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Glossary

Aarhus United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
AfDB African Development Bank
ADB  Asian Development Bank
BEE South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment scheme
CAP   European Union Common Agricultural Policy
CBD  Convention on Biological Diversity
CDM Clean Development Mechanism, A mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol through which developed countries may finance greenhouse-gas emission reduction or removal projects in developing countries, and receive credits for doing so which they may apply towards meeting mandatory limits on their own emissions.
CEDAW UN Convention for the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women
CENSAT Centro Nacional de Salud, Ambiente y Trabajo Agua Viva – Amigos de la Tierra Colombia
CER Certified Emissions Reduction credit issued by the CDM
CIFs Certificates for Forest Incentives, a Colombian financial mechanism intended to support landowners establishing plantations, by providing subsidies to assist with the cost of establishing and maintaining them.
CIFOR Center for International Forestry Research
COECO-Ceiba La Asociación Comunidades Ecologistas la Ceiba, or Friends of the Earth Costa Rica
CONAGEBIO  Costa Rica’s National Commission for the Management of Biodiversity
COP  Conference of the Parties
EU ETS   EU Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme
FAO UN Food and Agriculture Organization
FSC Forest Stewardship Council
FTAs   Free trade agreements
FTAAs                   Free Trade Area of the Americas
G77        A coalition of developing nations (actually numbering 130) which promotes members’ interests at the United Nations.
GATS WTO’s General Agreement on Trade in Services
GHGs Greenhouse gases, the atmospheric gases responsible for causing global warming and climate change.
HMH Hans Merensky Holdings, a South African forestry and timber company
IBRD   International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (part of the World Bank)
IDA   International Development Agency (part of the World Bank)
IDB   InterAmerican Development Bank
IFIs   International Financial Institutions
ILO International Labor Organization
INBio Costa Rica’s Institute for National Biodiversity
IPOs   Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations
IPRs  Intellectual property rights
ISO   International Organization for Standardization
IUCN   International Union for Conservation of Nature, or World Conservation Union
JI   Joint Implementation, A mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol through which a developed country can receive “emissions reduction units” when it helps to finance projects that reduce net greenhouse-gas emissions in another developed country (in practice, the recipient state is likely to be a country with an “economy in transition”). 
Kyoto Protocol   An international agreement linked to the UNFCCC which, among other things, sets binding targets for the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions by industrialized countries.
NAFTA  North American Free Trade Agreement
NGOs  Non-Governmental Organizations. 
 OECD   Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an organization of 30 countries, mostly high-income economies.
Panchayat   Local self-government bodies in India
PEFC                     Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes
PES                        Payment for Environmental Services
PROCUENCA A carbon sink project in Colombia
PCF Prototype Carbon Fund
REDD  Reducing Emissions from Deforestation in Developing countries
SFP Singisi Forest Products, a South African timber country, subsidiary of HMP
 UNDP   United Nations Development Programme
 UNEP   United Nations Environment Programme
 UNFCCC   United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization
WTO World Trade Organization
 WWF   WorldWide Fund for Nature