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Glossary
Integrated water resources management (IWRM). The prevailing concept for water management which, however, has not been defined unambiguously. IWRM is based on four principles that were formulated by the International Conference on Water and Environment in Dublin in 1992: (1) Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and the environment; (2) Water development and management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users, planners, and policy makers at all levels; (3) Women play a central part in the provision, management, and safeguarding of water; and (4) Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized as an economic good. Irrigation water-use efficiency. Irrigation water-use efficiency is the amount of biomass or seed yield produced per unit of irrigation water applied, typically about 1 tonne of dry matter per 100 millimeters water applied. Mitigation. An anthropogenic intervention to reduce the anthropogenic forcing of the climate system; it includes strategies to reduce greenhouse gas sources and emissions and enhancing greenhouse gas sinks. Multiple-peril crop insurance (MPCI). A type of insurance that is geared toward a level of expected yield, rather than to the damage that is measured after a defined loss event. MPCI policies are best suited to perils where individual contribution to a crop loss are difficult to measure and peril impacts last over a long period of time. Yield shortfall may be determined on either an area or individual farmer basis (Roberts 2005). Net present value (NPV). Total discounted benefits less discounted costs. Projection. The potential evolution of a quality or set of quantities, often computed with the aid of a model. Projections are distinguished from predictions in order to emphasize that projections involve assumptions—concerning, for example, future socioeconomic and technological developments, that may or may not be realized—and are therefore subject to substantial uncertainty. Rangeland. Unmanaged grasslands, shrublands, savannas, and tundra. Reservoir. A component of the climate system, other than the atmosphere, that has the capacity to store, accumulate, or release a substance of concern (for example, carbon or greenhouse gas). Oceans, soils, and forests are examples of carbon reservoirs. The term also means an artificial or natural storage place for water, such as a lake, pond, or aquifer, from which the water may be withdrawn for such purposes as irrigation or water supply. Resilience. The ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for selforganization, and the capacity to adapt to stress and change. Runoff. That part of precipitation that does not evaporate and is not transpired. Scenario. A plausible and often simplified description of how the future may develop, based on a coherent and internally consistent set of assumptions about driving forces and key relationships. Scenarios may be derived from projections, Reducing the Vulnerability of Albania’s Agricultural Systems to Climate Change http://dx.doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0047-4