EVS Vocab

Absolute Poverty

The World Bank defines extreme poverty as individuals living on less than $1.90 per day ($694/year). The United Nations defines extreme poverty as characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education, and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.

Afforestation

The process of planting trees on land that has not been historically forested.

Anthropocentric

A viewpoint or philosophy that considers human beings as the central or most significant entities in the world.

Asylum Seeker

A person outside their country of origin who is receiving international protection but is awaiting the outcome of their claim to refugee status.

Bioaccumulation

The accumulation of substances, such as pesticides or other chemicals, in an organism over the span of its life, resulting in a higher concentration over time.

Biodiversity

The variety of life on Earth at all its levels, from genes to ecosystems, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that sustain it.

Biomagnification

The increase in concentration of a substance, such as a toxic chemical, in organisms at successively higher trophic levels of a food chain or food web.

Brownfield

Real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

Carbon Neutrality

Achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by balancing carbon emissions with carbon removal or by eliminating emissions.

Carbon Sink

A natural or artificial reservoir that absorbs and stores more carbon from the atmosphere than it releases.

Child Labor

Work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and is harmful to physical and mental development.

Circular Economy

An economic system aimed at eliminating waste and the continual use of resources. It focuses on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.

Climate Change Adaptation

The process of adjusting to the actual or expected climate and its effects.

Climate Change Mitigation

Actions to reduce the concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere either by reducing their sources or increasing their sinks.

Collaborative Governance

The process of facilitating decision-making across various governmental and non-governmental actors to achieve shared goals.

Conventional Agriculture

Farming systems that are often characterized by monocultures, genetically modified seeds, and reliance on chemical inputs like synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

A self-regulated business model that helps a company be socially accountable to itself, its stakeholders, and the public.

Corruption

The abuse of entrusted power for private gain.

Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C)

A design and production model that aims for products to be taken back by the manufacturer at the end of their useful life, with components or materials reused to make new products of equal or higher value.

Cross-sector Collaboration

Working together across different sectors (e.g., government, civil society, private sector) to achieve shared goals.

Decent Work

Jobs that deliver a fair income, provide security in the workplace and social protection for families, and help realize better prospects for personal development and social integration.

Deforestation

The conversion of forest to other land uses, such as agriculture and infrastructure.

Degenerative Diseases

Chronic, non-communicable diseases that are largely a result of aging, lifestyle choices, and environmental factors (e.g., cancer, heart disease, diabetes).

Desertification

The process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.

Digital Divide

The gap between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet, and those who do not.

Ecotourism

Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education.

Ecosystem Services

The benefits that nature provides to humanity, such as clean water, air purification, pollination, and climate regulation.

Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

Chemicals that interfere with the hormone systems of animals and people.

Energy Portfolio (Energy Mix)

The combination of different energy sources used by a country, region, or entity to meet its energy needs.

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

A tool used to identify the environmental, social, and economic impacts of a project prior to decision-making.

Environmental Injustice

The disproportionate exposure of communities of color and low-income communities to environmental hazards.

Eutrophication

The enrichment of water by nutrients that causes structural changes to the ecosystem, such as increased production of algae and aquatic plants, depletion of fish species, and general deterioration of water quality.

External Costs (Negative Externalities)

Disadvantageous impacts paid for by the consumer for the actions of firms and individuals (e.g., environmental and social costs of economic activity not borne by producers or consumers).

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C)

Any procedure that involves partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.

Financial Inclusion

Individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs.

Food Deserts

Locations without easy access to fresh, healthy, and affordable foods.

Food Insecurity

A state where people are at risk of, or worried about, not being able to meet their preferences for food, including in terms of raw calories and nutritional value.

Food Swamps

Easy access to less healthy, energy-dense foods, particularly if they are convenient and cheap, may swamp out healthier choices.

Forced Labor

Work that is performed involuntarily and under the menace of any penalty.

Forced Marriage

A marriage that takes place without the consent of one or both people in the marriage.

Forced Migration (Involuntary Migration)

A migratory movement that involves force, compulsion, or coercion, used to describe movements of refugees, displaced persons, and victims of trafficking.

Fossil Fuels

Energy resources formed from the remains of ancient organisms over millions of years (e.g., coal, oil, natural gas).

Fourth World

A term used to describe nations or groups of people who are indigenous or tribal, without their own state, and marginalized within the countries they inhabit.

Gender Equality

The state in which all genders have equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities.

Gender Equity

The process of being fair to women and men. To ensure fairness, measures must often be put in place to compensate for historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from otherwise operating on a level playing field.

Gender Wage Gap

The difference in earnings between women and men, often expressed as a percentage or in dollar terms.

Gini Coefficient (Gini Index)

A measure of statistical dispersion intended to represent the income or wealth distribution of a nation's residents, and is the most commonly used measure of inequality.

Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

A comprehensive measure of poverty that accounts for severe deprivations in traditional areas like education, health, and living standards, but also includes other indicators (e.g., child mortality) that have a daily impact on a person’s poverty status.

Green Economy

An economy that aims at sustainable development without degrading the environment.

Green Growth

A means to foster economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our well-being relies.

Green Jobs

Decent jobs that directly contribute to environmental sustainability, either by producing environmental goods or making more efficient use of natural resources.

Green Revolution

A set of research and development initiatives from the 1950s to the late 1960s that increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world, by using new high-yielding varieties of cereals, especially wheat and rice.

Greenhouse Effect

The process by which radiation from a planet's atmosphere warms the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere.

Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

Gases in Earth’s atmosphere that trap heat. They include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases.

Hard Law

Legally binding, legally enforceable international agreements, such as most international treaties.

Hazardous Substance

Any substance that can cause harm to humans or the environment.

Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative

A United Nations and World Bank initiative launched in 2000 to deal with debt distress in eligible low-income countries by combining debt relief and low-interest rate loans.

Higher Education

Education after secondary school that includes universities, colleges, and other institutions that grant academic degrees or professional certifications.

Horizontal Inequality

Inequality between culturally defined groups (e.g., along racial, ethnic, religious, or linguistic lines).

Human Development Index (HDI)

A composite index of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators, used to rank countries into four tiers of human development.

Human Rights

Fundamental rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status.

Human Trafficking

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.

Hydropower

The force of falling water used to drive turbines and supply electricity.

Hypoxia (Dead Zones)

Areas in the ocean, lakes, or rivers where the concentration of dissolved oxygen is so low that it cannot sustain most aquatic life.

Infectious Diseases (Communicable Diseases)

Disorders caused by pathogenic organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites, that can be passed from person to person.

Informal Economy

The unrecorded sector where few, if any, taxes are paid, encompassing a diverse range of jobs not formally recorded in government statistics.

Infrastructure

The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g., buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.

Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs)

Projects that seek to combine biodiversity conservation with local economic development and poverty reduction.

Integrated Multitrophic Aquaculture

A type of aquaculture that cultivates species from different trophic levels in proximity, allowing one species' wastes and by-products to be recaptured and converted into fertilizer, feed, and energy for other crops.

Intergenerational Equity

The concept that future generations should have the same or better opportunities and resources as the current generation.

Internally Displaced Person (IDP)

A person forced or obliged to flee or to leave their home or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border.

International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)

An international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly that focuses on women's rights and equality.

International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

An intergovernmental organization dedicated to promoting renewable energy.

Invasive Species

Non-native species that are introduced to an ecosystem and outcompete or disrupt native species, often causing ecological and economic harm.

Kuznets Curve

An inverted U-shaped curve that illustrates the hypothesis that as an economy develops, market forces first increase and then decrease economic inequality.

Land Degradation

A process in which the value of the biophysical environment is affected by a combination of human-induced processes acting upon the land.

Landfill

A site for the disposal of waste materials by burial.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

A technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product's life from raw material extraction through processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and maintenance, and disposal or recycling.

Linear Economy

A traditional economic model based on the "take-make-dispose" approach, where raw materials are extracted to produce goods that are used and then discarded.

Malnutrition

A state resulting from a deficiency or excess (or imbalance) of energy, protein, and other nutrients.

Marine Pollution

The introduction of harmful substances or energy into the ocean, resulting in detrimental effects on living resources, human health, and marine activities.

Marine Protected Area (MPA)

A clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated, and managed through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.

Megacity

An urban area with a population of over 10 million people.

Metacity

An urban area with a population exceeding 20 million people.

Microfinance

Financial services, including loans, savings, and insurance, provided to low-income individuals or groups who typically lack access to traditional banking services.

Migrant

A person who moves from one place to another, especially in order to find work or better living conditions.

Missing Women

A term that refers to the deficit in the number of women relative to the number of men in a given population, caused by gender-biased practices.

Modern Slavery

An umbrella term for two situations

Moyenne

An urban planning term that denotes a mid-scale development or approach, often used in discussions of sustainable urban development.

Multilateral Creditors

International financial institutions (e.g., World Bank, IMF) that provide loans to countries, often with little or no interest.

Municipal Sustainability Plan

Comprehensive visions, goals, and priorities for sustainability set forth by a government or other civic organization at the city or local level.

Natural Capital

The world’s stocks of natural assets including geology, soil, air, water, and all living things.

Natural Gas

A fossil fuel composed primarily of methane, used as an energy source.

Neoclassical Economics

A mainstream economic theory that emphasizes the importance of free markets and assumes rational decision-making by individuals.

Non-communicable Diseases (Degenerative Diseases)

Chronic diseases that are not passed from person to person (e.g., heart disease, cancer, diabetes).

Nonpoint Source Pollution

Pollution that comes from diffuse sources, such as agricultural runoff or urban stormwater runoff, rather than a single identifiable point.

Nonrenewable Energy Resources

Energy resources that, once converted for use by people, are gone forever (e.g., coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear energy).

Official Development Assistance (ODA)

Government aid that promotes and specifically targets the economic development and welfare of developing countries.

Off-the-Grid

Not connected to or served by publicly or privately managed utilities (such as electricity, gas, or water).

Organic Agriculture

Any system that emphasizes the use of techniques such as crop rotation, compost, or manure application, and biological pest control in preference to synthetic inputs.