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Definitions
Below is a directory of terms used in the field of climate change. Most of the definitions have been taken from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, with a few from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the European Commission.
Climate change is the greatest challenge facing the world today. Long-term development planning must now include measures to deal with it.
A
Adaptation
The degree to which adjustments are possible in practices, processes, structures or systems in response to projected or actual changes in climate. Adaptation activities contribute to the mitigation of the effects of climate change on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, hydrology and water resources management, agriculture and forestry, human infrastructure and human health. Examples of adaptation activities include introducing different crops to compensate to local climate change and protection of coastal areas from sea-level rise.
Aerosols
Particles of matter, solid or liquid, larger than a molecule but small enough to remain suspended in the atmosphere. Natural sources include salt particles from sea spray and clay particles as a result of weathering of rocks, both of which are carried upward by the wind. Aerosols can also originate as a result of human activities and in this case are often considered pollutants.
Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)
The group of Pacific and Caribbean nations that are calling for relatively fast action by developed nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The AOSIS reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2005.countries fear the effects of rising sea levels and increased storm activity predicted to accompany global warming. Their want to hold Annex I Parties to a 20 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2005.
Annex A
Annex A of the Kyoto Protocol lists the greenhouse gases regulated by the Protocol as well as sector/source categories.
Annex B
Since the Kyoto Protocol is a legal instrument that must be ratified separately, a new list of countries taking on legally binding commitments along with a listing of their actual commitments was created. Annex B lists the quantified emission limitation and reduction commitment for each country.
Annex I Parties
Industrialised countries that, as parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change, have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2000 to 1990 levels. Annex I Parties consist of countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and countries designated as 'economies in transition'.
Annex II Parties
List established under the UNFCCC of industrialised countries, excluding economies in transition, that are to provide new and additional resources to help developing countries meet existing commitments under the UNFCCC.
