EEA Glossary

Glossary
A
ASEF - Asia-Europe Foundation
Assessment - Formal efforts to assemble selected knowledge with a view toward making it publicly available in a form intended to be useful for decision-making (Mitchell and others 2006). By ‘formal’ the definition requires that the assessment should be sufficiently organised to identify components such as products, participants and issuing authority. ‘Selected knowledge’ indicates that the content has a defined scope or purpose and that not all information compiled and contributed is necessarily included in the report. The sources of knowledge may vary. While results from research and scientific knowledge predominate, assessments can supplement this with local, traditional or indigenous knowledge. Further, assessments can evaluate both existing information and research conducted expressly for the purpose. The definition also notes the importance of ensuring that assessments are in the public domain, as they may influence public debate and different types of decision-makers.
Assessments - Formal efforts to assemble selected knowledge with a view toward making it publicly available in a form intended to be useful for decision-making (Mitchell and others 2006). By ‘formal’ the definition requires that the assessment should be sufficiently organised to identify components such as products, participants and issuing authority. ‘Selected knowledge’ indicates that the content has a defined scope or purpose and that not all information compiled and contributed is necessarily included in the report. The sources of knowledge may vary. While results from research and scientific knowledge predominate, assessments can supplement this with local, traditional or indigenous knowledge. Further, assessments can evaluate both existing information and research conducted expressly for the purpose. The definition also notes the importance of ensuring that assessments are in the public domain, as they may influence public debate and different types of decision-makers.
B
BAP - Biodiversity Action Plan
C
CAFE - Clean Air forEurope
CBD - Convention on Biological Diversity
CEHAPE - Children's Environment and Health Action Plan forEurope
CITES - Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
CLRTAP - Convention on Long-rangeTransboundaryAir Pollution
COP - conference of the parties
CORINE - Coordination of Information on the Environment
Credibility - It is concerned with whether the knowledge assembled in the assessment is believed to be valid. An assessment gains credibility and authority by virtue of its information, methods and procedures. Source: Marine AoA
D
DG - Directorate General
DG ENV - Directorate General for Environment of the European Commission
DG SANCO - Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection of the European Commission
DIMESA - Directors' meeting for environmental statistics and accounts
DPSIR - The causal framework for describing the interactions between society and the environment adopted by the European Environment Agency: driving forces, pressures, states, impacts, responses (extension of the PSR model developed by OECD). Source: EEA glossary. For more information download the DPSIR/Typology matrix
E
E'H - Environment and health
E-PRTR - European Pollutants Release and Transfer Register
EAP - Environment Action Programme
EBD - environmental burden of disease
EBONE - European Biodiversity Observation Network
EC - European Commission
ECDC - European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
ECMWF - European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
EEA - European Economic Association
EEAC - European Environment Advisory Committee
EEC - European Economic Community
EFTA - European Free Trade Association
EHIS - Environmental Health Information Services
EIONET - European environment information and observation network
EMAS - Eco-Management and Audit Scheme
EMEP - European Monitoring and EvaluationProgramme
EMODNET - European Marine Observation and Data Network
ENCA Network - Network of Heads of European Nature Conservation Agencies
ENEA - European Network of Environmental Authorities
ENP - European Neighbourhood Policy
EPA - United States Environmental Protection Agency
EPA Network - Network of the Heads of Environment Protection Agencies
EPER - European pollutant emission register
ESD - Education for sustainable development
ESPON2013 - European observation network for territorial development
ETC/ACC - European Topic Centre on Air and Climate Change
ETC/BD - European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity
ETC/RWM - European Topic Centre on Resource and Waste Management
ETC/WTR - European Topic Centre onWater
ETR - environmental tax reform
ETS - Emissions Trading Scheme
EU - European Union
EUCC - European Union Coastal Conservation
EUNIS - European Nature Information System
EURECA - European Ecosystem Assessment
Ecosystem - An ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and micro-organism communities and the non-living environment interacting as a functional unit. Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005
Ecosystems - An ecosystem is a dynamic complex of plant, animal, and micro-organism communities and the non-living environment interacting as a functional unit. Source: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) - Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is the term applied to the systematic examination of the likely impacts of development proposals on the environment prior to the beginning of any activity.
Eurostat/ESTAT - Statistical Office of the European Communities
G
GDP - gross domestic product
GEO - Global Environment Outlook
GEOSS - Global Earth Observation System of Systems
GHG - greenhouse gas
GHS - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globally_Harmonized_System
GMES - Global Monitoring for the Environment and Security. European Initiative for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation.
GMO - Genetically modified organism
H
H2020 - Horizon 2020
HELCOM - Helsinki Commission - Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission
I
IEA - International Energy Agency
IHPA - International HCH and Pesticides Association
IMS - Indicator Management Systems
INSPIRE - Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe. established by Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2007. INSPIRE aims at making available relevant, harmonised and quality geographic information to support formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and activities which have a direct or indirect impact on the environment. Source: EC INSPIRE Geoportal http://www.inspire-geoportal.eu/index.cfm
IOMC - Inter-Organization Programme for the Sound Management of Chemicals
IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IPPC - Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
IRENA - International Renewable Energy Agency
Impact assessment - Assessment that identifies and characterizes the impacts of human activities and/or natural pressures on ecosystems and society. Source: Marine AoA
Impact assessments - Assessments that identify and characterize the impacts of human activities and/or natural pressures on ecosystems and society. Source: Marine AoA
Integrated assessment - Assessment that integrates across environmental, economic and social aspects, across industry sectors, and across ecosystem components (which may include land-based sources of inputs as well as land-based industries that depend on marine resources). Source: Marine AoA
Integrated assessments - Assessments that integrate across environmental, economic and social aspects, across industry sectors, and across ecosystem components (which may include land-based sources of inputs as well as land-based industries that depend on marine resources). Source: Marine AoA
J
JRC - Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
L
LIFE - EU Financial Instrument for the Environment
LRTAP - Long-rangeTransboundaryAir Pollution
Legitimacy - A measure of the acceptability or perceived fairness of an assessment. A legitimate assessment is one that has been conducted in a manner that allows users to be satisfied that their interests have been taken into account appropriately and that the process has been fair. Source: Marine AoA
M
MA - Millennium ecosystem Assessment
MAP - Mediterranean Action Plan
MED POL - pollution monitoring and assessment programme - Mediterranean region
MFA1 - Material Flow Analysis
MFA2 - Material Flow Accounting
Metadata - Data about data. Source: EEA glossary
N
NAMEA - National Accounting Matrices including Environmental accounts
NEC - National Emission Ceilings
NESIS - Network to enhance a European Environment Shared and Interoperable Information System
NFP - National Focal Point
NGO - Non-governmental organization
O
OECD - Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
OSCE - Organisation for Security and Co-operation inEurope
OSPAR - Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of theNorth-East Atlantic
P
PRELUDE - PRospectiveEnvironmental analysis of Land Use Development inEurope
PRTR - http://www.prtr.de/
Process - Institutional arrangements established to govern, guide and conduct the assessment and to ensure that the mandate and procedures are followed. Source: Marine AoA
Product - It includes both the expert reports/summaries/scenarios and underlying data and information used in the analyses. Source: Marine AoA
R
REACH - Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals
RTD - Research and Technological Development
Relevance - It denotes the ability of an assessment to address the particular concerns of those using it. It is also referred to as ‘salience’. An assessment is relevant if the user is aware of it and it informs his/her decisions or behaviour. Source: Marine AoA
Reportnet - Eionet’s infrastructure for supporting and improving data and information flows. Reportnet is based on a set of inter-related tools and processes which all build on the active use of the World Wide Web.
Response assessment - Assessment that identifies and evaluates measures that reduce human contributions or vulnerabilities to environmental changes. It can focus on potential future response options and evaluate their risks and likely outcomes, or they may evaluate the effectiveness of policies and measures already adopted. Source: Marine AoA.
Response assessments - Assessments that identify and evaluate measures that reduce human contributions or vulnerabilities to environmental changes. They can focus on potential future response options and evaluate their risks and likely outcomes, or they may evaluate the effectiveness of policies and measures already adopted. Source: Marine AoA.
S
SAICM - Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management
SCOUT - Sustainable Consumption andOUTlookand scenarios forEurope
SCP - sustainable consumption and production
SD - sustainable development
SDS - safety data sheets
SEBI - Streamlining European Biodiversity Indicators
SEEAW - System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water
SEIS - Shared Environmental Information System forEurope
SMES - Small and Medium Enterprises
SOER - The European Environment - State and outlook
Sectoral assessment - Assessment that addresses a particular sector of human activity. Source: Marine AoA
Sectoral assessments - Assessments that address a particular sector of human activity. Source: Marine AoA
Status and trend (or process) assessment - Assessments that typically describe the present and changing status of ecosystems. Source: Marine AoA
Stern report - Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
Strategic Impact Assessment (SIA) - Strategic Impact Assessment (SIA), also known as Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), is the assessment of the wider environmental, social and economic impacts of alternative proposals at the beginning of a project.
T
TEEB - The Economics of Ecosystems ' Biodiversity
TERM - Transport and environment reporting mechanism
TOBIN - Tobin Tax
Thematic assessment - Assessment that focuses on a theme or issue other than a single sector of human activity. Source: Marine AoA
Thematic assessments - Assessments that focus on a theme or issue other than a single sector of human activity. Source: Marine AoA
U
UN - United Nations
UNCSD - United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development
UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
UNECE - United Nations Economic Commission forEurope
UNEP - United Nations Environment Programme
UNEP-WCMC - World Conservation Monitoring Centre
UNFCCC - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
UNWTO - World Tourism Organization
USEPA - TheUSEnvironmental Protection Agency
W
WFD - Water Framework Directive
WHO - World Health Organisation
WISE - Water Information System forEurope
WTO - World Trade Organisation
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