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 |