CLIMATE CHANGE GLOSSARY 2008

INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM

CLIMATE CHANGE GLOSSARY 2008 Terminology Used Within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other UN and National Systems

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM required to achieve this would result in many negative environmental impacts. From a local perspective, in the short term such afforestation would cause as much environmental destruction as global warming could in the long term.

Abrupt Climate Change: A change in climate over a widespread area that takes place so rapidly and unexpectedly that human and natural systems have difficulty adapting. An abrupt climate change occurs on the scale of decades, rather than centuries, and persists for years. This is presenting taking place in Greenland and Polar regions of the North and South poles.

Air pollution - Air pollution describes the presence of chemical, physical (e.g. particulate matter), or biological agents that modify the natural characteristics of the atmosphere, interfere with human health or welfare, or produce harmful environmental effects. In environmental policy, air pollution is usually addressed separately from the greenhouse effect.

The most important greenhouse gases, in contrast, do not directly act as pollutants but are harmful because of their capacity to alter the climate.

Abatement - Actions resulting in reductions to the degree or intensity of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Also referred to as mitigation Adaption or Adaptation - Adaptation is adjustment in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment. Adaption refers to adjustments in natural or human systems as a result of new or changing environment.

Adaptation is intended to reduce vulnerability to actual or anticipated climate change and variability. Within the North and global South, most national adaptation plans do not take into consideration the special adaptation needs of Indigenous Peoples.

Albedo - The fraction of solar energy (shortwave radiation) reflected from the earth’s surface back into space. When you look at the globe, you see that the clouds are mostly white but the ocean is a dark blue. The clouds have a higher albedo than the surface of the ocean. It is a measure of the reflectivity of the earth's surface. Ice, especially with snow on top of it, has a high albedo, resulting in most sunlight hitting the surface bouncing back towards space.

Water is much more absorbent and less reflective. So, if there is a lot of water, more solar radiation is absorbed by the ocean than when ice dominates, resulting in the sea water warming. Changes in land use that significantly alter the characteristics of land surfaces can therefore influence the climate through changes in albedo.

Adaption Costs - Costs of planning, preparing for, facilitating, and implementing adaption measures, including transition costs.

Adaption Fund – This is an international mechanism to finance adaption projects and programs in developing countries that are Parties to the Kyoto Protocol.

Adaptive Capacity – This is the ability of a system to adjust to climate change, variability and extremes to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences.

Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) - A coalition of some 43 low-lying and small island countries, most of which are members of the G77 that are particularly vulnerable to the potential adverse consequences of climate change such as sea-level rise, coral bleaching, and increased frequency and intensity of tropical storms.

Afforestation – This is the process of establishing a forest by artificial methods on land that is not a forest, or has not been a forest for a long time by planting trees or their seeds.

This differs from reafforestation which is the restocking of existing forests and woodlands which have been depleted. Trees absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. It has been suggested that large scale afforestation could successfully absorb the CO2 generated by the burning of the fossil fuels, coal and oil. The vast areas of afforestation

Allocation - Under an emissions trading scheme, permits to emit can initially either be given away for free to “polluters”, usually under a ‘grandfathering’ approach based on past emissions in a base year or an ‘updating’ approach based on the more recent emissions.

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM The alternative is to auction permits in an initial market offering.

solstice, and at winter solstice, the arctic sun is below the horizon for at least 24 continuous hours.

Anthropogenic Emissions - Emissions of greenhouse gasses resulting from human activities.

Avoided Deforestation - The practice of saving existing forests is called "avoided deforestation", and is not recognized as a legitimate source of CDM offsets under the Kyoto Protocol. At Bali UNFCCC in 2007, this was a contentious issue, resulting in COP Parties supporting the idea to further amend CDM rules to allow carbon offsets in avoided deforestation. Many Indigenous Peoples and forest peoples at Bali UNFCCC opposed this initiative expressing concerns the offsets markets would not recognize Indigenous People's land rights and local tenure and customary rights.

Annex I Parties -The 40 industrialized countries plus the European Economic Community (economies in transition) listed in Annex I of the UNFCCC that agreed to try to limit their GHG emissions: Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, European Economic Community, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United States.

Annex II - List established under the UNFCCC of industrialized countries, excluding economies in transition, that are to provide new and additional resources to help developing countries meet existing commitments under the UNFCCC.

Bali Action Plan – The commitment terms of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012. New climate data says deeper emission cuts are required. The goal of the UNFCCC COP/MOP in Bali in 2007 was to get an agreement from all the 187 country delegates to agree to a new accord and timetable for the next 2 years for deeper cuts. The U.S. was an obstructionists finally agreeing to a water-downed agreement with no binding commitment. The Bali Action Plan only acknowledged that deeper global emission cuts are needed, with no exact levels cited.The targets sought by Europe and others remain in the action plan — including the need for rich countries to cut emissions by 2020 up to 40 percent below 1990 levels, and a 50 percent cut in emissions globally by 2050. But these figures are now a footnote to the nonbinding preamble, not a main feature of the plan.

Annex A - A list in the Kyoto Protocol of the six greenhouse gases and the sources of emissions covered under the Kyoto Protocol.

See also "Basket of Gases."

Annex B - A list in the Kyoto Protocol of 38 countries plus the European Community that agreed to emission targets. The list is nearly identical to the Annex I Parties listed in the Convention except that it does not include Belarus or Turkey.

Baselines - The baseline estimates of population, gross domestic product (GDP), energy use and hence resultant greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) without climate policies, determine how big a reduction is required, and also what the impacts of climate change without policy will be.

Arctic – The northern polar region of Mother Earth which includes almost the whole area of the Arctic ocean and adjacent areas of Eurasian and North American continents. Technically the term “Arctic” covers the area north of the Arctic Circle, but often the term describes everything north of the tree line.

Base Year - Targets for reducing GHG emissions are often defined in relation to a base year. In the Kyoto Protocol, 1990 is the base year for most countries for the major GHGs; 1995 can be used as the base year for some of the minor GHGs.

Arctic Circle – This is the parallel of latitude that runs approximately 66.5º north of the Equator. Within the Arctic Circle, the arctic sun is above the horizon for, at least, 24 continuous hours per year at the time of the summer

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM Carbon Cycle - The natural processes that govern the exchange of carbon (in the form of CO2, carbonates and organic compounds, etc.) among the atmosphere, ocean and terrestrial systems. Major components include photosynthesis, respiration and decay between atmospheric and terrestrial systems.

Basket of Gases - This refers to the group six of greenhouse gases (GHG) regulated under the Kyoto Protocol. They are listed in Annex A of the Kyoto Protocol and include: carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

Biofuel (Agrofuel) - A fuel produced from biomass – recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts, for example, oils from palm trees and plants, methane from manure from animals and human sewage, wood from trees, agricultural products specifically grown as a fuel crop, such as corn, soybeans, flaxseed, rapeseed, etc. Waste from industry, agriculture, forestry, and households can also be used to produce bio-energy; examples include straw, lumber, garbage and food leftovers

Carbon Dioxide (CO2 ) - This is the main GHG, accounting for some 81% of Annex I countries’ GHG emissions in 1990. It is one of the six GHGs controlled by the Kyoto Protocol. A naturally occurring gas, it is also produced by natural process such as respiration, decay of vegetation or forests, and as a by-product of human activities including use of fossil fuels and biomass, as well as land-use changes and other industrial processes. It is the principal anthropogenic (human-caused) greenhouse gas that affects Mother Earth's temperature.

Capacity Building - A process of constructive interaction between developed and developing countries to help developing countries build the capability and skills needed to achieve environmentally sound forms of economic development. Under current negotiations, capacity building should assist developing countries to build, develop, strengthen, enhance and improve their capabilities to achieve the objective of the Convention and their participation in the Kyoto Protocol process.

Within current UNFCCC negotiations, Indigenous Peoples are excluded in capacity building mechanisms.

Carbon Market - A popular term for a trading system through which countries may buy or sell units of greenhouse gas emissions(not just carbon dioxide) in an effort to meet their national limits on emissions, either under the Kyoto Protocol or under other agreements, such as that among member states of the European Union. The term comes from the fact that carbon dioxide is the predominant greenhouse gas and other gases are measured in units called ‘carbondioxide equivalents’.

Carbon Sequestration – This is the storage of carbon or carbon dioxide in the forests, soils, ocean, or underground in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, coal seams and saline aquifers.

Examples include: the separation and storage of CO2 from flue gases or the processing of fossil fuels to produce H2; and the direct removal of CO2 from the atmosphere through land-use change, afforestation, reforestation, ocean fertilization, and agricultural practices to enhance soil carbon.

Carbon Capture and Storage, or CSS (Sequestration) - Capture of carbon dioxide (CO2 )emitted from large point sources, compression, transportation and injection into underground geological formations for longterm storage. Carbon capture and storage (sequestration) is an approach to mitigate global warming by CO2 from large point sources such as fossil fuel power plants and storing it instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. Although CO2 has been injected into geological formations for various purposes, the long term storage of CO2 is a relatively untried concept and as yet (2008) no large scale power plant operates with a full carbon capture and storage (sequestration) system.

Carbon Sinks - Natural or man-made systems that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store them. Carbon sinks are areas that absorb and hold onto lots of carbon dioxide – oceans, soil, plants and forests. A carbon “sink” can become a carbon “source.” For example, a growing forest is a carbon sink as it absorbs more carbon than it releases. But when it burns, it becomes a carbon “source” as it releases lots !4

INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM of carbon into the atmosphere. (See “Carbon cycle.”). The concept of carbon sinks is based on the natural ability of trees, other plants and the soil to soak up carbon dioxide and temporarily store the carbon in wood, roots, leaves and the soil. Another important carbon store are fossil fuel deposits. But this particular carbon store, buried deep inside the earth, is naturally separated from the carbon cycling in the atmosphere unless humans decide to release it into the atmosphere when it is mined, or burn fossil fuels like coal, oil or natural gas. This process has seen greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere soar to levels more than 30% higher than at the beginning of the industrial revolution. And through our current greenhouse gas emissions, we are still adding at least 6 billion tons of carbon per year to the atmospheric carbon cycle, significantly altering the intricate web of carbon fluxes, and as a consequence, altering the global climate.

CH4. Methane - The second most common gas in the basket of six GHGs controlled by the Kyoto Protocol.

Climate Change - Climate change is a change in the “average weather” that a given region experiences. When we speak of climate change on a global scale, we are referring to changes in the climate of Mother Earth as a whole, including temperature increases (global warming) or decreases, and shifts in wind patterns and precipitation.

Commitment Period - The period under the Kyoto Protocol during which Annex I Parties' GHG emissions, averaged over the period, must stay within their emission targets. The first commitment period covers 2008-2012.

Conference of the Parties (COP) - This is the supreme body of the UNFCCC, charged with the task of regularly reviewing implementation of the Convention and any related instruments, such as the Kyoto Protocol. The COP meets annually.

Carbon Tax - A tax placed on carbon emissions.

It is similar to a BTU tax, except that the tax rate is based on the fuel’s carbon content.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) - The Clean Development Mechanism was added at a late stage of the UNFCCC negotiations that culminated in the Kyoto Protocol. The CDM goes back to a Brazilian proposal to create a “Clean Development Fund” as part of the Kyoto Protocol. This proposal, supported by G77 and China, was based upon penalizing those industrialized countries not complying with the emission targets set in the Kyoto Protocol. The resources of the fund were to be made available to non-industrialized developing countries for use in climate change mitigation projects (90%) and projects to help countries fight the consequences of climate change, such as floods, droughts – the so-called adaptation projects.

Industrialized countries opposed this idea. The Clean Development Mechanism was created as a compromise. Unlike the fund, the mechanism is not linked to compliance of industrialized countries with their emission targets; rather, it aims to achieve climate change mitigation through a market-based approach: industrialized countries receive emission rights in exchange for financing emission abatement projects in the South.

COP/MOP - Conference of the Parties (COP) serving as the Meeting of the Parties (MOP) to the Kyoto Protocol. To avoid duplication, the COP will serve as the MOP. Parties to the UNFCCC that are not Parties to the Protocol will be able to participate in the COP/MOP as observers.

CO2 Tax - A compulsory tax levied on fuels in accordance with their carbon content, with the aim to encourage using less carbon-intensive fuels and to reduce energy consumption.

Deforestation - Deforestation is the long-term removal of trees from an area because of cutting and burning to provide land for agriculture purposes and other changes in land use, such as roads, residential, recreational and industrial use.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by photosynthesis, helping to regulate the greenhouse effect. Deforestation releases significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere because of soil disturbance, burning, and removal of above ground biomass from the ecosystem.

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM Desertification – This is long-term damage to dry lands, especially in arid or semi-arid regions bordering existing deserts, caused by drought and by human activities such as commercial agricultural activities, over cultivation, western forms of development, mining, deforestation, and poor irrigation practices that turn the land into a desert, unable to grow anything. Existing dry lands, which cover over 40% of the total land area of the world, mainly in Africa and Asia, are most at risk for desertification resulting from drought caused by climate change.

atmosphere. The Kyoto Protocol mandates caps on the GHG emissions released by developed countries listed in Annex B. Climate policy legislation within the United States are currently proposing “cap” proposals to cap CO2 emissions.

Emissions Permit - The phrase emissions permit is sometimes used to refer to the nontransferable or tradable entitlement bestowed by an administrative authority (intergovernmental organization, central or local government agency) to a regional (country, sub-national) or a sectoral (an individual corporation firm) entity to emit a pollutant within specified constraints.

In some settings, an emissions permit is required for activities that create emissions, and the operator responsible for emissions must acquire and surrender emissions allowances in amount equal to actual emissions.

Economies in Transition (EIT) - A term within the UNFCCC used to describe countries of the former Soviet bloc - the Soviet Union itself and the formerly communist states of central and eastern Europe - that are now in transition to a market economy. These countries are expected to be the location of choice for many JI projects under the Kyoto Protocol on cost grounds.

Emissions Reduction Unit (ERU) - An ERU represents one ton of CO2 - equivalent greenhouse gas emissions reductions to be achieved through a Joint Implementation (JI) project.

Ecosystem – The community of all of the living things in an area. It includes surroundings, plus all the ways in which the living things interact with each other and their surroundings.

Emissions Trading - The Kyoto Protocol established provisions for an emissions trading system that allows industrialized countries (Annex 1 Parties) to buy and sell emission credits to other Annex 1 Parties. This trading scheme is likely to involve private companies.

Countries that keep emissions below their agreed target will be able to sell the excess emission credits to countries that find it more difficult or more expensive to meet their own targets. One of the main concerns is that the Kyoto targets of some countries are so low that they can be met with minimal effort. These countries could then sell large quantities of emission credits (known as ‘Hot Air’). The rules of this trading system have not yet been decided.

El Niño - A climatic phenomenon occurring every 5 to 7 years during the Christmas season (El Niño means Christ child) in the surface oceans of the southeast Pacific. The phenomenon involves seasonal changes in the direction of Pacific winds and abnormally warm surface ocean temperatures. The changes normally only affect the Pacific region, but major El Niño events can disrupt weather patterns over much of the globe. The relationships between these events and global weather patterns are poorly understood and are currently the subject of much research.

Emissions - The release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere over a specified area and period of time. Most commonly, emission refers to a substance discharged into the air, especially exhaust gases resulting from the combustion of fuels.

Energy – Energy comes in different forms – heat (thermal), light (radiant), mechanical, electrical, chemical, and nuclear. There are two types of energy – stored (potential) energy and working (kinetic) energy. For example, the energy from the food that you eat is stored in your body as chemical energy until you use it.

Much of the energy we use comes from nonrenewable sources such as fossil fuels (coal, oil

Emissions Cap - A mandated restraint, in a scheduled time frame, that puts a ‘ceiling’ on the total amount of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that can be released into the

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM and gas). Renewable energy sources include solar power, wind power and hydroelectric power (within many Indigenous and local communities, hydroelectric dams results in environmental damages and land lost that outweighs renewable energy benefits).

National GHG Inventories provide a broad, nonprescriptive definition of forest lands, but leave it to individual countries to decide which of their lands they will designate as forest.

Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) A new initiative launched on December 11, 2007 in Bali at the UNFCCC by the World Bank to address the destruction of forests. The PCPF is designed to "test the feasibility" of different market-based approaches to avoided deforestation. It is set to be officially launched in Bali, and pilot projects have already been proposed for Papua New Guinea, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Brazil, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Energy Efficiency - Energy efficiency (or energy intensity) describes the relationship between energy use and service output.

Improving energy efficiency is generally seen as a powerful tool for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Energy Efficiency Standards - Energy efficiency standards are procedures and regulations on the energy performance of manufactured products, sometimes prohibiting the sale of products less energy efficient than the minimum standard, often called minimum energy performance standards (MEPS). Energy efficiency standards can be complemented by energy efficiency labels, which provide consumers with data necessary for making informed purchases, by giving information on energy use, efficiency, and/or cost.

Fossil Fuels - Carbon-based fuels include coal, natural gas and petroleum products (such as oil) formed from the decayed bodies of animals and plants that died millions of years ago. Fossil fuels are considered as nonrenewable, as their formation requires geological time periods. The combustion of fossil fuels leads to an increase in the atmosphere’s CO2 content, since carbon that was stored in Mother Earths’ crust over very long periods of time is released within a very short time period.

Flexible Mechanisms - Rather than relying on domestic action to meet the modest targets contained in the Kyoto Protocol, governments of the industrialized countries decided that they needed ‘flexibility’ in achieving national emission reduction targets. They therefore agreed to include three flexible mechanisms in the Kyoto Protocol to ‘help’ them achieve their obligations through carbon trading and emission reduction activities abroad rather than domestically.

G8 - G8 is an international annual forum formed by the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. It is an informal organization without an administrative structure or a permanent secretariat. The G8 reinforced that the UNFCCC will remain the appropriate forum for negotiating future global action on climate change at their meeting in Heiligendamm in 2007.

Forest - Key to the identification of Kyoto lands is a definition of forest that is consistent for all Parties. This definition is critical to the accounting of sources and sinks under the Kyoto Protocol (Articles 3.3 and 3.4). There are many definitions of forest, based on land-use status (administrative/cultural records) or a minimum threshold of canopy cover and/or tree height.

None, however, were specifically designed for carbon accounting as required under the Protocol. This definition and the implications of using different definitions are addressed in detail in Chapter 3 of the IPCC Special Report on LULUCF. The IPCC 2006 Guidelines for

G77. Group of 77 (and China) – This is the main negotiating group of developing countries within the UN system. Despite its name, it represents more than 130 countries.

Geothermal Energy – Power generated by the harnessing of heat from the interior of Mother Earth when it comes to, or closes to Mother Earth’s surface. The regions with highest underground temperatures are in areas with active or geologically young volcanoes, but also include geysers and hot spring areas. Many

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM Indigenous Peoples, from northern California, Nevada and Hawaii opposed large-scale geothermal energy developments. Indigenous beliefs recognize these geothermal sites as sacred areas.

are now trapping too much heat. This is sometimes called the enhanced greenhouse effect.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) - Many chemical compounds, including water vapor, found in Mother Earth’s atmosphere act as greenhouse gases. These gases allow sunlight to enter the atmosphere freely. When sunlight strikes the Earth’s surface, some of it is reflected back towards space as infrared radiation (heat).

Greenhouse gases absorb this infrared radiation and trap the heat in the atmosphere, leading to the greenhouse effect. These gases occur through both natural and human-influenced processes. Primary GHGs include carbon dioxide but also includes nitrous oxide, methane, ozone and CFCs. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - The total market value of all final goods and services produced in a country in a given year, equal to total consumer, investment and government spending, plus the value of exports, minus the value of imports

Glacier – A very large body of ice moving slowly down a slope or valley or spreading outward on a land surface Global Environment Facility (GEF) - A jointly funded Program established by developed countries at the time of the Rio Summit to meet their obligations under various international environmental treaties. GEF serves as the interim financial mechanism for the UNFCCC, in particular to cover the cost of reporting by non-Annex I countries.

Global Warming - This is the increase in Mother Earth’s temperature, in part due to emissions of greenhouse gases associated with human activities such as burning fossil fuels, biomass burning, deforestation and other landuse changes.

Habitat – The natural environment of a plant or animal, including its food supply, climate, and shelter.

Global Warming Potential (GWP) - Term used to describe the relative potency, molecule for molecule, of a GHG, taking account of how long it remains active in the atmosphere. The GWPs currently used are those calculated over 100 years. Carbon dioxide is taken as the gas of reference, with a 100-year GWP of 1.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) - Family of industrial gases included in the basket of six GHGs controlled by the Kyoto Protocol. HFCs have replaced ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in many applications but are powerful GHGs.

GHG emissions – This is the greenhouse gases we discharge into the air. The major emission adding to the greenhouse effect is CO2 , but other emissions, such as methane and nitrous oxide, absorb energy more efficiently than CO2 and thus have a higher impact per amount emitted.

Hydropower - Hydropower has been considered a renewable source of energy that uses the force of moving water to create electricity. Generally, the water is dammed and released in controlled amounts through a system of turbines. Large-scale hydropower currently accounts for about 20% of the world’s electricity supply. Globally, most Indigenous peoples have opposed hydropower dams.

Greenhouse Effect – The burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas releases a number of gases. Gases released from burning fossil fuels are greenhouse gases, which act like a blanket around Mother Earth, trapping heat and warming the earth's atmosphere. This effect allows incoming solar energy to pass through Mother Earth’s atmosphere, but preventing most of the outgoing heat from Mother Earth from escaping into outer space. Unfortunately, because of excess GHG emissions, the GHGs

Intergovernmental Organization (IGOs) Organizations constituted of governments.

Examples include The World Bank, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), etc. The UNFCC allows accreditation of these IGOs to attend the negotiating sessions.

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM Kyoto Target - Kyoto target is the rate of reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by industrialized countries, fixed in Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol. Kyoto targets are defined as percentage reductions from the base year (for most countries: 1990) to the average of the fiveyear period for 2008-2012.

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - The IPCC is widely regarded as the most authoritative international voice on the science and impacts of climate change. The panel was established in 1988 by governments under the auspices of the World Meteorological Organization and the UN Environment Program (UNEP). It prepares assessments, reports and guidelines on: the science of climate change and its potential environmental, economic and social impacts; technological developments; possible national and international responses to climate change; and cross-cutting issues. Four Assessment Reports have been completed in 1990, 1995, 2001 and the most recent, November 2007, titled, the “Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007.

Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry LULUCF) - A range of activities which can act either as carbon sinks or as emission sources.

This area remains subject to considerable scientific and other uncertainties and risks. Many Indigenous forums within the UNFCCC have denounced carbon sinks and carbon/emissions trading systems.

Market-Based Incentives - Measures intended to use price mechanisms (e.g., taxes and tradable emissions permits) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Joint Implementation (JI) - Within the Kyoto Protocol, this mechanism allows industrialized countries or companies from those countries to gain credits for financing emission reduction projects in other industrialized countries.

Reporting rules, monitoring guidelines and the extent to which credits can be gained from ‘carbon sinks’ have not yet been decided.

Methane – A colorless, odorless, non-toxic gas that is produced by organic matter decomposing in an environment without much oxygen – a landfill or a swamp, for instance. Methane is one of the greenhouse gases, and is the main ingredient in natural gas. Methane is also a biogas fuel a renewable energy source, increasingly used as a source of power on large farms where there is lots of animal manure.

Kyoto Protocol - The protocol, drafted during the Berlin Mandate process, requires countries listed in its Annex B (developed nations) to meet differentiated reduction targets for their emissions of a ‘basket’ of greenhouse gases (see ‘Kyoto Basket’) relative to 1990 levels by 2008– 12. It was adopted by all Parties to the UNFCCC in Kyoto, Japan in December 1997 and entered into force on February 16, 2005.The Kyoto Protocol is the international plan to reduce climate change pollution. As of November 2007, 174 countries have signed and ratified the protocol. It sets targets for industrialized countries (Annex 1 Parties) to cap and reduce their pollution, and gives them flexibility as to how they can reach these targets. The KP was the mechanism that established the international carbon trading market. Developing countries participate in the KP in a number of ways, including through the Clean Development Mechanism CDM). The first commitment period of the KP runs from 2008 to 2012, and future commitment period targets are being negotiated now.

Model (Climate) – A climate model is a method of simulating the behavior of the climate, to provide a picture of past climates, and to predict future climate change. The basic laws and other relationships necessary to model the climate are expressed as a series of mathematical equations. The climate however, is a very complex system, and climate models require supercomputers to calculate the complicated interactions between landforms, atmosphere and emotions.

Montreal Protocol - International agreement under UNEP which entered into force in January 1989 to phase out the use of ozone-depleting compounds such as CFCs, halons, methyl chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, HCFCs and methyl bromide.

MOP (Meeting of the Parties) - A commonly used but incorrect name for the COP/MOP. See

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM ‘Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties’.

of energy (oil, gas and coal) produce greenhouse gases when they are used.

National Action Plans - Plans submitted to the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP) by all Parties outlining the steps that they have adopted to limit their anthropogenic (humancaused) GHG emissions. Countries must submit these plans as a condition of participating in the UNFCCC and, subsequently, must communicate their progress to the COP regularly. The National Action Plans form part of the National Communications which include the national inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) sources and sinks. In countries that have Indigenous Peoples, most National Action Plans do not specifically address Indigenous Peoples , lands and territories.

Nuclear Energy- Nuclear energy is produced by nuclear fission inside a nuclear reactor. The technology is dependent on a nonrenewable resource (uranium) and does not produce any direct greenhouse gas emissions. A legacy of contaminated uranium mines and human exposure as well as proposed nuclear waste disposal in Indigenous lands has resulted in opposition by Indigenous Peoples to nuclear energy.

Observers - Agencies, non-governmental organizations, and governments that are not Parties to the UNFCCC Convention which are permitted to attend, but not vote, at meetings of the COP and its subsidiary bodies. Observers may include the UN specialized agencies; other intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) such as the International Atomic Energy Agency; and accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Indigenous peoples and Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPOs) are accredited as NGO’s.

National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA) In 2001, COP-7 of the UNFCCC established the National Adaptation Plans of Action (NAPAs) program to provide a process for Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to identify and prioritize their adaptation needs.

Non-Governmental Organization, or NGO NGOs can include accredited non-profit organizations and associations from business and industry, environmental groups, cities and municipalities, academics and social and activist organizations. Under the UN, NGOs must be accredited to observe its activities and, to do so, they must meet certain qualifications. Many Indigenous Peoples Organizations have UN ECOSOC Category II Non-Governmental Organization consultative status.

Oil – Oil (sometimes called petroleum) is formed from the decayed remains of animals and plants. Under the influence of heat and pressure, the decayed matter breaks down first into liquids and into gases. Both the liquid (petroleum) and gas phases (natural gas) collect in pools under Mother Earth’s surface. After a drilling and pumping process to extract it, oil is refined and turned into a variety of petroleum-based products.

Nitrous Oxide (N2O) - One of the six GHGs controlled by the Kyoto Protocol. A colorless, non-flammable gas with a sweetish odor, commonly known as “laughing gas”. N2O is sometimes used as an anesthetic. Oceans and rainforests naturally produce nitrous oxide.

Nitrous oxide is produced by a range of human activities including: nylon and nitric acid production; the use of fertilizers in agriculture, use of catalytic converters in cars and the burning of organic matter. As are carbon dioxide and methane, nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas.

Non-Renewable Energy – Energy that can be used only once. Most non-renewable sources

Organization for Economic CoOperation and Development (OECD) Founded in 1961, the OECD currently is comprised of 30 developed countries committed to democracy and a market economy. The OECD allows international co-operation for policy comparison and the exchange of good practice, as well as outreach to non-OECD countries. The OECD maintains extensive databases of world statistical, economic, and social data.

Ozone Layer Ozonosphere - The ozonosphere is the lower region of the stratosphere, 15—25 kilometers above Mother

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM Earth’s surface, in which there is an appreciable ozone concentration. It is also termed the ozone layer. The ozone of the ozonosphere acts as a greenhouse gas.

Ratification - Formal approval, often by a Parliament or Congress (USA) or other national legislature, of a convention, protocol, or treaty, enabling a country to become a Party.

Ratification is a separate process that occurs after a country has signed an agreement. The instrument of ratification must be deposited with a ‘depositary’ (in the case of the UNFCCC, the UN Secretary-General) to start the countdown to becoming a Party (in the case of the Convention, the countdown is 90 days).

Permafrost – The layer of permanently frozen ground that underlies nearly half of Canada and northern areas of Alaska, existing wherever ground temperatures remain below 0º C (on average) throughout the year, and where summer heat fails to reach it.

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation (RED) and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) – RED/REDD is a new means to stimulate an international market in carbon credits from ‘reduced deforestation’ and extend CDM carbon offsets to avoided deforestation initiatives. Many Indigenous Peoples and forest peoples of the Global south are opposed to these initiatives.

Petroleum products – Petroleum is another word for oil (see “Oil”). After being pumped up from the earth, petroleum is refined and turned into many products, including kerosene, benzene, gasoline, paraffin wax, and asphalt.

Other materials that we use every day, like plastic and nylon, are also petroleum-based products.

Photosynthesis – The process by which green plants use light to synthesize organic compounds from carbon dioxide and water. In the process, oxygen and water are released.

Plants create a very important reservoir (or “sink”) for carbon dioxide. See “Carbon cycle” for more on this.

Reflectivity – The fraction of solar energy reflected from a surface (as compared to the fraction that is absorbed by the surface). See also “albedo.”

Reforestation - The act or process of reestablishing a forest on land that had been deforested in the last 50 years. Under the Kyoto Protocol, the reforested land, as example, has to have been deforested before 1990 to prevent logging companies from cashing in on their own damage, and buyers can only use forestry to offset 1% of their emissions per year, or 5% over the course of the Kyoto process – despite the fact that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says deforestation accounts for as much as 25% of global carbon emissions.

Photovoltaic cells – Cells, usually made of specially-treated silicon that transfers solar energy from the sun to electrical energy.

Precipitation – Rain, hail, mist, sleet, snow or any other moisture that falls to the earth.

Primary Energy Consumption - Primary energy consumption is all energy consumed by end users, plus losses that occur in the generation, transmission, and distribution of energy. To prevent double counting, primary energy consumption excludes electricity but includes the energy consumed at electric utilities to generate electricity.

Protocol - An international agreement linked to an existing convention, but as a separate and additional agreement which must be signed and ratified by the Parties to the convention concerned. Protocols typically strengthen a convention by adding new, more detailed commitments.

Renewables - Energy sources that are constantly renewed by natural process. These include noncarbon technologies such as solar energy, hydropower and wind as well as technologies based on biomass. Life cycle analyses are required to assess the extent to which such biomass-based technologies may limit net carbon emissions.

Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change - The United Nations staff assigned the responsibility of conducting the affairs of the UNFCCC. In

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM 1996 the Secretariat moved from Geneva, Switzerland, to Bonn, Germany.

from the sun, shading and cooling the Earth's surface (see "radiative forcing") and thus offset some of the warming historically caused by greenhouse gases.

Sequestration – (See Carbon Capture and Storage, or CSS) Process to remove atmospheric CO2, either through biological processes (e.g. plants and trees), or geological processes through storage of CO2 in underground reservoirs.

Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) - SF6 is among the six types of greenhouse gases to be curbed under the Kyoto Protocol. SF6 is a synthetic industrial gas largely used in heavy industry to insulate high-voltage equipment and to assist in the manufacturing of cable-cooling systems.

There are no natural sources of SF6. SF6 has an atmospheric lifetime of 3,200 years.

Sustainable Development - Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Sinks (see Carbon Sinks) Small-Scale Hydro – Small hydro-electric power generating projects that vary in size from 5 kw to 30 MW, which either use a “run-of-theriver” turbine, or a small dam to generate power.

Source - Any process or activity that results in the net release of greenhouse gases, aerosols, or precursors of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Stratosphere: The region of the Earth's atmosphere 10-50 km above the surface of the planet.

Taiga – Taiga is another word for boreal forest.

Taiga exists in northern areas that have 40-100 centimeters per year of precipitation, much of it snow. The forest contains conifer species (Abies, Picea, Larix, and Pinus), and some deciduous trees. Ground cover is mostly mosses and lichens.

Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI - A permanent body established by the UNFCCC that makes recommendations to the COP on policy and implementation issues. It is open to participation by all Parties and is composed of government representatives.

Targets and Timetables - Targets refer to the emission levels or emission rates set as goals for countries, sectors, companies, or facilities.

When these goals are to be reached by specified years, the years at which goals are to be met are referred to as the timetables. In the Kyoto Protocol, a target is the percent reduction from the 1990 emissions baseline that the country has agreed to. On average, developed countries agreed to reduce emissions by 5.2% below 1990 emissions during the period 2008-2012, the first commitment period.

Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) - A permanent body established by the UNFCCC that serves as a link between expert information sources such as the IPCC and the COP. Sub Arctic – Sub arctic regions lie just south of the Arctic Circle, characterized by very cold winters, and brief, often warm, summers. This kind of climate offers some of the most extreme seasonal temperature variations found on the planet. In winter, temperature can drop to -40º and in summer, the temperature may rise to 30º C above zero. Vegetation in sub arctic climates is usually sparse, as only hardy species can survive the long winter and make use of the short summer.

Temperate Rain Forest - Forests in regions with mild climate and heavy rainfall that produce lush vegetative growth; one example is the coniferous forest of the Pacific Northwest of North America.

Tidal Energy – Tidal changes in sea level can be used to generate electricity by constructing dams across coastal bays or estuaries which have large differences between low and high tides.

The difference in water levels creates water pressure that can drive turbines, creating electricity.

Sulfate Aerosols - Sulfur-based particles derived from emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) from the burning of fossil fuels (particularly coal). Sulfate aerosols reflect incoming light !12

INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM Tundra – Tundra is the open Arctic terrain between the treelike and the ice regions of the far north. Shrubs and small vegetation grow on the tundra that covers much of Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and northern Yukon and northern Alaska.

Vector-Borne Disease - Disease that results from an infection transmitted to humans and other animals by blood-feeding anthropoids, such as mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas. Examples of vector-borne diseases include Dengue fever, viral encephalitis, Lyme disease, and malaria.

Turbine – A mechanism that spins to create power. It is made up of a rotor with blades or cups. Moving water, air, steam or gases turn the blades or cups. This spinning action activates a generator to create electricity.

Water Cycle – The water cycle is the movement of water from the surface of bodies of water, to the atmosphere, to precipitation. Water vapor enters the atmosphere by evaporation from surface bodies of water and from plants and trees. When the air becomes saturated, excess water vapor is released as condensation.

This condensation is the source of all clouds and precipitation. The cycle of evaporation, condensation and precipitation is called the water cycle of the earth and atmosphere.

Vulnerability – This is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - A treaty signed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro that calls for the "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system." The treaty includes a nonbinding call for developed countries to return their emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000.

The treaty took effect in March 1994 upon ratification by more than 50 countries. The United States was the first industrialized nation to ratify the Convention.

Weather - Describes the short-term (i.e., hourly and daily) state of the atmosphere.

Weather is not the same as climate.

Wetlands – Areas that are neither fully terrestrial nor fully aquatic. In wetlands, the water table is at, near, or above the land surface, or the area is saturated for long periods. These wetlands provide important homes to rare or threatened species, particularly birds.

Wind Power – Air moves around Mother Earth because of the differences in temperature and atmospheric pressure that exist. Wind turbines harness the movement of air to produce energy. The wind turns the blades, which turn a rotor shaft. This produces mechanical power used to drive an electric generator.

Umbrella Group - Negotiating group within the UNFCCC process comprising the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Iceland, Russia and Ukraine.

Contact: Indigenous Environmental Network P.O. Box 485, Bemidji, MN 56619 USA Tel: + 1 218 751-4967 E-mail: mien@igc.org

Urban Heat Island (UHI) - Refers to the tendency for urban areas to have warmer air temperatures than the surrounding rural landscape, due to the low albedo of streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and buildings. These surfaces absorb solar radiation during the day and release it at night, resulting in higher night temperatures. Large percentages of Indigenous Peoples have either been relocated or voluntarily moved to city urban areas, living in poverty, and experiencing health and economic effects of urban heat islands.

Energy/Climate organizer: E-mail: ienenergy@igc.org Canada contact: E-mail: ienoil@igc.org

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INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK –NATIVE ENERGY and CLIMATE CHANGE PROGRAM

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