economic gain and also encompasses basic needs; equity, social justice, sustainability, freedom, safety.

Quantitative indicators

can be measured, refers to numerical data such as GDP or literacy rates.

Qualitative indicators

descriptive, features that can be observed but not measured.

Composite indicators

composed of multiple indicators to gain broader understanding of development, such as HDI.

SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations initiative to end poverty, protect planet, ensure peace and prosperity by 2030. Comprise of 17 goals to balance social, economic, environmental sustainability.

HDI

Human Development Index, composed of Gross National Income, life expectancy and literacy rates.

HPI

Happy Planet Index, global measure of sustainable wellbeing. Measured from life expectancy, self-reported wellbeing, and carbon footprint.

GDP

Gross Domestic Product, measures the overall economic health of country, the total market value of all finished goods and services produced within country.

Food security

the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.

Water security

having an acceptable quantity and quality of water for people communities, industry, and environment that is affordable now and into the future.

Trade-offs

a compromise, an assumed part of policy making where improving one aspect inevitably causes a decline in another.

Population pyramid

represents the breakdown of the population by gender and age at a given point in time. Consists of two histograms, one for each gender, men left women right, numbers shown horizontally, ages shown vertically.

Demographics

the statistical study of human populations, such as age, density, gender, ethnicity, income, within a geographic area.

Birth rate

total number of live births per 1000 people, per year.

Death rate

total number of deaths per 1000 people, per year.

Natural increase

when total number of births exceeds number of deaths, leading to population growth.

Natural decrease

when total number of deaths exceeds births, resulting in shrinking population.

Total fertility rate

the average number of children a woman would have in her lifetime.

Fertility rate

the measure of frequency of childbearing.

Infant mortality rate

number of deaths in children under age of 1, per 1000 births, in a year.

Child mortality rate

number of deaths in children under age 5, per 1000 births, in a year.

Replacement level fertility

total fertility rate required for population to exactly replace itself one generation to the next, without migration. Generally 2.1

Demographic transition model

shows transition from high birth/death rates to low, as country develops economically, typically consists of 5 stages.

Ageing population

population with high median age, declining fertility rates.

Youthful population

population with high proportion under age of 15, high fertility, population increase.

Dependency ratio

a measure showing the number of dependents (age 0-14, and age 65+) compared to working age population (15-64).

Rural to urban migration

movement of people from countryside to city.

Push factors

negative factors that make people want to move to new area, such as war, family break up, climate.

Pull factors

positive aspects that attract people to move to a place, such as good employment opportunities.

Poverty line

the minimum level of income required to provide an adequate living standard in a country.

Absolute poverty

when people find it difficult to get a daily meal and access safe drinking water (the minimum standard of living)

Relative poverty

when the level of living standard is low compared to the benchmark poverty line for a country.

Cultural burning

a technique conducted in particular seasons using a mosaic of small scale, 'cool' fires/low intensity controlled fires to manage human risk and natural fuel build up whilst ensuring minimal impact to forest density, resources and animal life.

Non-Indigenous land management techniques

back-burning, controlled burns, clear fuel but impact tree canopies and increase amount of soil moisture lost, encouraging plant/weed growth.

Benefits of cultural burning

care for landscape, minimise impact on forest density, animal life and resources while also managing fuel risk. Overall less intensive but more effective.