APES Unit 9 Key Terms

Lacey Act

A U.S. act that prohibits interstate shipping of all illegally harvested plants and animals.

Endangered species

Species that are likely to go extinct in the near future.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

A 1973 treaty formed to control the international trade of threatened plants and animals.

Greenhouse warming potential (GWP)

An estimate of how much a molecule of any compound can contribute to global warming over a period of 100 years relative to a molecule of CO2.

Montreal Protocol

A commitment by 24 nations to reduce CFC production by 50 percent by the year 2000.

Paris Climate Agreement (Paris Climate Accord)

A pledge by 196 countries to keep global warming less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Ocean acidification

A process in which an increase in ocean CO2 causes more CO2 to be converted to carbonic acid, which lowers the pH of the water.

Marine Mammal Protection Act

A 1972 U.S. law that prohibits the killing of all marine mammals in the United States and prohibits the import or export of any marine mammal body parts.

Global change

Change that occurs in the chemical, biological, and physical properties of the planet.

Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Chemical that can be used for cooling refrigerators and air conditioners.

Kyoto Protocol

An international agreement that sets a goal for global emissions of greenhouse gases from all industrialized countries to be reduced by 5.2 percent below their 1990 levels by 2012.

Global climate change

A type of global change that is focused on changes in the average weather that occurs in an area over a period of years or decades.

Greenhouse effect

Absorption of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases and radiation of the energy back toward Earth.