Environment

Adaptation (Adaptación) According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), adaptation is ‘the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate and its effects. In human systems, adaptation seeks to moderate or avoid harm or exploit beneficial opportunities. In some natural systems, human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate and its effects’. The European Union thesaurus on the

Environmental footprint (Huella ambiental) The European Union thesaurus defines environmental footprint as the environmental impact of a product, service, or a company throughout its life cycle. This indicator demonstrates the environmental behaviour of a product or an organization, and allows for comparison. When the measure is done on a product, it is known as product environmental footprint. When it is done

Environmental impact study (Estudio de impacto ambiental) An environmental impact study is a technical and administrative procedure that must be presented before the competent authorities when requesting a permit for a project. When an initiative affects the rights and interests of indigenous and tribal peoples, this requires applying the standards of human rights that the international community adopted to preserve, protect, and

Environmental migrant (Migrante ambiental) This is a general term that refers to people who move outside of their normal place of residence due to environmental deterioration. This might be a temporary or permanent move. This concept is based on the generic term migrant established by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which is not defined in international law. Environmental causes include desertification,

Extractivism (Extractivismo) This neologism refers to the excessive extraction or elimination of common natural assets. It does not solely imply extracting natural elements for economic, commercial, and industrial objectives. Rather, it also refers to a development model where extractions are associated to the accumulation of wealth. Money is given greater value than the environment and life forms. The extractivist processes usually

Global change (Cambio global) According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global change is ‘a generic term to describe global scale changes in systems, including the climate system, ecosystems, and social-ecological systems’ (IPCC 5th Assessment Report, WG II Glossary). This includes the study on the planet’s natural cycles, such as carbon, water, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, and others. It also

Global warming (Calentamiento global) According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming is defined as ‘the estimated increase in global mean surface temperature (GMST) averaged over a 30-year period, or the 30-year period centered on a particular year or decade, expressed relative to pre-industrial levels unless otherwise specified’ (IPCC, 2018). Specifically, global warming refers to an accelerated increase

Greenwashing This is the publicity or marketing strategy used by some companies or organizations to create the appearance of respect towards the environment, while hiding some of their practices that actually harm nature (Fundéu, 2009). This allows them to benefit from people’s socio-economic interest and thus increase their profits and improve their public image. David Bellamy—a British naturalist, writer, and environmental

Mitigation (Mitigación) According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), mitigation of climate change refers to a ‘human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases’. It refers to human actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in relation to climate change. It implies technological challenges and large-scale government investment. As a result, the responsibility for mitigation falls largely

Pachamama  (Pachamama) Pachamama or Pacha mama comes from the quechua language. Pacha means ‘world’ and mama means ‘mother’, and can therefore be translated as Mother Earth. It represents the Goddess that exists in all elements of nature. It is the spirit of the land, and it is central to Andean and South American cultures. Devotion of the Pachamama is present throughout Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina.

Planetary boundaries (Límites planetarios) Planetary boundaries includes a series of measurable parameters and it ‘defines a safe operating space for humanity based on the intrinsic biophysical processes that regulate the stability of the Earth system’ (Rockström et al., 2009a, 2009b; Steffen and Stafford, 2013). The concept is under debate in the academic sphere, and it includes elements related to human activity

Resilience (Resiliencia) The United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) understands resilience as ‘the ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions’ (UNISDR, 2009). Therefore, resilience refers

Responsible consumption (Consumo responsable) The Spanish Committee for UNHCR defines responsible consumption as ‘the choice of products and services we consume based on criteria of quality, price, environmental impact, social impact, and the ethics of the companies that produce them. As a result, responsible consumption has many aspects: Ethics: this considers values as a basis for buying and consuming.Ecology: this

Right to the environment (Derecho al medio ambiente) The right to the environment is a human right to live in a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, and to enjoy it. This right is considered a precondition to enjoy other human rights. It differs from rights of nature, where the subject of rights is nature. In contrast, in the right to

Rights of nature (Derechos de la naturaleza) This term refers to the recognition of the rights of nature as independent from human rights, which questions the anthropocentric paradigm. The concept originated in neo-constitutionalism, and it is included in the legal frameworks of Ecuador and Bolivia. It is closely related to the cosmovision of the indigenous and tribal peoples. This is not synonymous with the right to

Socio-ecological crisis (Crisis ecológica y social) This term is increasingly used to emphasize the connection between humans and nature. It stresses the risks that critical environmental changes pose for life on Earth and for the continuation of civilization by destabilizing the balance and continuity of natural processes. According to specialists consulted for the development of this reflectary in Spanish, this

Speciesism (Especismo) This is a type of discrimination based on belonging to a specific species. From a moral perspective, it means considering members of certain species as more important than those from another species. Richard Ryder, a psychologist and animal rights activist, coined this term in the 1970s. Decades later, Ryder explained the definition based on two approaches. On the