Glossary

This glossary of terms is sorted alphabetically. Click on one of the linked letters below to move to that section.

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Agro-Ecological Zones or AEZ | The Toolbox uses a zonation based on the "Length of available growing period". (go to this page)
Agro-pastoralism | Production system where all of the family and livestock are sedentary and where crops usually contribute an important part of the livelihood.
AGROSTAT | FAO Information System for Agricultural Statistics
Ammonia | A volatile compounds that is related to greenhouse gases and global warming
Animal Trampling | Herds of livestock modify the soil structure and cause erosion through repeated walking on the same places
Aquaculture | Farming of fish in a controlled environment, normally through intensive means. Aquaculture will have to play an increasingly important role in meeting the global demand for fisheries products as the world population continues to expand and fisheries stocks approach their biological limits.
Aquifer | Underground water source.
Arid Zone | The areas where the growing period is less than 75 days, too short for reliable rainfed agriculture. The coefficient of variation of the annual rainfalls is high, up to 30%. Abiotic factors, specially rainfall, determine the state of the vegetation. The non-equilibrium theory applies in this environment. The main systems found in these zones are the mobile systems on communal lands. Some cases of ranching are present.

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Bio-degradable | Materials that can be broken down (degraded) by biological action
Bio-diversity Biodiversity | The word 'biodiversity' is a contraction of biological diversity. Diversity is a concept which refres to the range of variation or differences among some set of entities. Biological diversity therefore refers to variety within the living world. The term 'biodiversity' is commonly used to describe the number, variety and variability of living organisms. This very broad usage, embracing many different parameters, is essentially a synonym of 'Life on Earth' (source: World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1992) Global Biodiversity. Chapman & Hall).
Boreholes | Artificial sources of water, usually pumped from underground aquifers by wind or solar pumps or by the use of fossil fuel (e.g. diesel pumps).
Bush encroachment | The expansion of woody vegetation, normally at the expense of grazing area. Often associated with grazing by livestock species at a rate that is unsustainable within the prevailing environmental and climatic conditions.

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Carbon cycle | The global carbon cycle is made up of carbon flows and stocks. Hundreds of billions of tons of carbon as CO2 is absorbed from or emitted to the atmosphere annually through natural processes. These flows include plant photosynthesis, respiration, and decay as well as the oceanic absorption and release of CO2. These annual carbon flows, although large, are dwarfed by the various carbon stocks. The atmosphere, for example, contains about 750 billion tons of carbon. An additional 800 billion tons are dissolved in the surface layers of the world's oceans. Because they are so heterogeneous, terrestrial carbon stocks are more difficult to measure. Approxomately 1,300 billion tons of carbon are believed to have accumulated in ground litter and soils. Terrestrial organisms, primarily plants, account for an estimated 550 billion tons of carbon. By far the largest carbon reservoirs are the deep oceans and fossil fuel deposits, which account for some 34,000 and 10,000 billion tons of carbon respectively. The global carbon cycle is out of balance, making rapid global climate change more likely.
Carbon sequestration | Typically, the investment in planted forests (or in forest preservation) as carbon sinks. Carbon sinks can also occur in non-forested areas. Recent research has indicated that improved deep-rooted pastures, and pasture-tree combinations, can also be significant in carbon sequestration. The Kyoto protocol authorised the creation of an international market in carbon sequestration schemes whereby developed countries can purchase the externally certified reductions in emissions of developing countries and use them to meet their own national emission limits.
Carbon Sinks | Drawing CO2 out of the air and into biomass is the only known practical way to remove large volumes of a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide emissions from all human activities make up only a small fraction of the carbon that cycles annually among the atmosphere, terrestrial biota, and oceans. but because CO2 emissions from human activities account for the unwanted build-up of atmospheric CO2, reducing these emissions should moderate the rate and reduce the ultimate magnitude of climate change.
CGIAR | Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
CIS | Commonwealth of Independent States
Communal Areas | Areas goverend by a system of land tenure where title to the land is held by groups (e.g. villages) rather than by individuals.
Cost-Benefit | The principle of the Cost/Benefit Analysis is the monetary evaluation of cost and benefit, whereby the influencing criteria may be weighted discriminatorily and decisions made on the viability or sustainability of a project or policy.
Crop Residues | Portion of the crop remaining after harvest
CSA | Central and South America
Cut and Carry | Production systems relying on the cutting of feed at one location and transport to another where it is used by livestock

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Deforestation | The process of removal of forest cover
DFID | Department for International Development, United Kingdom.

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Equilibrium & Non-Equilibrium Ecosystems | (go to the description of Equilibrium and Non-Equilibrium Ecosystems)

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Fee Regimes | For example Grazing Fee Regimes - An approach to controlling grazing pressure through charging for licenses to graze communal land

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GHG | Greenhouse House emissions
Grazing Systems | The grazing system is predominantly dependent on the natural productivity of grasslands, and therefore defined largely by the agro-ecological zone. (go to this Page)

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Hay-making and Silage | Dessication or dry storage: the product obtained is hay, containing less than 15 % water. Silage-making or wet storage: the product obtained is silage. This method of storage uses the acidifying power of lactic bacteria, which reduces the pH to around 4, below which all chemical reaction and fermentation ceases. (go to this Page)

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IDU | Industrial Dairy Production
IFP | Industrial Feed Production or supply
Indicators | In many cases changes in systems are complex. In order to evaluate these complex changes it is often necessary to identify simple "indicators" that can be more easily measured, but that reflect the macro changes in the system. Indicators are aggregates of raw or processed data but they can be further aggregated to form more comprehensive indices. (go to this Page)
Industrial Systems | Industrial livestock production systems are associated with a concentration of animals into large units, generally concentrating on a single species, large volumes of waste material, high animal health risks, and less attention to animal welfare.
IPG | Industrial Pig Production
IPL | Industrial Poultry Production
IRM | Industrial Ruminant feedlot meat Production
ISL | Industrial Slaughterhouse
ITN | Industrial Tanneries

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LEIA | Low external Input Agriculture
LGA | Livestock Grassland Arid Tropics
LGH | Livestock Grassland Humid/Sub-humid Tropics
LGP | Length of Growing period
LGS | Livestock Grassland Arid Semi-Arid Tropics and Sub-Tropics
LGT | Livestock Grassland Temperate and Tropical Highlands
LLM | Livestock Landless Monogastric
LLR | Livestock Landless Ruminant
LPS | Livestock Production System
LU | Livestock Unit

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MCC | Mixed Cut and Carry
MCG | Mixed Communal Grazing
MCR | Mixed Crop Residues
MEF | Mixed External Feed
MFF | Mixed Feed from Farm

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ODA | Overseas Development Administration - now restructured to the new Department for Industrial Development DFID
OECD | Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development -member countries (excluding Turkey)

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Participatory Monitoring | Participatory monitoring is monitoring where beneficiaries of a project, or other local people, play a role in defining monitoring indicators and methods of monitoring them, and in collecting information. It can refer either to monitoring of projects and organisations, or of the environment (go to this page)
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) | PRA has been defined as "a growing family of approaches and methods to enable local people to share, enhance and analyse their knowledge of life and conditions, to plan and to act." As well as a general stress on participatory process, PRA is also known for several innovative, generally visual methods by which farmers and others can be encouraged to share information about themselves and their environment. (go to this page)
Participatory SWOT Analysis | the well-known management technique of identifying for an organisation its internal strengths and weaknesses, and the external opportunities and threats, can be used in a participatory manner with members or employees (at all levels) of an organisation. The four categories can be used as a basis for brainstorming, encouraging the freest possible flow of ideas. Such an exercise needs careful facilitation to ensure that rank and file members, or junior employees, are able to contribute freely.
Pastoralism | Predominantly extensive production system that depends for more than 50 per cent of income on livestock, includes nomads, tranhumants and semi-transhumants.
Pour-on | Pour-on treatments are applied epicutaneously to livestock for the control of ectoparasites and tsetse flies and the various diseases that they transmit.(go to this page)

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RAAKS | RAAKS (Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Knowledge Systems) is a participatory action research methodology designed to bring out social learning issues relative to agricultural innovation and to design strategies for improving it in practical situations. (go to this page)
RSPCA | Royal Society for the Prevention of cruelty to Animal

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Semi-Arid Zone | The growing period of plants is between 75 and 180 days. Progressively, biotic factors such human pressure and the resulting land use define the state of the natural resources. Agricultural areas compete with pastoral lands. The livestock systems are diverse: transhumant and semi-transhumant pastoralism, agro-pastoralism, as well as ranching.
Silage | See under Hay making
SMS | Safe Minimum Standards
SSA | Sub-Saharan Africa
Stakeholder Analysis | Stakeholder analysis is an approach for understanding a system by identifying the key actors or stakeholders in the system and assessing their respective interests in that system. Stakeholders include all those who affect, and/or are affected by, the policies, decisions and actions of the system; they can be individuals, communities, social groups or institutions of any size, aggregation or level in society. The term thus includes policy-makers, planners and administrators in government and other organisations, as well as commercial and subsistence user groups. (go to this page)
Sub-humid zone | The growing period of plants is between 180 and 270 days. The limitation of stock farming is more the quality than the quantity of pasture available. The systems are also transhumant and semi-transhumant pastoralism, sedentary grassland farming and ranching.

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TAC | Technical Advisory Committee
TLU | Tropical Livestock Unit
Tradable Emissions | An approach to limiting the global discharge of greenhouse emmissions by allowing polluters to "trade" the costs of emmissions for proactive conservation initiatives in related sectors. An example would be carbon emmissions from a power station "traded" for support to carbon sequestration in forestry.

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Zoning Policies | An approach to development planning that restricts or permits certain activities in specified land areas or zones. (go to Zoning Policies or Zoning of Rangelands)

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