Glossary

GEMET - Environmental thesaurus

Glossary

AIDS - The acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is caused by HIV-virus manifested by opportunistic infections and/or malignancies, and the mortality rate is very high. The syndrome results from a breakdown of the body's disease-fighting mechanism that leaves it defenceless against infections, such as pulmonary tuberculosis, Pneumocystis pneumonia, certain blood infections, candidiasis, invasive cervical cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma or any of over 20 other indicator diseases. No effective treatment is available. A striking feature of AIDS is the wide spectrum and frequency of infections with life-threatening pathogens seldom seen in normal hosts. The illness may begin with insidious signs and symptoms, and the process may be more diffuse than when the same conditions are seen in other immune-compromised patients. Four patterns of disease occur in AIDS patients. The pulmonary pattern, the central nervous system pattern, the gastrointestinal pattern, and the pattern of fever of unknown origin. Most patients who recover from a given opportunistic infection subsequently either have a relapse or develop a new type of infection. Many patients continue to have a wasting syndrome and experience such infections as oral thrush. Feelings of depression and isolation are common among AIDS patients and can be intensified if health care workers display fear of the syndrome. (Source: WPR)

AOX value - Organic halogens subject to absorption. This is a measure of the amount of chlorine (and other halogens) combined with organic compounds. (Source: PORT)

ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian Nations. (Source: MIIS)

Africa - The second largest of the continents, on the Mediterranean in the north, the Atlantic in the west, and the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean in the east. The Sahara desert divides the continent unequally into North Africa and Africa south of Sahara. The largest lake is Lake Victoria and the chief rivers are the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi. The hottest continent, Africa has vast mineral resources, many of which are still undeveloped. (Source: CED / AMHER)

Americas - The landmasses and islands of North America, South America, Mexico, and Central America included in the Western Hemisphere. (Source: AMHER)

Ames test - A bioassay developed by Bruce N. Ames in 1974, performed on bacteria to assess the capability of environmental chemicals to cause mutations. (Source: BIOTGL / KORENa)

Antarctic Ocean - The waters, including ice shelves, that surround the continent of Antarctica, which comprise the southernmost parts of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, and also the Ross, Amundsen, Bellingshausen and Weddell seas. (Source: RHW / CIA)

Antarctic ecosystem

Antarctic region - An area within the Antarctic Circle that includes the fifth largest continent and its surrounding waters, consisting mostly of thick ice shelves. (Source: INP / CIA)

Antarctica - A continent lying chiefly within the Antarctic Circle and asymmetrically centered on the South Pole: it consists of an ice-covered plateau (some 95 percent of Antarctica is covered by an icecap averaging 1,6 km in thickness), 1800-3000 m above sea level, and mountains ranges rising to 4500 m with some volcanic peaks; average temperatures all below freezing and human settlement is confined to research station. (Source: CED / AMHER)

Arctic Ocean - The smallest and most poorly studied of the oceans on earth. It covers an area of 14 million square km that is divided by three submarine ridges, i.e. the Alpha Ridge, the Lomonosov Ridge, and an extension of the mid-Atlantic ridge. It is also nearly landlocked, covered year-round by pack ice, and the third of its area is continental shelf. (Source: OCEAN)

Arctic ecosystem

Arctic region - The northernmost area of the earth, centered on the North Pole, that includes the Arctic Ocean, the northern reaches of Canada, Alaska, Russia, Norway and most of Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard. (Source: INP)

Articulata - Animals characterized by the repetition of similar segments (metameres), exhibited especially by arthropods, annelids, and vertebrates in early embryonic stages and in certain specialized adult structures. (Source: MGH)

Asia - The world's largest continent. It occupies the eastern part of the Eurasian landmass and its adjacent islands and is separated from Europe by the Ural Mountains. Asia borders on the Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean and Red Seas in the west. It includes the largest peninsulas of Asia Minor, India, Arabia, and Indochina and the island groups of Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Ceylon; contains the mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush, Himalayas, Pamirs, Tian Shan, Urals, and Caucasus, the great plateaus of India, Iran and Tibet, vast plains and deserts, and the valleys of many large rivers including the Mekong, Irrawaddy, Indus, Ganges, Tigris and Euphrates. (Source: AMHER / CED)

abandoned industrial site - Site that cannot be used for any purpose, being contaminated by pollutants, not necessarily radioactive. (Source: RRDA)

abandoned vehicle - A vehicle that has been discarded in the environment, urban or otherwise, often found wrecked, destroyed, damaged or with a major component part stolen or missing. (Source: ISEP / MDM)

abiotic environment - The non-living components of the environment (rocks, minerals, soil, water and climate). (Source: WRIGHT)

abiotic factor - Physical, chemical and other non-living environmental factors. They are essential for living plants and animals of an ecosystem, providing the essential elements and nutrients that are necessary for growth. The abiotic elements also include the climatic and pedologic components of the ecosystem. (Source: LBC / WRIGHT)

absorption (exposure) - The taking in of fluids or other substances by cells or tissues. (Source: LANDY)

acceptable daily intake - The measurement of the amount of any chemical substance that can be safely consumed by a human being in a day. Calculations are usually based on the maximum level of a substance that can be fed to animals without producing any harmful effects. This is divided by a "safety factor" to allow for the differences between animals and humans and to take account of the variation in human diets. (Source: WRIGHT)

acceptable risk level - Level of risk judged to be outweighed by corresponding benefits or one that is of such a degree that it is considered to pose minimal potential for adverse effects. (Source: EPAGLOa)

access road - Any street or narrow stretch of paved surface that leads to a specific destination, such as a main highway. (Source: RHW)

access to administrative documents - The legal right of access to administrative documents or the opportunity to avail oneself of the same. (Source: BLACKa)

access to culture - The ability, right and permission to approach and use, or the general availability of resources that transmit the beliefs, customs, artistic activity and knowledge of a people. (Source: PPP / RHW)

access to information - The ability, right and permission to approach and use, or the general availability of resources that convey knowledge. (Source: RHW)

access to the courts - The right of citizens to access to the organs of the governments where justice is administered. (Source: BLACK)

access to the sea

accident - An unexpected occurrence, failure or loss with the potential for harming human life, property or the environment. (Source: TOE / HMD)

accident source - The cause or origin of an unexpected occurrence, failure or loss with the potential for harming human life, property or the environment. (Source: OED / HMD)

accidental release of organisms - Genetically engineered organisms that are released in the environment by mistake; once released they may exhibit some previously unknown pathogenicity, might take over from some naturally occurring bacteria (possibly having other positive functions which thus are lost) or pass on some unwanted trait to such indigenous bacteria. There is also concern that an uncontrolled genetic mutation could produce a form with hazardous consequences for the environment. (Source: WPRa)

accounting - Method of recording all the transactions affecting the financial condition of a business or organization.

accounting system - The system of setting up, maintaining, and auditing the books of a firm and of analyzing its financial status and operating results.

accumulation in body tissues

accumulator - A rechargeable device for storing electrical energy in the form of chemical energy, consisting of one or more separate secondary cells. (Source: CED)

acid - A compound capable of transferring a hydrogen ion in solution. (Source: MGH)

acid deposition - A type of pollution which washes out of the atmosphere as dilute sulphuric and nitric acids. It tends to be a regional rather than a global phenomenon, linked to particular industrial activities and meteorological conditions. It includes rain, more than normally acidic snow, mist, sleet, fog, gas and dry particles. It upsets the balance of nature, disrupting ecosystems, and destroys forests and woodlands, plants and crops; kills aquatic life by altering the chemical balance of lakes and rivers and corrodes building materials and fabrics. The pollutants are caused principally by discharges from power station chimneys of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides released by burning fossil fuels, coal and oil. (Source: WRIGHT)

acid rain - Rain having a pH less than 5.6. The acidity results from chemical reactions occurring when water, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides, generally released by industrial processes, are chemically transformed into sulphuric and nitric acids. (Source: DUNSTE)

acidification - Addition of an acid to a solution until the pH falls below 7. (Source: MGH)

acidity - The state of being acid that is of being capable of transferring a hydrogen ion in solution. (Source: MGHa)

acidity degree - The amount of acid present in a solution, often expressed in terms of pH. (Source: CEDa)

acoustic comfort

acoustic filter - A device employed to reject sound in a particular range of frequencies while passing sound in another range of frequencies. (Source: MGH)

acoustic insulation - The process of preventing the transmission of sound by surrounding with a nonconducting material. (Source: CED)

acoustic level - Physical quantity of sound measured, usually expressed in decibels. (Source: KORENa)

acoustic property - The characteristics found within a structure that determine the quality of sound in its relevance to hearing. (Source: KOREN)

acoustical quality - The characteristics of a confined space that determines its ability to enable music and speech to be heard clearly within it. (Source: UVAROV)

acoustics - The science of the production, transmission and effects of sound. (Source: MGH)

act - 1) Something done voluntarily by a person, and of such a nature that certain legal consequences attach to it. 2) Documents, decrees, edicts, laws, judgments, etc. (Source: WESTS)

actinide - A group of 15 radioactive elements some of which occur naturally while others are produced in nuclear reactions. They include plutonium, americium and neptunium. The health hazard presented by the actinides, if they are released into the environment, comes from the potency of their radioactive characteristics. They are alpha-emitters, and therefore can cause intense localized damage in tissues if absorbed into the body. (Source: WRIGHT)

actinium - A radioactive element of the actinide series, occurring as a decay product of uranium. It is used as an alpha particle source and in neutron production. (Source: CED)

action group - A collection of persons united to address specific sociopolitical or socioeconomic concerns. (Source: RHW)

activated carbon - A powdered, granular or pelleted form of amorphous carbon characterized by a very large surface area per unit volume because of an enormous number of fine pores. (Source: LANDY)

activated sludge - Sludge that has been aerated and subjected to bacterial action; used to speed breakdown of organism matter in raw sewage during secondary waste treatment. (Source: LANDY)

active participation - The involvement, either by an individual or a group of individuals, in their own governance or other activities, with the purpose of exerting influence. (Source: RHW)

active population - The number of people available and eligible for employment within a given enterprise, region or nation. (Source: ODE)

adaptable species

adaptation period

addition polymer - A polymer formed by the chain addition of unsaturated monomer molecules, such as olefins, with one another without the formation of a by-product, as water; examples are polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene. (Source: MGH)

additional packaging - Additional packaging around the normal sales packaging. For example as protection against theft or for the purpose of advertising; the customer may leave the additional packaging in the shop for waste collection. (Source: RRDA)

additive - Substances mixed in small quantities with another product to modify its chemical or physical state. Additives are used to make food look visually more attractive, in the case of colouring agents, as well as to preserve and extend the life of the product. (Source: WRIGHT)

adequate food supply - A quantity of nutriments that meets fundamental nutritional requirements and is provided to a person, group or community on a continuing basis. (Source: NOV)

adhesive - Substance used for sticking objects together, such as glue, cement, or paste. (Source: CED)

administration - The management or direction of the affairs of a public or private office, business or organization. (Source: RHW)

administrative body - Any governmental agency or organization charged with managing and implementing regulations, laws and government policies. (Source: BLD)

administrative boundary - A limit or border of a geographic area under the jurisdiction of some governmental or managerial entity. (Source: RHW)

administrative competence - The skill, knowledge, qualification, capacity or authority to manage or direct the affairs of a public or private office, business or organization. (Source: RHW)

administrative court (administration) - An independent, specialized judicial tribunal in which judges or officials are authorized by a government agency to conduct hearings and render decisions in proceedings between the government agency and the persons, businesses or other organizations that it regulates. (Source: BLD)

administrative deed - Any formal and legitimate step taken or decision made on matters of policy by a chief or other top-level officer within an organization. (Source: DAM)

administrative fiat - An authoritative decree, sanction or order issued from an office with executive or managerial authority, without necessarily having the force of law or its equivalent. (Source: RHW / BLD)

administrative instructions - Education in the theories and practices of managing an office, business or organization. (Source: RHW)

administrative jurisdiction - The extent, power or territory in which an office with executive or managerial authority administers justice or declares judgments. (Source: RHW / BLD)

administrative law - Body of law created by administrative agencies in the form of rules, regulations, orders and decisions to carry out regulatory powers and duties of such agencies. (Source: BLACK)

administrative occupation

administrative organisation

administrative procedure

administrative sanction - Generally, any formal official imposition of penalty or fine; destruction, taking, seizure, or withholding of property; assessment of damages, reimbursement, restitution, compensation, costs, charges or fees; requirement, revocation or suspension of license; and taking other compulsory or restrictive action by organization, agency or its representative.

adsorption - The physical or chemical bonding of molecules of gas, liquid or a dissolved substance to the external surface of a solid or the internal surface, if the material is porous, in a very thin layer. (Source: ALL)

adult - A person who is fully grown, developed or of a specified age. (Source: RHW)

adult education - Any instruction or training, informal or formal, which is geared to persons of mature age, regardless of previous education, and typically offered by university extension programs, employers, correspondence courses or community groups. (Source: RHW)

advertisement - The action of drawing public attention to goods, services or events, often through paid announcements in newspapers, magazines, television or radio. (Source: C / RHW)

advice - An official notice, opinion, counsel or recommendation that is optional or at the receiver's discretion. (Source: BLD)

aeration - Exposition to the action of air. (Source: MGH)

aerial photograph - An image of the ground surface made on a light-sensitive material and taken at a high altitude from an aircraft, spacecraft or rocket. (Source: MHD)

aerial photography - No definition needed.

aerobic condition - Life common to the majority of animal and plants species requiring the presence of oxygen. (Source: LAROUSa)

aerobic process - A process requiring the presence of oxygen. (Source: MGH)

aerobic treatment - The introduction of air into sewage so as to provide aerobic biochemical stabilization during a detention period. (Source: KOREN)

aerobiology - The study of the atmospheric dispersal of airborne fungus spores, pollen grains, and microorganisms; and, more broadly, of airborne propagules of algae and protozoans, minute insects such as aphids, and pollution gases and particles which exert specific biologic effects. (Source: MGH)

aerodynamic noise - Acoustic noise caused by turbulent airflow over the surface of a body. (Source: MGH)

aerosol - A gaseous suspension of ultramicroscopic particles of a liquid or a solid. (Source: MGH)

aesthetics - Considerations, values, and judgements pertaining to the quality of the human perceptual experience (including sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, and movement) evoked by phenomena or components of the environment. (Source: UNUN)

afforestation - 1) Establishment of a new forest by seeding or planting of nonforested land. 2) The planting of trees on land which was previously used for other uses than forestry. 3) The planting of trees in an area, or the management of an area to allow trees to regenerate or colonize naturally, in order to produce a forest. (Source: MGH / WRIGHT / ALL)

afterburning - An afterburner is a gadget fitted to the exhaust flues of furnaces and also to the exhaust systems of motor vehicles. They remove polluting gases and particles, which are the result of incompletely combusted fuel, by incineration and break down other chemical molecules associated with combustion into inert chemicals. (Source: WRIGHT)

age - The period of time that a person, animal or plant has lived or is expected to live. (Source: CED)

aggregate extraction - Extraction of crushed rock or gravel screened to sizes for use in road surfaces, concretes, or bituminous mixes. (Source: KOREN)

agreement (administrative) - A coming together of minds; a coming together in opinion or determination; the coming together in accord of two minds on a given proposition. In law, a concord of understanding and intention between two or more parties with respect to the effect upon their relative rights and duties, of certain past or future facts or performances. The consent of two or more persons concerning respecting the transmission of some property, right, or benefits, with the view of contracting an obligation, a mutual obligation. The union of two or more minds in a thing done or to be done; a mutual assent to do a thing. (Source: WESTS)

agreement (contract) - An agreement, convention, or promise of two or more parties, by deed in writing, signed, and delivered, by which either of the parties pledges himself to the other that something is either done, or shall be done, or shall not be done, or stipulates for the truth of certain facts. (Source: WESTS)

agreement (legal) - The coming together in accord of two minds on a given proposition. In law, a concord of understanding and intention between two or more parties with respect to the effect upon their relative rights and duties, of certain past or future facts or performances. The consent of two or more persons concerning respecting the transmission of some property, right, or benefits, with the view of contracting an obligation, a mutual obligation. (Source: WESTS)

agri-foodstuff - Industry dealing with the production, processing, and supply of agricultural food products. (Source: PHCa)

agricultural biotechnology

agricultural building - The buildings and adjacent service areas of a farm. (Source: WEBSTE)

agricultural disaster - Violent, sudden and destructive change in the environment either affecting or caused by land cultivation or the raising of crops or livestock. (Source: ISEP / APD)

agricultural ecology

agricultural economics - An applied social science that deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of agricultural or farming goods and services. (Source: AGP)

agricultural effluent - Any solid, liquid or gas that enters the environment as a by-product of agricultural activities.

agricultural engineering - A discipline concerned with developing and improving the means for providing food and fiber for mankind's needs. (Source: MGH)

agricultural equipment - Machines utilized for tillage, planting, cultivation, and harvesting of crops. (Source: MGH)

agricultural exploitation - No definition needed.

agricultural holding - As defined by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, an agricultural holding is simply a basic unit for agricultural production. (Source: GOOD)

agricultural hydraulics - Science and technology involved in the management of water resources, in the control of erosion and in the removal of unwanted water. (Source: ECHO2)

agricultural land - Land used primarily for the production of plant or animal crops, including arable agriculture, dairying, pasturage, apiaries, horticulture, floriculture, viticulture, animal husbandry and the necessary lands and structures needed for packing, processing, treating, or storing the produce. (Source: DUNSTE)

agricultural landscape - No definition needed.

agricultural legislation - Agricultural law is a blend of traditional fields of law including the law of contracts, bailments, torts, criminal, environmental, property, nuisance, wills and estates, and tax law. As such, it is a gathering of statutory and common law. (Source: FREEAD)

agricultural machinery - Machines utilized for tillage, planting, cultivation and harvesting of crops. Despite its benefits in increasing yields, mechanisation has clearly had some adverse environmental effects: deep ploughing exposes more soil to wind and water erosion; crop residues can be removed as opposed to ploughing back into the soil; removal of residues can lead to a serious loss of organic content in the soil, which may increase the risk of soil erosion. (Source: MGH / DOBRIS)

agricultural management - The administration or handling of soil, crops and livestock. (Source: OED)

agricultural method - Practices and techniques employed in agriculture to improve yields and productivity. Over the last few decades they have undergone big changes: tilling, sowing and harvesting have become increasingly mechanised, and the methods of applying fertilisers and pesticides have become more sophisticated. Many changes within the agricultural system can be summed up by "intensification". The result and aim of intensification has been to achieve increases in production, yields and labour productivity in agriculture. (Source: DOBRIS)

agricultural pest - Insects and mites that damage crops, weeds that compete with field crops for nutrients and water, plants that choke irrigation channels or drainage systems, rodents that eat young plants and grain, and birds that eat seedlings or stored foodstuffs. (Source: WRIGHT)

agricultural planning - The development of plans and measures to achieve greater and more efficient output from agriculture; a sound agricultural policy should be able to reconcile three basic needs: the production of food and agricultural products, the protection of the environment and the maintenance of the socio-economic structure of rural areas. (Source: DOBRISa)

agricultural policy - A course of action adopted by government or some other organization that determines how to deal with matters involving the cultivation of land; raising crops; feeding, breeding and raising livestock or poultry; and other farming issues. (Source: RHW)

agricultural pollution - The liquid or solid wastes from farming, including: runoff from pesticides, fertilizers, and feedlots; erosion and dust from plowing; animal manure and carcasses, crop residues, and debris. (Source: LANDY)

agricultural product - The output of the cultivation of the soil. (Source: RRDA)

agricultural production

agricultural real estate - Property of agricultural land and anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings, fences, etc. (Source: WESTS)

agricultural storage - Any deposit or holdings of farm products, fertilizers, grains, feed and other related supplies in facilities or containers, often to prevent contamination or for times when production cannot meet demand. (Source: AGP)

agricultural structure - The buildings, machinery, facilities, related to agricultural production. (Source: RRDA)

agricultural undervaluation - The underrating or diminishing in value of agricultural or farming goods and services. (Source: RHW)

agricultural waste - Unusable materials, liquid or solid, that result from agricultural practices, such as fertilizers, pesticides, crop residue (such as orchard prunings) and cattle manure. (Source: HMD / MHD)

agriculture - The production of plants and animals useful to man, involving soil cultivation and the breeding and management of crops and livestock. (Source: MGH)

agriculture and cattle industry - Large scale growing of crops and livestock grazing for profit. (Source: RRDA)

agriculture framework plan - A formulated or systematic method for the management of soil, crops and livestock. (Source: OED)

agritourism - Holidays organized in a farm: meals are prepared with natural products and guests are entertained with handicraft, sporting and agricultural activities. (Source: DIFID)

agrochemical - Any substance or mixture of substances used or intended to be used for preventing, destroying, repelling, attracting, inhibiting, or controlling any insects, rodents, birds, nematodes, bacteria, fungi, weeds or other forms of plant, animal or microbial life regarded as pests. (Source: GILP96)

agroforestry - The interplanting of farm crops and trees, especially leguminous species. In semiarid regions and on denuded hillsides, agroforestry helps control erosion and restores soil fertility, as well as supplying valuable food and commodities at the same time. (Source: ALL)

agroindustry - Industry dealing with the supply, processing and distribution of farm products. (Source: PHC)

agrometeorology - The study of the interaction between meteorological and hydrological factors, on the one hand, and agriculture in the widest sense, including horticulture, animal husbandry and forestry, on the other. (Source: EURMET)

agronomic value - The monetary or material worth at which buyers and sellers agree to do business for agricultural goods and services. (Source: AGP / RHW)

agronomy - The principles and procedures of soil management and of field crop and special-purpose plant improvement, management, and production. (Source: MGH)

agrosystem - Ecosystem dominated by the continuous agricultural intervention of man. (Source: ECHO1)

aid policy - A course of action adopted and pursued by government or some other organization that promotes or determines the allocation of assistance, support or relief, often from one country to another. (Source: ODE)

air - A predominantly mechanical mixture of a variety of individual gases forming the earth's enveloping atmosphere. (Source: MGH)

air conditioning - A system or process for controlling the temperature and sometimes the humidity and purity of the air in a house, etc. (Source: CED)

air movement - Air movements within the Earth's atmospheric circulation; also called planetary winds. Two main components are recognized: first, the latitudinal meridional component due to the Coriolis force (a deflecting motion or force discussed by G.G. de Coriolis in 1835. The rotation of the Earth causes a body moving across its surface to be deflected to the right in the N hemisphere and to the left in the S hemisphere); and secondly, the longitudinal component and the vertical movement, resulting largely from varying pressure distributions due to differential heating and cooling of the Earth's surface. (Source: WHIT)

air pollutant - Any pollutant agent or combination of such agents, including any physical, chemical, biological, radioactive substance or matter which is emitted into or otherwise enters the ambient air and can, in high enough concentrations, harm humans, animals, vegetation or material. (Source: LEE / TOE)

air pollution - Presence in the atmosphere of large quantities of gases, solids and radiation produced by the burning of natural and artificial fuels, chemical and other industrial processes and nuclear explosions. (Source: GUNN)

air quality - The degree to which air is polluted; the type and maximum concentration of man-produced pollutants that should be permitted in the atmosphere. (Source: ALL / WRIGHT)

air quality control - The measurement of ambient air-pollution concentrations in order to determine whether there is a problem in a given region. (Source: CONFERa)

air quality management - Regulate and plan and work toward the accomplishment of completion of stated goals, objectives and mission pertaining to air quality. (Source: PORT)

air quality monitoring - Regular checking and recording of air quality in a given area. The following pollutants must be considered: carbon monoxide, benzene, butadiene, lead, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulates. (Source: DOCMMU)

air safety - Any measure, technique or design intended to reduce the risk of harm posed by either moving vehicles or projectiles above the earth's surface or pollutants to the earth's atmosphere. (Source: AHB / TOE)

air temperature - The temperature of the atmosphere which represents the average kinetic energy of the molecular motion in a small region and is defined in terms of a standard or calibrated thermometer in thermal equilibrium with the air. (Source: MGH)

air traffic - Aircraft moving in flight or on airport runways.

air traffic law - International rules and conventions relating to air transportation. (Source: DEFRA)

air traffic regulation

air transportation - The use of aircraft, predominantly airplanes, to move passengers and cargo. (Source: MGH)

air-water interaction - The physical processes at the air-water interface: momentum, heat and mass transfer across the air-water interface, mixing of surface water by wind stress and wave breaking, directional wave spectra and wave forces on offshore structures. The air-water interaction is measured by the turbulence and gas exchanges resulting from the mixing of the water column by wind. (Source: WATER / CEIS)

airborne noise - Noise caused by the movement of large volumes of air and the use of high-pressure air. (Source: CORBIT)

aircraft - Any structure, machine, or contrivance, especially a vehicle, designed to be supported by the air, either by the dynamic action of the air upon the surfaces of the structure or object or by its own buoyancy. (Source: MGH)

aircraft engine emission - The formation and discharge of gaseous and particulate pollutants into the environment, especially the stratosphere, chiefly from airplanes, helicopters and other high-altitude aircrafts. (Source: MHE)

aircraft noise - Effective sound output of the various sources of noise associated with aircraft operation, such as propeller and engine exhaust, jet noise, and sonic boom. (Source: MGH)

airport - A landing and taking-off area for civil aircraft, usually with surfaced runways and aircraft maintenance and passenger facilities. (Source: CED)

airspace planning - The activity of organizing or preparing for transportation through the atmosphere above earth's surface. (Source: RHW)

alarm - Signalling an impending danger in order to call attention to some event or condition. (Source: CED / AMHER)

alcohol - A group of organic chemical compounds composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The molecules in the series vary in chain length and are composed of a hydrocarbon plus a hydroxyl group. Alcohol includes methanol and ethanol. (Source: EIADOE)

alga - Simple, green, aquatic plants without stems, roots or leaves. They are among the microscopic organisms that form the start of the food chain. Algae are found floating in the sea and fresh water, but they also grow on the surface of damp walls, rocks, the bark of trees and on soil. They contain chlorophyll and other pigments that let them grow by photosynthesis. On land, algae can be useful in improving the fertility of soil by nitrogen fixation. (Source: WRIGHT)

algal bloom - Excessive and rapid growth of algae and other aquatic plants when they are stimulated to grow too quickly by pollution. It takes place when there are too many nutrients in the water and is aggravated when accompanied by a rise in temperature. Although the algae grow quickly they soon die because they have swallowed up all the water's nutrients. As they decompose they tend to rise to the surface and form a green slime. Algal bloom have increased because higher levels of nitrogen and phosphates from agricultural areas have leached from the fields into water courses. (Source: WRIGHT)

algicide - Any substance or chemical applied to kill or control algal growth. (Source: LANDY)

alicyclic compound - Any substance composed of two or more unlike atoms held together by chemical bonds characterized by straight-chained, branched or cyclic properties. (Source: RHW)

alicyclic hydrocarbon - A class of organic compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen atoms joined to form one or more rings and having the properties of both aliphatic and cyclic substances. (Source: MGH / RRDA)

alignment - The selection and detailed layout of public transport routes in the light of construction, operation, service, technology, and economic criteria. (Source: ECHO2)

aliphatic compound - Any organic compound of hydrogen and carbon characterized by a straight chain of the carbon atoms. (Source: MGH)

aliphatic hydrocarbon - Hydrocarbons having an open chain of carbon atoms, whether normal or forked, saturated or unsaturated. (Source: MGH)

alkali land - Any geomorphic area, often a level lake-like plain, with soil containing a high percentage of mineral salts, located especially in arid regions. (Source: MHD / RHW)

alkali soil - Soil that contains sufficient exchangeable sodium to interfere with water penetration and crop growth, either with or without appreciable quantities of soluble salts. (Source: LANDY)

alkaline battery - A primary cell that uses an alkaline electrolyte, usually potassium hydroxide, and delivers about 1.5 volts at much higher current rates than the common carbon-zinc cell. Also known as alkaline-manganese cell. (Source: MGH)

alkane - Paraffins. A homologous series of saturated hydrocarbons having the general formula CnH2n+2. Their systematic names end in -ane. They are chemically inert, stable, and flammable. The first four members of the series (methane, ethane, propane, butane) are gases at ordinary temperatures; the next eleven are liquids, and form the main constituents of paraffin oil; the higher members are solids. Paraffin waxs consists mainly of higher alkanes. (Source: UVAROV)

alkyl compound - Compound containing one or more alkyl radicals. (Source: MGH)

all-terrain vehicle - A land carriage so constructed that it can be used on any kind of road or rough terrain and can be operated for many purposes, such as carrying goods, transporting the injured, conveying passengers, etc. (Source: ECHO1)

allergen - Any antigen, such as pollen, a drug, or food, that induces an allergic state in humans or animals. (Source: MGH)

allergy - A condition of abnormal sensitivity in certain individuals to contact with substances such as proteins, pollens, bacteria, and certain foods. This contact may result in exaggerated physiologic responses such as hay fever, asthma, and in severe enough situations, anaphylactic shock. (Source: KOREN)

allocation - The assignment or allotment of resources to various uses in accord with a stated goal or policy. (Source: ODE)

allocation plan - The formulation and application of such measures as laws, economic plans, urbanism, etc., to ensure a balance between the population's needs and the country's resources. (Source: ECHO2)

allowance

alloy - Any of a large number of substances having metallic properties and consisting of two or more elements; with few exceptions, the components are usually metallic elements. (Source: MGH)

alluvial plain - A level or gently sloping tract or a slightly undulating land surface produced by extensive deposition of alluvium, usually adjacent to a river that periodically overflows its banks; it may be situated on a flood plain, a delta, or an alluvial fan. (Source: BJGEO)

alluvion - An overflowing; an inundation or flood, especially when the water is charged with much suspended material. (Source: BJGEO)

alpha radiation - A stream of alpha particles which are ejected from many radioactive substances having a penetrating power of a few cm in air but can be stopped by a thin piece of paper. (Source: MGH / PITT)

alternative material - Materials employed in the place of others which are more dangerous for the environment, such as phosphate substitutes in detergents. (Source: RRDA)

alternative technology - Technology that, as an alternative to resource-intensive and wasteful industry, aims to utilize resources sparingly, with minimum damage to the environment, at affordable cost and with a possible degree of control over the processes. (Source: GUNN)

altitude - 1) In general, a term used to describe a topographic eminence. 2) A specific altitude or height above a given level. 3) In surveying, the term refers to the angle between the horizontal and a point at a higher level. (Source: WHIT)

alumina - A natural or synthetic oxide of aluminum widely distributed in nature, often found as a constituent part of clays, feldspars, micas and other minerals, and as a major component of bauxite. (Source: RHW / INP)

aluminium - A light white metal, ductile and malleable, and a good conductor of electricity. It occurs widely in nature in clays and is the third most abundant element in the Earth's crust. It is extracted mainly from bauxite by electrolysis of a molten mixture of purified bauxite and cryolite. The metal and its alloys are used for aircraft, cooking utensils, electrical apparatus, and for many other purposes where its light weight is an advantage. Aluminium became implicated as an environmental health hazard in the 1980s on two counts. Biomedical scientists looking for possible causes of Alzheimer's disease, the premature senility indicated by loss of memory and confusion, found a circumstantial link with aluminium. The theory is a controversial one. (Source: UVAROV / WRIGHT)

aluminium container - A can or box made of aluminium in which material is held or carried. (Source: AMHERa)

aluminium content - Amount of aluminium contained in a solution. (Source: MGH)

aluminium industry - A sector of the economy in which an aggregate of commercial enterprises is engaged in the mining and processing of aluminum. (Source: ENC)

alveolus - A tiny, thin-walled, capillary-rich sac in the lungs where the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide takes place. Also called air sac. (Source: AMHER)

amalgam - A solution of a metal in mercury. (Source: ALL)

amine - One of a class of organic compounds which can be considered to be derived from ammonia by replacement of one or more hydrogens by organic radicals. (Source: MGH)

amino acid - Organic compounds containing a carboxyl group (-COOH) and an amino group (-NH2). About 30 amino acids are known. They are fundamental constituents of living matter because protein molecules are made up of many amino acid molecules combined together. Amino acids are synthesized by green plants and some bacteria, but some (arginine, histidine, lysine. threonine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, valine, phenylalanine, tryptophane) cannot be synthesized by animals and therefore are essential constituents of their diet. Proteins from specific plants may lack certain amino acids, so a vegetarian diet must include a wide range of plant products. (Source: ALL)

ammonia - A colorless gaseous alkaline compound that is very soluble in water, has a characteristic pungent odour, is lighter than air, and is formed as a result of the decomposition of most nitrogenous organic material. (Source: MGH)

ammonification - Addition of ammonia or ammonia compounds, especially to the soil. (Source: MGH)

ammonium - The radical NH4+. (Source: MGH)

amphibian - A class of vertebrate animals characterized by a moist, glandular skin, gills at some stage of development, and no amnion during the embryonic stage. (Source: MGH)

amusement park - An open-air entertainment area consisting of stalls, side shows etc. (Source: CED)

anaerobic condition - A mode of life carried on in the absence of molecular oxygen. (Source: MGH)

anaerobic process - A process from which air or oxygen not in chemical combination is excluded. (Source: MGH)

anaerobic treatment - Breakdown of organic material without the presence of oxygen, a treatment which permanently removes the unpleasant odour of many organic wastes so that they can be used on agricultural land. (Source: PHC)

analysis - Examination or determination. (Source: RRDA)

analysis programme - No definition needed.

analytical chemistry - The branch of chemistry dealing with techniques which yield any type of information about chemical systems. (Source: MGH)

analytical equipment - Equipment employed in analytical techniques. (Source: RRDA)

analytical method - No definition needed.

anatomy - The science concerned with the physical structure of animals and plants. (Source: CED)

angiosperm - The class of seed plants that includes all the flowering plants, characterized by the possession of flowers. The ovules, which become seeds after fertilization, are enclosed in ovaries. The xylem contains true vessels. The angiospermae are divided into two subclasses: Monocotyledoneae and Dycotiledoneae. (Source: ALL)

angling - The art or sport of catching fish with a rod and line and a baited hook or other lure, such as a fly. (Source: CED)

animal - Any living organism characterized by voluntary movement, the possession of cells with noncellulose cell walls and specialized sense organs enabling rapid response to stimuli, and the ingestion of complex organic substances such as plants and other animals. (Source: CED)

animal behaviour - Behaviour of animals in their normal environment, including all the processes, both internal and external, by which they respond to changes in their environment. (Source: ALL2)

animal biology - The scientific study of the natural processes of animals. (Source: CAMBa)

animal conservatory - Areas for the conservation of rare or endangered animal species. (Source: RAMADE)

animal corridor - Line corridors (roads, paths, and hedgerows) which lack interior habitat but may serve as movement groups for organisms. Corridors may also provide an efficient migratory pathway for animals. The presence or absence of breaks in a corridor may be a very important factor in determining the effectiveness of its conduit and barrier functions. (Source: PARCOR)

animal damage - Harm caused to the environment by animals as, for instance, in the case of overgrazing, trampling, etc. Overgrazing damage is reduced by properly located watering facilities to decrease daily travel by livestock. Rotation of grazing areas allows time for recovery of grass. Some land can be easily restored if grazing is allowed only during one season. Animals may cause damage to crops when agriculture land borders on virgin territory or game reserves. In addition wild animals may bring disease in valuable domestic herds. Cattle overstocking has caused serious degradation of habitat, and cattle raising is thus, to some extent, counterproductive. (Source: WPR)

animal disease

animal displacement - The habit of many animal species of moving inside their habitats or of travelling, during migrations, to different biotopes, often considerable distances apart; in aquatic environments displacements can occur horizontally or vertically while in terrestrial environments animal populations that breed in the alpine or subalpine zones in summer, move to lower levels in winter; animal displacements usually follow circadian rhythms and are related to the necessity of finding breeding, resting and feeding areas. (Source: RAMADE)

animal dung as fuel - Excrement from animals that may be dried and burned to generate energy or converted to liquid or gaseous fuels, such as methane, through chemical processes. (Source: GET)

animal ecology - A study of the relationships of animals to their environment. (Source: MGH)

animal excrement - Waste matter discharged from the body of an animal. (Source: CED)

animal experiment - Investigation carried out in animals for research purposes. (Source: LEEa)

animal foodstuff - Any crops or other food substances for animal consumption. (Source: MGHa)

animal for slaughter - Animals bred and killed for the production of food. (Source: RRDA)

animal genetics - The scientific study of the hereditary material of animals for theoretical and practical applications such as increased population, conservation and disease research. (Source: EEN)

animal habitat - The locality in which an animal naturally grows or lives. It can be either the geographical area over which it extends, or the particular station in which an animal is found. (Source: WRIGHT)

animal health

animal heritage - The sum of the earth's or a particular region's non-human, non-vegetable, multicellular organisms viewed as the inheritance of the present generation, especially animal species deemed worthy of preservation and protection from extinction. (Source: OED)

animal housing - Any kind of shelter, refuge affording protection to animals. (Source: CEDa)

animal husbandry - A branch of agriculture concerned with the breeding and feeding of domestic animals. (Source: MGH)

animal life - No definition needed.

animal manure - Animal excreta collected from stables and barnyards with or without litter; used to enrich the soil. (Source: MGH)

animal migration - Movements that particular animals carry out regularly often between breeding places and winter feeding grounds. (Source: ALL)

animal noise - Noise caused by animals such as dogs kept in kennels or in private homes as pets. (Source: RRDA)

animal nutrition - Ingestion, digestion and/or assimilation of food by animals. (Source: LBC)

animal physiology - Study of the normal processes and metabolic functions of animal organisms. (Source: LBC)

animal population - A group of animals inhabiting a given area. (Source: CED)

animal product - No definition needed.

animal production - No definition needed.

animal protection - Precautionary actions or procedures taken to prevent or reduce the harm to sentient, non-human species, posed, in most cases, by humans. (Source: ONE / RHW)

animal remain - Any substances or components left over from animal life, including body parts and, later, decomposed materials. (Source: RHW)

animal reproduction - Any of various processes, either sexual or asexual, by which an animal produces one or more individuals similar to itself. (Source: CED)

animal resource - No definition needed.

animal rights - Just claims, legal guarantees or moral principles accorded to sentient, non-human species, including freedom from abuse, consumption, experimentation, use as clothing or performing for human entertainment. (Source: ONE / RHW)

animal shelter - A protection providing housing for animals in bad weather. (Source: RRDA)

animal species - Species belonging to the animal kingdom. (Source: RRDA)

animal species reintroduction - Attempts made to prevent the extinction of threatened species and populations by reintroducing them in their natural habitat. The reintroduction of species in a region requires a preliminary study to establish the reasons of their disappearance and the modifications that might have occurred in the biotopes. (Source: RBGKEWa / RAMADE)

animal textile fibre - A filament or threadlike strand derived from animals that manufacturers use to produce clothes or other goods that require weaving, knitting or felting, which include silk, wool, mohair and other forms of animal hair. (Source: INP / RHW)

animal trade - The process or act of exchanging, buying or selling animals, especially livestock. (Source: RHW)

animal waste - Discarded material from industries directly associated with the raising of animals, such as those wastes produced by livestock farming (manure, milk, etc.), meat production and animal testing (animal bodies, animal parts, feathers, etc.) and fur breeding (fur, blood, etc.). (Source: AWM)

anion - An ion that is negatively charged. (Source: MGH)

annelid - Any worms of the phylum Anellida, in which the body is divided into segments both internally and externally. The group includes the earthworms, lugworm, ragworm, and leeches. (Source: CED)

antagonism - The situation in which two chemicals upon interaction interfere in such a way that the action of one partially or completely inhibits the effects of the other. (Source: KOREN)

antagonistic effect of toxic substances

anthropic activity - Action resulting from or influenced by human activity or intervention. (Source: GRAHAW)

anthropogenic factor

anthropologic reserve - Area of protection of the life style of societies where traditional human activities are still maintained and the exploitation of natural resources is still carried out without compromising the future availability. (Source: RRDA)

antibiotic - A chemical substance, produced by microorganisms and synthetically, that has the capacity to inhibit the growth of, and even to destroy, bacteria and other microorganisms. (Source: MGH)

antibody - A complex protein that is produced in response to the introduction of a specific antigen into an animal. Antibodies belong to a class of proteins called immunoglobins, which are formed by plasma cells in the blood as a defence mechanism against invasion by parasites, notably bacteria and viruses, either by killing them or rendering them harmless. (Source: ALL2)

anticipation of danger - The act of foreseeing, expecting and taking measures against possible future exposure to harm, death or a thing that causes these. (Source: ISEP)

antifouling agent - Agent that inhibits the growth of barnacles and other marine organisms on a ship's bottom (an antifouling paint or other coating). Organo-tin compounds have been the most often used agents in this application since they are effective against both soft and hard fouling organisms. However, in spite of their performance, they have a negative impact on the marine environment and their long half life in the environment, has prompted marine paint manufacturers to look for a nonpersistent alternative. (Source: CED / OLIN)

antipollution incentive - Financial reward or penalty used to incite action towards greater responsibility in reducing the presence of pollution or substances in the environment deemed harmful to human health or natural resources. (Source: ODE / TOE)

antipollution premium - A prize or bonus given as an inducement or reward for efforts to reduce the presence of pollution or substances in the environment deemed harmful to human health or natural resources. (Source: ISEP / OED / TOE)

antiquated plant - Old installation that do not respond to new rules for the prevention of environmental pollution and whose redevelopment requires investments for adopting technologies related to the protection of waterways, waste management, noise reduction and emission control. (Source: RRDA)

antiseismic regulation - Rules for minimizing or containing the risks deriving from earthquakes. (Source: MANCOS)

apartment block - An apartment building in which each apartment is individually wholly owned and the common areas are jointly owned. (Source: CED)

apiculture - Large-scale commercial beekeeping. (Source: MGH)

appeal - Resort to a superior court to review the decision of an inferior court or administrative agency. (Source: BLACK)

appeal procedure - Procedure through which it is possible to resort to a superior court to review the decision of an inferior court. (Source: BLACKa)

applied ecology - The application of ecological principles to the solution of human problems. (Source: PARCOR)

applied nutrition - Putting to use general principles of the science of human nourishment to address or solve specific problems. (Source: MED)

applied research - Research directed toward using knowledge gained by basic research to make things or to create situations that will serve a practical or utilitarian purpose. (Source: MGH)

applied science - Science whose results are employed in technical applications. (Source: ZINZAN)

appraisal - An expert or official valuation. (Source: WEBSTE)

approach - The way or means of entry or access. (Source: CEDa)

appropriate technology - 1) A flexible and participatory approach to developing economically viable, regionally applicable and sustainable technology. 2) Technology designed to be used in developing countries. Typical requirements are that it should: be easy to use by the unskilled; have no difficult-to-get parts; be easily repaired on the spot. Typical example: a simple windmill to pump water rather than a diesel-driven pump. The terms `alternative', `intermediate' and `appropriate' are often used interchangeably. (Source: IISD / VCN)

approval

approval of installations - Authorization or permission for setting up or making adjustments to a building or to a mechanical or electrical system or apparatus. (Source: OED)

aquaculture - 1) The cultivation and harvest of freshwater or marine animals and plants, in ponds, tanks, cages or on protected beds. This is usually done in inland waters, estuaries or coastal waters. It is estimated that commercial fish farming accounts for more than 10% of the world's fish needs. Fish farming usually concentrates on molluscs, including oysters, mussels and clams, because they are usually immobile and fetch high prices. Shrimps and salmon are also farmed, but the stock have to be caught in the wild first, so that they can be brought up to commercial standards in pens. Aquaculture in not new. In Asia freshwater fish have been farmed for some 4.000 years, usually on small farms. 2) The use of artificial means to increase the production of aquatic organisms in fresh or salt water. (Source: WRIGHT / LANDY)

aquatic animal - Animal having a water habitat. (Source: RRDA)

aquatic ecology - The study of the relationships among aquatic living organisms and between those organisms and their environment. (Source: ALLa)

aquatic ecosystem - Any watery environment, from small to large, from pond to ocean, in which plants and animals interact with the chemical and physical features of the environment. (Source: GILP96)

aquatic environment - Waters, including wetlands, that serve as habitat for interrelated and interacting communities and populations of plants and animals. (Source: LEE)

aquatic mammal

aquatic micro-organism - Microorganisms having a water habitat. (Source: MGH)

aquatic organism - Organisms which live in water. (Source: PHC)

aquatic plant - Plants adapted for a partially or completely submerged life. (Source: LBC)

aquatic recreational amenity - No definition needed.

aqueduct - A channel for supplying water; often underground, but treated architecturally on high arches when crossing valleys or low ground. (Source: HARRIS)

aquifer - Layers of rock, sand or gravel that can absorb water and allow it to flow. An aquifer acts as a groundwater reservoir when the underlying rock is impermeable. This may be tapped by wells for domestic, agricultural or industrial use. A serious environmental problem arises when the aquifer is contaminated by the seepage of sewage or toxins from waste dumps. If the groundwater in coastal areas is over-used salt water can seep into the aquifer. (Source: WRIGHT)

arable farming - Growing crops as opposed to dairy farming, cattle farming, etc. (Source: PHC)

arboretum - Collection of trees from different parts of the world, grown for scientific study. (Source: PHC)

arboriculture - The planting and care of woody plants, especially trees. (Source: AMHER)

archaeological site - Any location containing significant relics and artifacts of past culture. (Source: LANDY)

archaeology - The scientific study of the material remains of the cultures of historical or prehistorical peoples. (Source: MGH)

archipelago - A chain of many islands including the waters that surround them. (Source: DOE)

architecture - The art and science of designing and building structures, or large groups of structures, in keeping with aesthetic and functional criteria. (Source: HARRIS)

area of potential pollution - Area which is supposedly causing dangers to human health and environment. (Source: ECHO2)

area under stress - Areas that are flooded by rising number of tourists or other kinds of pressure and suffer from insufficient or inappropriate planning and management. Damage frequently arises from a lack of understanding or interest of the value of such sites. (Source: WPR)

arid land - Lands characterized by low annual rainfall of less than 250 mm, by evaporation exceeding precipitation and a sparse vegetation. (Source: LBC)

arid land ecosystem - The interacting system of a biological community and its non-living environmental surroundings in a climatic region where the annual precipitation averages less than 10 inches per year. (Source: TOE / DOE)

armament - The weapons, ammunition and equipment, or the total force held by a military unit or state. (Source: RHW)

armament conversion - Change in character, form or function of the arms and equipment with which a military unit is supplied.

armed forces - The military units of a state, typically divided by their differing contexts of operations, such as the army, navy, air force and marines. (Source: RHW)

aromatic compound - Compounds characterized by the presence of at least one benzene ring. (Source: MGH)

aromatic hydrocarbon - Hydrocarbons having an unsaturated ring containing alternating double and single bonds, especially containing a benzene ring. (Source: CED)

aromatic substance - Substance having a distinctive, usually fragrant smell. (Source: CED)

arrangement for a deposit on packaging - Agreement to provide refunds or payments in exchange for used bottles or packaging materials. (Source: RHW)

arsenic - A toxic metalloid element, existing in several allotropic forms, that occurs principally in realgar and orpiment and as the free element. It is used in transistors, lead-based alloys, and high temperature brasses. (Source: CED)

art - The creation of works of beauty or other special significance. (Source: CED)

arthropod - The largest phylum in the animal kingdom; adults typically have segmented body, a sclerotized integument, and many-jointed segmental limbs. (Source: MGH)

artificial lake - Lakes created behind manmade barriers. (Source: PARCOR)

artificial reproductive technique

artificial satellite - Any man-made object placed in a near-periodic orbit in which it moves mainly under the gravitational influence of one celestial body, such as the earth, sun, another planet, or a planet's moon. (Source: MGH)

asbestos - Generic name for a group of fibrous mineral silicates. It includes blue asbestos (crocidolite), white asbestos (chrysotile) and brown asbestos (amosite). After they are mined the asbestos fibres are separated from the rock and are spun into a cloth. When inhaled the fibres penetrate the lungs and the tissues of the bronchial tubes, resulting in asbestosis, a crippling lung disease. Asbestos also causes cancer of the lung and the gastro-intestinal tract, and mesothelioma, a malignant cancer of the inner lining of the chest. However, because it is a poor conductor of electricity and highly resistant to heat it has been widely used over the years in fire-fighting suits, and building and insulating materials. The fibrous form of several silicate minerals, at one time widely used for electrical and thermal insulation; the use of all forms of asbestos is now either banned or strictly controlled in many countries since it causes cancer. (Source: WRIGHT / ALL)

asbestos cement - A hardened mixture of asbestos fibers, Portland cement and water used in relatively thin slabs for shingles, wallboard and siding. (Source: WEBSTE)

asbestosis - A non-malignant progressive, irreversible, lung disease, characterized by diffuse fibrosis, resulting from the inhalation of asbestos fibers. (Source: CONFER)

ash - The incombustible matter remaining after a substance has been incinerated. (Source: MGH)

assay - Qualitative or quantitative determination of the components of a material, such as an ore or a drug. (Source: MGH)

assimilation - Conversion of nutritive material to living tissue. (Source: KOREN)

association - A body of persons associated for the regulation of a common economic activity by means of a special organization. (Source: SHOOX / ZINZAN)

astronautics - The science of space flight. (Source: MGH)

astronomy - The science concerned with celestial bodies and the observation and interpretation of the radiation received in the vicinity of the earth from the component parts of the universe. (Source: MGH)

atlas - A bound collection of maps or charts, plates, engravings or tables illustrating any subject. (Source: CCL / RHW)

atmosphere - The gaseous envelope surrounding the Earth in a several kilometers-thick layer. (Source: UVAROVa)

atmospheric aerosol - Particulate matter suspended in the air. The particulate matter may be in the form of dusts, fumes, or mist. Aerosols in the atmosphere are the form in which pollutants such as smoke are dispersed. (Source: LANDY / PHC)

atmospheric chemistry - The study of the production, transport, modification, and removal of atmospheric constituents in the troposphere and stratosphere. (Source: MGH)

atmospheric circulation - The general movement and circulation of air, which transfers energy between different levels of the atmosphere. The mechanisms of circulation are very complicated. They involve the transfer of energy between the oceans and the atmosphere, the land and the atmosphere, as well as the different levels of the atmosphere. (Source: WRIGHT)

atmospheric component - The Earth's atmosphere consists by volume of nitrogen (79,1%), oxygen (20,9%), carbon dioxide (about 0,03%) and traces of the noble gases (argon, krypton, xenon, helium) plus water vapour, traces of ammonia, organic matter, ozone, various salts and suspended solid particles. (Source: ALL)

atmospheric composition - The chemical abundance in the earth's atmosphere of its constituents including nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, water vapour, ozone, neon, helium, krypton, methane, hydrogen and nitrous oxide. (Source: MGH)

atmospheric correction - The removal from the remotely sensed data of the atmospheric effects caused by the scattering and absorption of sunlight by particles; the removal of these effects improves not only the quality of the observed earth surface imaging but also the accuracy of classification of the ground objects. (Source: YOUNG)

atmospheric emission - Suspended pollutants -- solid particles, liquid aerosols, etc. -- or toxic gases released into the atmosphere from a polluting source, or type of source. (Source: ISEP)

atmospheric fallout - The sedimentation of dust or fine particles from the atmosphere. (Source: LEE)

atmospheric humidity - A measurable quantity of the moisture content found in the earth's atmosphere. (Source: RHW)

atmospheric inversion - A temperature inversion in the atmosphere in which the temperature, instead of falling, increases with height above the ground. With the colder and heavier air below, there is no tendency to form upward currents and turbulence is suppressed. Inversions are often formed in the late afternoon when the radiation emitted from the ground exceeds that received from the sinking sun. Inversions are also caused by katabatic winds, that is cold winds flowing down the hillside into a valley, and by anticyclones. In inversion layers, both vertical and horizontal diffusion is inhibited and pollutants become trapped, sometimes for long periods. Low-level discharges of pollutants are more readily trapped by inversions than high level dischargers, hence the case for high stacks. Furthermore, high level discharges into an inversion tend to remain at a high level because of the absence of vertical mixing. (Source: GILP96)

atmospheric layering - Any one of a number of strata or layers of the earth's atmosphere; temperature distribution is the most common criterion used for denoting the various shell. Also known as atmospheric shell; atmospheric region. (Source: MGH)

atmospheric model - A simulation, pattern or plan designed to demonstrate the structure or workings of the atmosphere surrounding any object, including the Earth. (Source: APD)

atmospheric monitoring - A practice of continuous atmospheric sampling by various levels of government or particular industries. (Source: MGH)

atmospheric ozone - A triatomic molecule of oxygen; a natural constituent of the atmosphere, with the highest concentrations in the ozone layer or stratosphere; it is found at a level between 15 and 30 km above the Earth, which prevents harmful ultraviolet B radiation, which causes skin cancer and threatens plant life, from reaching the ground. The fragile shield is being damaged by chemicals released on Earth. The main chemicals that are depleting stratospheric ozone are chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which are used in refrigerators, aerosols and as cleaners in many industries and halons, which are used in fire extinguishers. The damage is caused when these chemicals release highly reactive forms of chlorine and bromine. (Source: GILP96 / WRIGHT)

atmospheric particulate - A concentration of fine liquid or solid particles, such as dust, smoke, mist, fumes or smog, found in the atmosphere. (Source: TOE)

atmospheric physics - The study of the physical phenomena of the atmosphere. (Source: MGH)

atmospheric pollution - The presence in the air of one or more contaminants in such a concentration and of such duration as to cause a nuisance or to be injurious to human life, animal life or vegetation. (Source: LANDY)

atmospheric precipitation - The settling out of water from cloud in the form of dew, rain, hail, snow, etc. (Source: ALL)

atmospheric process - Atmospheric processes are distinguished in physical and chemical processes and both types may be operating simultaneously in complicated and interdependent ways. The physical processes of transport by atmospheric winds and the formation of clouds and precipitation strongly influence the patterns and rates of acidic deposition, while chemical reactions govern the forms of the compounds deposited. (Source: PARCOR)

atmospheric science - The atmospheric sciences study the dynamics, physics and chemistry of atmospheric phenomena and processes, including the interactions of the atmosphere with soil physics, hydrology and oceanic circulation. The research focuses on the following areas: turbulence and convection, atmospheric radiation and remote sensing, aerosol and cloud physics and chemistry, planetary atmospheres, air-sea interactions, climate, and statistical meteorology. (Source: ATS)

atmospheric structure - The gaseous area surrounding the planet is divided into several concentric spherical strata (layers, like shells) separated by narrow transition zones. The boundaries are know as "pause". More than 99% of the total atmospheric mass is concentrated in the first 40 km from the Earth's surface. Atmospheric layers are characterized by differences in chemical composition that produce variations in temperature. (Source: KSW)

atrazine - Herbicide belonging to the triazine group, widely employed and particularly in maize crops. It is highly toxic for phytoplancton and freshwater algae and, being highly soluble in water, it easily contaminates aquifers. (Source: RAMADE)

attribute - A distinctive feature of an object. In mapping and GIS applications, the objects are points, lines, or polygons that represent features such as sampling locations, section corners (points); roads and streams (lines); lakes, forest and soil types (polygons). These attributes can be further divided into classes such as tree species Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine) for forest types and paved and gravel for road types. Multiple attributes are generally associated with objects that are located on a single map layer. (Source: FORUMT)

attribution - Under certain circumstances, the tax law applies attribution rules to assign to one taxpayer the ownership interest of another taxpayer. (Source: WESTS)

audio-visual presentation - An exhibition, performance, demonstration or lecture utilizing communication media directed at both the sense of sight and the sense of hearing. (Source: RHW)

audiovisual equipment - Equipment designed to aid in learning and teaching by making use of both hearing and sight. (Source: WEBSTE)

audiovisual media - Any means of communication transmitted to both the sense of hearing and the sense of sight, especially technologies directed to large audiences. (Source: RHW)

audit - The periodic or continuous verification of the accounts, assets and liabilities of a company or other organization, often to confirm compliance with legal and professional standards. (Source: West's / ODE)

authorisation - An official certification of competence or a transfer of the right and power to act, including permission from government to use state funds for a particular program or project. (Source: BLD / RHW)

authority body - An organized assemblage of authorized persons or officials empowered to implement and enforce laws, oversee jurisdictions, settle disputes, adjudicate or make some other legal determination. (Source: RHW / BLD)

autoecology - That part of ecology which deals with individual species and their reactions to environmental factors. (Source: UNUN)

automatic detection - The processing, discovery and identification of data elements by automated means. (Source: RHW)

automobile industry - No definition needed.

avalanche - A fall or slide of a large mass, as of snow or rock, down a mountainside. (Source: AMHER)

avalanche protection - The total of measures and devices implemented to protect people, property or natural resources from avalanche conditions, including avalanche forecasting and warning, avalanche zoning, ski testing and the use of explosives and other equipment to stabilize an avalanche area. (Source: ALL / AVA)

aviation law - International rules regulating air transportation. (Source: NDGIUR)

aviculture - The raising, keeping, and care of birds. (Source: AMHER)

avifauna - All the birds in a particular region. (Source: CED)

Black Sea - No definition needed.

background level - Term used in a variety of situations, always as the constant or natural amount of a given substance, radiation, noise, etc. (Source: KORENa)

background noise - Noise coming from source other than the noise source being monitored. (Source: KOREN)

background radiation - Radiation resulting from natural sources, as opposed to man-made sources, and to which people are exposed in everyday, normal life; for example from rocks and soil. (Source: WRIGHT / MGH)

bacterial bed - A device that removes some suspended solids from sewage. Air and bacteria decompose additional wastes filtering through the sand so that cleaner water drains from the bed. (Source: LEE)

bactericide - An agent that destroys bacteria. (Source: LBC)

bacteriological pollution - Contamination of water, soil and air with pathogen bacteria. (Source: RRDA)

bacteriology - The science and study of bacteria. (Source: MGH)

bacterium - Group of single-cell micro-organisms, the smallest of the living organisms. Some are vital to sustain life, while others are responsible for causing highly dangerous human diseases, such as anthrax, tetanus and tuberculosis. Bacteria are found everywhere, in the soil, water and air. (Source: MGH / WRIGHT)

balance (economic) - An equality between the sums total of the two sides of an account, or the excess on either side. (Source: WESTS)

balance of matter - A calculation to inventory material inputs versus outputs in a process system. (Source: MGH)

balancing of interests - Considering, weighing or counterbalancing the competing political or financial concerns of different parts of society, including industries, consumers, trade unions and other groups or organizations. (Source: OED / ISEP)

bank (land) - The sloping side of any hollow in the ground, especially when bordering a river. (Source: CED)

bank protection - Engineering work which aims at the protection of banks of a river, or slopes of embankments along it, from erosion by the current of flow, from floods, etc. (Source: ECHO1a)

banking - Transactional business between any bank, an institution for safeguarding, exchanging, receiving and lending money, and that bank's clients or customers. (Source: OED / RHW)

barium - A soft silvery-white metallic element of the alkaline earth group. It is used in bearing alloys and compounds are used as pigments. (Source: CED)

barrier beach - An elongated sand or shingle bank which lies parallel to the coastline and is not submerged by the tide. If it is high enough to permit dune growth it is termed a barrier island. (Source: WHIT)

barrier reef - An elongated accumulation of coral lying at low-tide level parallel to the coast but separated from it by a wide and deep lagoon or strait. The coral is thought to have formed initially on a flat surface: then as the sea-level rose in post-glacial times, thereby submerging the irregular wave-cut platform, the coral growth kept pace with the rising ocean level, so creating the great thickness witnessed today in such places as the Great Barrier Reef off the East coast of Queensland, Australia. This stretches for more than 1900 km and varies in width from about 30 km to 150 km. (Source: WHIT)

base (chemical) - Any chemical species, ionic or molecular, capable of accepting or receiving a proton (hydrogen ion) from another substance; the other substance acts as an acid in giving of the proton; the other ion is a base. (Source: MGH)

baseline monitoring - Monitoring of long-term changes in atmospheric compositions of particular significance to the weather and the climate. (Source: YOUNG)

basic food requirement - The minimum nutriments deemed necessary for a person of a particular age, gender, physiological condition and activity level to sustain life, health and growth. (Source: PAJ)

basicity - The state of a solution of containing an excess of hydroxyl ions. (Source: RRDA)

basidiomycete

bastardisation of fauna - One of the possible consequences of the introduction of animal species in an area where they are not indigenous. Such translocation of species always involves an element of risk if not of serious danger. Newly arrived species may be highly competitive with or otherwise adversely affect native species and communities. (Source: RRDA / WPRa)

bastardisation of flora - One of the possible consequences of the introduction of plant species in an area where they are not indigenous. (Source: RRDA)

batch process - A process that is not in continuous or mass production; operations are carried out with discrete quantities of material or a limited number of items. (Source: MGH)

bathing freshwater - Freshwater in which bathing is explicitly authorised or in which bathing is not prohibited and is traditionally practised by a large number of bathers. Water in such areas must meet specified quality standards relating to chemical, microbiological and physical parameters. (Source: GILP96a)

bathing seawater - Sea waters in which bathing is explicitly authorised or in which bathing is not prohibited and is traditionally practised by a large number of bathers. Water in such areas must meet specified quality standards relating to chemical, microbiological and physical parameters. (Source: GILP96a)

bathing water - All waters, inland or coastal, except those intended for therapeutic purposes or used in swimming pools, an area either in which bathing is explicitly authorised or in which bathing is not prohibited and is traditionally practised by a large number of bathers. Water in such areas must meet specified quality standards relating to chemical, microbiological and physical parameters. (Source: GILP96)

battery - A series of cells, each containing the essentials for producing voltaic electricity, connected together. (Source: CEDa)

battery disposal

bay - An open, curving indentation made by the sea or a lake into a coastline. (Source: WHIT)

beach - The unconsolidated material that covers a gently sloping zone, typically with a concave profile, extending landward from the low-water line to the place where there is a definite change in material or physiographic from (such as a cliff), or to the line of permanent vegetation (usually the effective limit of the highest storm waves); a shore of body of water, formed and washed by waves or tides, usually covered by sand or gravel, and lacking a bare rocky surface. (Source: BJGEO)

beach cleansing - The process of removing dirt, litter or other unsightly materials from shore line property or surrounding areas. (Source: ISEP)

beaching - The washing ashore of whales or other cetaceans that have died for natural causes, or because of highly polluted sea water or after being trapped in drift nets. (Source: WPRa)

bee - Any of the membranous-winged insects which compose the superfamily Apoidea in the order Hymenoptera characterized by a hairy body and by sucking and chewing mouthparts. (Source: MGH)

bee conservation - The care, preservation and husbandry of hymenopterous insects valued for their ability to pollinate crops and other flora or for their production of honey. (Source: TOE / RHW)

beef cattle - Cattle bred for the production of meat. (Source: RRDA)

beetle - Any insect of the order Coleoptera, having biting mouthparts and forewings modified to form shell-like protective elytra. (Source: CED)

behaviour - Any observable action or response of an organism, group or species to environmental factors. (Source: LBC)

behaviour of substances - Reactivity of a compound depending on the structure of the molecules. (Source: RRDA)

behaviour pattern - A relatively uniform series of overt activities that can be observed with some regularity. (Source: DUNSTE)

behavioural science - The study of the behaviour of organisms. (Source: ZINZAN / ALL)

beneficial organism - Any pollinating insect, or any pest predator, parasite, pathogen or other biological control agent which functions naturally or as part of an integrated pest management program to control another pest. (Source: LEE)

benthic division - The bottom of a body of water often occupied by benthos. (Source: GILP96)

benthic ecosystem - The interacting system of the biological communities located at the bottom of bodies of freshwater and saltwater and their non-living environmental surroundings. (Source: TOE / DOE)

benthos - Those organisms attached to, living on, in or near the sea bed, river bed or lake floor. (Source: LBC)

benzene - A colorless, liquid, flammable, aromatic hydrocarbon used to manufacture styrene and phenol. Also known as benzol. (Source: MGH)

benzopyrene - A five-ring aromatic hydrocarbon found in coal tar, in cigarette smoke, and as a product of incomplete combustion. (Source: MGH)

beryllium - A corrosion-resistant, toxic silvery-white metallic element that occurs chiefly in beryl and is used mainly in x-ray windows and in the manufacture of alloys. (Source: CED)

beta radiation - Name given to the ionizing radiation which is produced as a stream of high speed electrons emitted by certain types of radioactive substance when they decay. The intensity of radiation energy produced in human tissue by a beta particle is a hundred times less than that produced by an alpha radiation particle, but it travels slightly deeper into tissue. (Source: WRIGHT)

beverage - Any one of various liquids for drinking, usually excluding water. (Source: AMHER)

beverage industry

bibliographic information - Data pertaining to the history, physical description, comparison, and classification of books and other works. (Source: RHW)

bibliographic information system - A coordinated assemblage of people, devices or other resources organized for the exchange of data pertaining to the history, physical description, comparison, and classification of books and other works. (Source: RHW)

bibliography - A complete or selective listing of documents by a given subject, author or publisher, often including the description and identification of the editions, dates of issue, titles, authorship, publishers or other written materials. (Source: RHW / ISEP)

bicycle - A vehicle with two wheels in tandem, pedals connected to the rear wheel by a chain, handlebars for steering, and a saddlelike seat.

big game - Large wild animals that weigh typically more than 30 lb when fully grown, hunted for food, sport or profit. (Source: CORBIT / AMHER)

bilateral convention - An international agreement, especially one dealing with a specific matter, involving two or both sides, factions, or the like. (Source: RRDA)

bilge oil - Waste oil that accumulates, usually in small quantities, inside the lower spaces of a ship, just inside the shell plating, and usually mixed with larger quantities of water. (Source: ERG)

bilge water - Water that builds up in the bottom of a ship's bilge. (Source: MGH)

bio-availability - The extent to which a drug or other substance is taken up by a specific tissue or organ after administration. (Source: ZINZAN / CEDa)

bioaccumulation - 1) The accumulation of pollutants in living organisms by direct adsorption or through food chains. 2) Accumulation by an organism of materials that are not an essential component or nutrient of that organism. Usually it refers to the accumulation of metals, but it can apply to bioaccumulation of persistent synthetic substances such as organochlorine compounds. Many organisms, such as plants, fungi and bacteria, will accumulate metals when grown in solutions containing them. The process can be employed usefully as a purification process to remove toxic heavy metals from waste water and contaminated land. (Source: WRIGHT)

bioaccumulative pollutant - Pollutants that become concentrated in living organisms through the consumption of food or water. (Source: KORENa)

biochemical method - Method based on the utilisation of a biochemical mechanism, e.g. any chemical reaction or series of reactions, usually enzyme catalysed, which produces a given physiological effect in a living organism. (Source: BIOHW)

biochemical oxygen demand - The amount of oxygen used for biochemical oxidation by a unit volume of water at a given temperature and for a given time. BOD is an index of the degree of organic pollution in water. (Source: LBC)

biochemical process - Chemical processes occurring in living organisms. (Source: PHCa)

biochemical substance - Chemical substances that occur in animals, microorganisms, and plants. (Source: GILP96a)

biochemistry - The study of chemical substances occurring in living organisms and the reactions and methods for identifying these substances. (Source: MGH)

biocide - A diverse group of poisonous substance including preservatives, insecticides, disinfectants and pesticides used for the control of organisms that are harmful to human or animal health or that cause damage to natural or manufactured products. (Source: GRAHAW)

bioclimatology - The study of climate in relation to fauna and flora. (Source: LBC)

biocoenosis - A community or natural assemblage of organisms; often used as an alternative to ecosystem but strictly is the fauna/flora association excluding physical aspects of the environment. (Source: LBC)

bioconcentration factor - The quotient of the concentration of a chemical in aquatic organisms at a specific time or during a discrete time period of exposure, divided by the concentration in the surrounding water at the same time or during the same period. (Source: KOREN)

biodegradability - The extent to which a substance can be decomposed - or rotted - by bacteria and fungi. Implies that residues from degradation are nontoxic. One of the most misleading claims in business, because shoppers often assume a biodegradable product to be harmless. Some harmful compounds take much longer to degrade than others and the product can harm the environment while it is rotting. Biodegradation may also be incomplete, sometimes leaving residues in the environment which are more harmful than the original substance. Accumulation in the environment of nonbiodegradable (or poorly biodegradable) substances, such as some biocides, can cause serious problems. (Source: VCN)

biodegradable pollutant - A pollutant which can be converted by biological processes into simple inorganic molecules. (Source: RRDA)

biodegradation - Breaking down of a substance by microorganisms. (Source: MGH)

biodiversity - 1) Genetic diversity: the variation between individuals and between populations within a species; species diversity: the different types of plants, animals and other life forms within a region; community or ecosystem diversity: the variety of habitats found within an area (grassland, marsh, and woodland for instance. 2) An umbrella term to describe collectively the variety and variability of nature. It encompasses three basic levels of organisation in living systems: the genetic, species, and ecosystem levels. Plant and animal species are the most commonly recognized units of biological diversity, thus public concern has been mainly devoted to conserving species diversity. (Source: WRES / GILP96)

bioethics - The study of ethical problems arising from biological research and its applications in such fields as organ transplantation, genetic engineering, or artificial insemination. (Source: CED)

biofiltration - The distribution of settled sewage on a bed of inert granular material through which it is allowed to percolate. In doing so, the effluent is aerated thus allowing aerobic bacteria and fungi to reduce its biochemical oxygen demand. (Source: PORT)

biofuel - A gaseous, liquid, or solid fuel that contains an energy content derived from a biological source. The organic matter that makes up living organisms provides a potential source of trapped energy that is beginning to be exploited to supply the ever-increasing energy demand around the world. An example of a biofuel is rapeseed oil, which can be used in place of diesel fuel in modified engines. The methyl ester of this oil, rapeseed methyl ester (RME), can be used in unmodified diesel engines and is sometimes known as biodiesel. Other biofuels include biogas and gasohol. (Source: DICCHE)

biogas - Gas, rich in methane, which is produced by the fermentation of animal dung, human sewage or crop residues in an air-tight container. It is used as a fuel, to heat stoves, lamps, run small machines and to generate electricity. The residues of biogas production are used as a low-grade organic fertilizer. Biogas fuels do not usually cause any pollution to the atmosphere, and because they come from renewable energy resources they have great potential for future use. (Source: WRIGHT)

biogeochemical cycle - Movement of chemical elements in a circular pathway, from organisms to physical environment, back to organisms. The process is termed a nutrient cycle if the elements concerned are trace elements, which are essential to life. A biogeochemical cycle occurs when vegetation decomposes and minerals are incorporated naturally in the humus for future plant growth. (Source: WRIGHT)

biogeochemistry

biogeographical region - Area of the Earth's surface defined by the species of fauna and flora it contains. (Source: ALL)

biogeography - The science concerned with the geographical distribution of animal and plant life. (Source: MGH)

biological activity

biological analysis - The analysis of a substance in order to ascertain its influence on living organisms. (Source: PHCa)

biological attribute - Properties or features belonging to living organisms. (Source: CEDa)

biological contamination - The presence in the environment of living organisms or agents derived by viruses, bacteria, fungi, and mammal and bird antigens that can cause many health effects. (Source: KORENa)

biological cycle - A series of transformations or biological events which follow one after the other one, reaching at the end of the cycle the initial conditions, as in the life cycle of many animal and plant organisms. (Source: DELFIN)

biological development - The action of growing of living organisms. (Source: RRDA)

biological effect - Biological effects include allergic reactions, respiratory disorders, hypersensitivity diseases and infectious diseases and can be caused by a variety of contaminants and pollutants. (Source: RRDA)

biological effect of pollution - Effects of pollution on living systems. (Source: RRDA)

biological engineering - The application of engineering principles and techniques to living organisms. It is largely concerned with the design of replacement body parts, such as limbs, heart valves, etc. (Source: UVAROV)

biological heritage - The inheritance and preservation of the earth's or a particular region's balanced, integrated functionality as a natural habitat, with special concern for the water resources necessary to maintain the ecosystem. (Source: TOE)

biological indicator - A species or organism that is used to grade environmental quality or change. (Source: ALL)

biological monitoring - The direct measurement of changes in the biological status of a habitat, based on evaluations of the number and distribution of individuals or species before and after a change. (Source: ALL)

biological nitrogen fixation

biological pest control - Any living organism applied to or introduced into the environment that is intended to function as a pesticide against another organism declared to be a pest. (Source: LEE)

biological pollutant - Viruses, bacteria, fungi, and mammal and bird antigens that may be present in the environment and cause many health effects. (Source: KORENa)

biological pollution - Disturbance of the ecological balance by the accidental or deliberate introduction of a foreign organism, animal or plant species into an environment. (Source: WRIGHT)

biological process - Processes concerning living organisms. (Source: CEDa)

biological production - 1) The amount and rate of production which occur in a given ecosystem over a given time period. It may apply to a single organism, a population, or entire communities and ecosystems. 2) The quantity of organic matter or its equivalent in dry matter, carbon, or energy content which is accumulated during a given period of time. (Source: PARCOR / MGH)

biological reserve - An area of land and/or of water designated as having protected status for purposes of preserving certain biological features. Reserves are managed primarily to safeguard these features and provide opportunities for research into the problems underlying the management of natural sites and of vegetation and animal populations. Regulations are normally imposed controlling public access and disturbance. (Source: GOOD)

biological resource - Wild organisms harvested for subsistence, commerce, or recreation (such as fish, game, timber or furbearers); domesticated organisms raised by agriculture, aquaculture, and silviculture; and ecosystems cropped by livestock. (Source: WPR)

biological test - The laboratory determination of the effects of substances upon specific living organisms. (Source: GILP96)

biological treatment - Process that uses microorganisms to decompose organic wastes either into water, carbon dioxide, and simple inorganic substances, or into simpler organic substances, such as aldehydes and acids. The purpose of a biological treatment system is to control the environment for microorganisms so that their growth and activity are enhanced, and provide a means for maintaining high concentration of the microorganisms in contact with the wastes. (Source: PARCOR)

biological waste gas purification - Processes for removing impurities from waste gas based on the employing of microorganisms. (Source: BIOTGLa)

biological waste treatment - A generic term applied to processes that use microorganisms to decompose organic wastes either into water, carbon dioxide, and simple inorganic substances, such as aldehydes and acids. The purpose of biological waste treatment is to control either the environment for microorganisms so that their growth and activity are enhanced, and to provide a means for maintaining high concentrations of the microorganisms in contact with the wastes.

biological wastewater treatment - Types of wastewater treatment in which biochemical or bacterial action is intensified to oxidize and stabilize the unstable organic matter present. Examples of this type of treatment use intermittent sand filters, trickling filters, and activated sludge processes and sludge digestion. (Source: WWC)

biological water balance - The amount of ingoing and outgoing water in a system, which are assumed to be equal in the long term so that the water budget will balance. (Source: ALL)

biological weapon - Living organisms (or infective material derived from them) which are intended to cause disease or death in animals, plants, or man, and which depend for their effects on their ability to multiply in the person, animal or plant attacked. Various living organisms (for example, rickettsiae, viruses and fungi), as well as bacteria, can be used as weapons. (Source: WPR)

biology - A division of the natural sciences concerned with the study of life and living organisms. (Source: MGH)

bioluminescence - The production of light of various colors by living organisms (e.g. some bacteria and fungi, glow-worms and many marine animals). Luminescence is produced by a biochemical reaction, which is catalyzed by an enzyme. In some animals the light is used as a mating signal; in others it may be a protective device. In deep-sea forms luminous organs may serve as lanterns. (Source: MGH)

biomarker - A normal metabolite that, when present in abnormal concentrations in certain body fluids, can indicate the presence of a particular disease or toxicological condition. (Source: DICCHE)

biomass - Biomass refers strictly speaking to the total weight of all the living things in an ecosystem. However, it has come to refer to the amount of plant and crop material that could be produced in an ecosystem for making biofuels and other raw materials used in industry, for example. (Source: WRIGHT)

biomass energy - A renewable energy source that makes use of such biofuels as methane (biogas) generated by sewage, farm, industrial, or household organic waste materials. Other biofuels include trees grown in so-called "energy forests" or other plants, such as sugar cane, grown for their energy potential. Biomass energy relies on combustion and therefore produces carbon dioxide; its use would not, therefore, alleviate the greenhouse effect. (Source: UVAROV)

biophysics - The hybrid science involving the application of physical principles and methods to study and explain the structures of living organisms and the mechanics of life processes. (Source: MGH)

bioreactor - A container, such as a large fermentation chamber, for growing living organisms that are used in the industrial production of substances such as pharmaceuticals, antibodies, or vaccines. (Source: PORT)

biorhythm - A cyclically recurring pattern of physiological states in an organism or organ, such as alpha rhythm or circadian rhythm; believed by some to affect physical and mental states and behaviour. (Source: CED)

biosafety - The combination of knowledge, techniques and equipment used to manage or contain potentially infectious materials or biohazards in the laboratory environment, to reduce or prevent harm to laboratory workers, other persons and the environment. (Source: BIOSAF / OHS)

biosphere - That part of the Earth and atmosphere capable of supporting living organisms. (Source: LBC)

biosphere reserve - Protected land and coastal areas that are approved under the Man and Biosphere programme (MAB) in conjunction with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Each reserve has to have an ecosystem that is recognized for its diversity and usefulness as a conservation unit. The reserves have at least one core area where there can be no interference with the natural ecosystem. A transition zone surrounds this and within it scientific research is allowed. Beyond this is a buffer zone which protects the whole reserve from agricultural, industrial and urban development. Biosphere reserves and buffer zones were regarded as examples of a new generation of conservation techniques. (Source: WRIGHT)

biosynthesis - Production, by synthesis or degradation, of a chemical compound by a living organism. (Source: MGH)

biotechnological hazard - A danger to humans, animals or the environment posed by the application of advanced biological techniques in the manufacture of industrial products, such as the risk or harm that results from exposure to infectious bacteria, viruses or fungi. (Source: APD / FFD)

biotechnology - A combination of biology and technology. It is used to describe developments in the application of biological organisms for commercial and scientific purposes. So "bio" stands for biology and the science of life, and "tech" stands for technology, or the tools and techniques that the biotechnologists have in their workbox. Those tools and techniques include microorganisms and a range of methods for manipulating them, such as genetic engineering. (Source: WRIGHT)

biotic factor - The influence upon the environment of organisms owing to the presence and activities of other organisms, as distinct from a physical, abiotic, environmental factor. (Source: ALL2)

biotic index - Scale for showing the quality of an environment by indicating the types of organisms present in it (e.g. how clean a river is). (Source: PHC)

biotope - A region of relatively uniform environmental conditions, occupied by a given plant community and its associated animal community. (Source: PAENS)

biotope network - Intersection of corridors connecting patchy ecological communities. Species survival tends to be higher in patches that have higher connectivity. (Source: PARCORa)

biotope order - An ordinance or decree regarding an area of ecological habitat that is characterized by a high degree of uniformity in its environmental conditions and in its distribution of plants and animals. (Source: DOE / OED)

biotope protection - Measures taken to ensure that the biological and physical components of a biotope are in equilibrium by maintaining constant their relative numbers and features. (Source: GILP96a)

bird - Any of the warm-blooded vertebrates which make up the class Aves. (Source: MGH)

bird of prey - Any of various carnivorous bird of the orders Falconiformes and Strigiformes which feed on meat taken by hunting. (Source: MGH)

bird sanctuary - Special area where birds are protected. (Source: PHC)

bird species - Any species of the warm-blooded vertebrates which make up the class Aves. (Source: MGH)

birth control - Limitation of the number of children born by preventing or reducing the frequency of impregnation. (Source: MGH)

bitumen - A generic term applied to natural inflammable substances of variable colour, hardness, and volatility, composed principally of a mixture of hydrocarbons substantially free from oxygenated bodies. Bitumens are sometimes associated with mineral matter, the nonmineral constituents being fusible and largely soluble in carbon disulfide, yielding water-insoluble sulfonation products. Petroleum, asphalts, natural mineral waxes, and asphaltites are all considered bitumens. (Source: BJGEO)

black coal - A natural black graphitelike material used as a fuel, formed from fossilized plants and consisting of amorphous carbon with various organic and some inorganic compounds. (Source: AMHER)

blast furnace - A tall, cylindrical smelting furnace for reducing iron ore to pig iron; the blast of air blown through solid fuel increases the combustion rate. (Source: MGH)

bleaching agent - 1) A chemical, such as an aromatic acyl peroxide or monoperoxiphthalic acid, used to bleach flour, fats, oils and other edibles. 2) An oxidizing or reducing chemical such as sodium hypochlorite, sulfur dioxide, sodium acid sulfite, or hydrogen peroxide. (Source: MGH)

bleaching clay - Clay capable of chemically adsorbing oils, insecticides, alkaloids, vitamins, carbohydrates and other materials; it is used for refining and decolorizing mineral and vegetable oils. (Source: WRES)

bleaching process - 1) Removing colored components from a textile. Common bleaches are hydrogen peroxide, sodium hypochloride, and sodium chlorite. 2) The brightening and delignification of pulp by the addition of oxidizing chemicals such as chlorine or reducing chemicals such as sodium hypochloride. (Source: LEE)

blood (tissue) - A fluid connective tissue consisting of the plasma and cells that circulate in the blood vessels. (Source: MGH)

blue-green alga - Microorganisms, formerly classified as algae but now regarded as bacteria, including nostoc, which contain a blue pigment in addition to chlorophyll. (Source: CED)

boating - To travel or go in a boat as a form of recreation. (Source: CED)

bocage - The wooded countryside characteristic of northern France, with small irregular-shaped fields and many hedges and copses. In the French language the word bocage refers both to the hedge itself and to a landscape consisting of hedges. Bocage landscapes usually have a slightly rolling landform, and are found mainly in maritime climates. Being a small-scale, enclosed landscape, the bocage offers much variations in biotopes, with habitats for birds, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and butterflies. (Source: CED / DOBRIS)

bog - A commonly used term in Scotland and Ireland for a stretch waterlogged, spongy ground, chiefly composed of decaying vegetable matter, especially of rushes, cotton grass, and sphagnum moss. (Source: WHIT)

boiler - An enclosed vessel in which water is heated and circulated, either as hot water or as steam, for heating or power. (Source: AMHER)

boiling point - The temperature at which the transition from the liquid to the gaseous phase occurs in a pure substance at fixed pressure. (Source: MGH)

book - A collection of leaves of paper, parchment or other material, usually bound or fastened together within covers, containing writing of any type or blank pages for future inscription. (Source: CCL / RHW)

bookkeeping - The art or science of recording business accounts and transactions. (Source: WESTS)

border - The dividing line or frontier between political or geographic regions. (Source: CED)

boron - A very hard almost colourless crystalline metalloid element that in impure form exists as a brown amorphous powder. It occurs principally in borax and is used in hardening steel. (Source: CED)

botanical conservatory - Gardens for the conservation of rare species of plants. (Source: RAMADE)

botanical garden - A place in which plants are grown, studied and exhibited. (Source: CED)

botany - A branch of the biological sciences which embraces the study of plants and plant life. (Source: MGH)

bottle cap - No definition needed.

boundary crossing - Crossing of a state border. (Source: RRDA)

boundary layer - The layer of fluid adjacent to a physical boundary in which the fluid motion is significantly affected by the boundary and has a mean velocity less than the free stream value. (Source: LBC)

bovid - Any animal belonging to the Bovidae family. (Source: CED)

bovine

brackish water - Water, salty between the concentrations of fresh water and sea water; usually 5-10 parts x thousand. (Source: LANDY)

bradyseism - A long-continued, extremely slow vertical instability of the crust, as in the volcanic district west of Naples, Italy, where the Phlegraean bradyseism has involved up-and-down movements between 6 m below sea level and 6 m above over a period of more than 2.000 years. (Source: BJGEO)

branch of activity - A specialized division of a business or other organization. (Source: RRDA)

breast milk - Milk from the breast for feeding babies. (Source: CED)

breeding - The application of genetic principles to the improvement of farm animals and cultivated plants. (Source: MGH)

breeding bird - The individuals in a bird population that are involved in reproduction during a particular period in a given place. (Source: ALL2a)

breeding technique - Term referring to the systems employed in animal rearing (extensive and intensive). (Source: RRDA)

brewing industry - A sector of the economy in which an aggregate of commercial enterprises is engaged in the manufacture and marketing of beverages made from malt and hops by steeping, boiling and fermentation, such as beer, ale and other related beverages. (Source: RHW)

brick - A building material usually made from clay, molded as a rectangular block, and baked or burned in a kiln. (Source: MGH)

bridge - A structure that spans and provides a passage over a road, railway, river, or some other obstacle. (Source: CED)

broad-leaved tree - Deciduous tree which has wide leaves, as opposed to the needles on conifers. (Source: PHC)

bromine - A pungent dark red volatile liquid element of the halogen series that occurs in brine and is used in the production of chemicals. (Source: CED)

brooding - To incubate eggs or cover the young for warmth. (Source: MGH)

brook - A small stream or rivulet, commonly swiftly flowing in rugged terrain, of lesser length and volume than a creek; especially a stream that issues directly from the ground, as from a spring or seep, or that is produced by heavy rainfall or melting snow. (Source: BJGEO)

brushwood - Woody vegetation including shrubs and scrub trees of non-commercial height and form, often seen in the initial stages of succession following a disturbance. Brush often grows in very dense thickets that are impenetrable to wild animals and serve to suppress the growth of more desirable crop trees. However, brush can also serve an important function as desirable habitat for a range or bird, animal, and invertebrate species, and often provides a good source of browse and cover for larger wildlife. It adds structural diversity within the forest and is important in riparian zones. It is also termed scrub. (Source: DUNSTE)

bryophyte - Any plant of the division Bryophyta, having stems and leaves but lacking true vascular tissue and roots and reproducing by spores: includes the mosses and liverworts. (Source: CED)

bubble policy (emissions trading) - EPA policy that allows a plant complex with several facilities to decrease pollution from some facilities while increasing it from others, so long as total results are equal to or better than previous limits. Facilities where this is done are treated as if they exist in a bubble in which total emissions are averaged out. (Source: EPAGLO)

budget - A balance sheet or statement of estimated receipts and expenditures. A plan for the coordination of resource and expenditures. The amount of money that is available for, required for, or assigned to a particular purpose. (Source: WESTS)

budget policy - The programmatic use of a government's spending and revenue-generating activities to influence the economy and achieve specific objectives. (Source: MGHME)

bug - Any of the suborder Heteroctera, having piercing and sucking mouthparts, specialized as a beak. (Source: CED)

building - Something built with a roof and walls, such as a house or factory. (Source: CED)

building area - Land and other places on, under, in or through which the temporary and permanent works are to be executed and any other lands or places needed for the purposes of construction. (Source: ECHO1)

building component - A building element which uses industrial products that are manufactured as independent until capable of being joined with other elements. (Source: HARRIS)

building destruction - The tearing down of buildings by mechanical means. (Source: MGHa)

building industry - The art and technique of building houses. (Source: ZINZAN)

building land - Area of land suitable for building on. (Source: PHC)

building material - Any material used in construction, such as steel, concrete, brick, masonry, glass, wood, etc. (Source: HARRIS)

building materials industry

building permit - Authorization required by local governmental bodies for the erection of an enclosed structure or for the major alteration or expansion of an existing edifice. (Source: BLD)

building planning - The activity of designing, organizing or preparing for future construction or reconstruction of edifices and facilities. (Source: RHW)

building regulation

building restoration - The accurate reestablishment of the form and details of a building, its artifacts, and the site on which it is located, usually as it appeared at a particular time. (Source: HARRIS)

building service - The aggregation of services, including construction, development, maintenance and leasing, performed for human-occupied properties, such as office buildings and apartment houses. (Source: PBS)

building site - A piece of land on which a house or other building is being built. (Source: CAMB)

building site preparation - No definition needed.

building technology - No definition needed.

building waste - Masonry and rubble wastes arising from the demolition or reconstruction of buildings or other civil engineering structures.

built drainage system - Collection of open and/or closed drains, together with structures and pumps used to collect and dispose of excess surface or subsurface water. (Source: LANDY)

built environment - That part of the physical surroundings which are people-made or people-organized, such as buildings and other major structures, roads, bridges and the like, down to lesser objects such as traffic lights, telephone and pillar boxes. (Source: GOOD)

built structure - Any structure made of stone, bricks, wood, concrete, or steel, built with a roof and walls, such as a house or factory. (Source: CEDa / ZINZAN)

built-up area - Area which is full of houses, shops, offices and other buildings, with very little open space. (Source: PHC)

bulb cultivation - The cultivation of flower bulb is divided into two sectors: for forcing (flower bulbs used by professional growers for the production of cut flowers and potted plants) and for dry sales (flower bulbs for garden planting, flower pots, landscaping and parks). (Source: BULB)

bulky waste - Large items of waste material, such as appliances, furniture, large auto parts, trees, branches, stumps, etc. (Source: LANDY)

bulletin board system - An assemblage of computer hardware and software that can be linked by computer modem dialing for the purpose of sharing or exchanging messages or other files. (Source: WIC)

bureaucratisation - The multiplication of or concentration of power in administrators and administrative offices in an organization, usually resulting in an extension into and regimentation of certain areas of social life. (Source: DAM / RHW)

bus - A large, long-bodied motor vehicle equipped with seating for passengers, usually operating as part of a scheduled service.

bus station - A place along a route or line at which a bus stops for fuel or to pick up or let off passengers or goods, especially with ancillary buildings and services. (Source: CED)

bush clearing - The removal of brush using mechanical means, either by cutting manually or by using machinery for crushing, rolling, flailing, or chipping it, or by chemical means or a combination of these. (Source: DUNSTE)

business - The activity, position or site associated with commerce or the earning of a livelihood. (Source: West's / RHW)

business activity - Any profit-seeking undertaking or venture that involves the production, sale and purchase of goods or services. (Source: RHW)

business classification - The categorization of enterprises or organizations involved in an economy. (Source: ISEP)

business economics - The art of purchasing and selling goods from an economics perspective or a perspective involving the scientific study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. (Source: RHW)

business organisation - A particular legal arrangement for owning a firm, the principal forms are sale trades, partnerships and companies/corporations; collective term for the system, function, process of planning, providing, coordinating, directing all efforts and resources in a business in order to achieve its goals.

business policy - The guiding procedure, philosophy or course of action for an enterprise or company organized for commercial purposes. (Source: RHW)

butterfly - Any diurnal insect of the order Lepidoptera that has a slender body with clubbed antennae and typically rests with the wings (which are often brightly coloured) closed over the back. (Source: CED)

button-cell battery - A tiny, circular battery made for a watch or for other microelectric applications. (Source: LEE)

by-catch - Incidental taking of non-commercial species in drift nets, trawling operations and long line fishing; it is responsible for the death of large marine animals and one factor in the threatened extinction of some species. (Source: WPR)

by-product - A product from a manufacturing process that is not considered the principal material. (Source: MGH)

CD-ROM - A compact disc on which a large amount of digitalised read-only data can be stored.

CD-ROM search service - The provision of special aid by library staff trained to query bibliographic or other information contained on an electronic storage medium, usually to meet the research needs of the library's clients. (Source: RHW / LFS)

CFC and halons prohibition - An interdiction on the manufacture or use of products that discharge chlorofluorocarbons and bromine-containing compounds into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer. (Source: TOE)

Caribbean Area - A geographical region bordered on the south by South America and Panama, and on the west by Central America, and consisting of the West Indian, and nearby, islands and the Caribbean Sea, a part of the western Atlantic Ocean. (Source: RHW)

Caspian Sea - No definition needed.

Central Africa - A geographic region of the African continent close to the equator that includes Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Source: OMD / CIA)

Central America - A narrow continental region of the Western hemisphere, existing as a bridge between North and South America, often considered to be the southern portion of North America, and including countries such as Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. (Source: RHW)

Central Asia - A geographic region of the Asian continent between the Caspian Sea on the west and China on the east, extending northward into the central region of Russia and southward to the northern borders of Iran and Afghanistan, and comprised of independent former republics of the Soviet Union, including Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. (Source: INP / CIA)

Chagas' disease - A form of trypanosomiasis found in South America, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, characterized by fever and often inflammation of the hearth muscle. (Source: CED)

Community act

Community budget - A schedule of revenues and expenditures for a specific time period that is devised by the European Community, a body of people organized into a political unity. (Source: MGHME / OED)

Community finance - The financial resources or income of the European Community, a body of people organized into a political unity. (Source: ISEP / OED)

Community law - The law of European Community (as opposed to the national laws of the member states.) It consists of the treaties establishing the EC (together with subsequent amending treaties) community legislation, and decisions of the court of justice of the European Communities. Any provision of the treaties or of community legislation that is directly applicable or directly effective in a member state forms part of the law of that state and prevails over its national law in the event of any inconsistency between the two. (Source: DICLAW)

Community legal system - The directly applicable legislation of the European Community regulating the relations of member states. (Source: CURZONa)

Community ruling

Court of Justice of the European Communities - Institution set up under Treaty of Rome to ensure that in interpretation and application of the Treaty the law is observed. It consists of judges from each member state, appointed for 6-year periods, assisted by three Advocates General. It sits in Luxembourg, expressing itself in judgements when called upon to do so in proceedings initiated by member states, institutions of the EC and natural or legal persons. Procedures are generally inquisitorial. (Source: CURZON)

cable - Strands of insulated electrical conductors laid together, usually around a central core, and wrapped in a heavy insulation. (Source: MGH)

cadmium - One of the toxic heavy metal which has caused deaths and permanent illnesses in a series of major pollution incidents around the world. Cadmium has no useful biological purpose. However, it has wide industrial applications. It has been used for decades in metal plating to prevent corrosion, in rechargeable batteries and as a pigment in certain plastics and paints. Special care is taken in the industrial smelting of ores and subsequent handling of cadmium, because occupational exposure is known to have caused heart, chest and kidney disorders. Environmental health problems have come from exposure to various sources of pollution. (Source: WRIGHT)

cadmium contamination - The release and presence in the air, water and soil of cadmium, a toxic, metallic element, from sources such as the burning of coal and tobacco and improper disposal of cadmium-containing waste. (Source: FFD / EEN)

caesium - A soft silvery-white and highly reactive metal belonging to the alkali group of metals. It is a radiation hazard, because it can occur in two radioactive forms. Caesium-134 is produced in nuclear reactors, not directly by fission, but by the reaction. It emits beta- and gamma-radiation and has a half-life of 2.06 years. Caesium-137 is a fission product of uranium and occurs in the fallout from nuclear weapons. It emits beta- and gamma-rays and has a half-life of 30 years. Caesium-137 was the principal product released into the atmosphere, and hence the food chain, from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and from the Windscale fire and Chernobyl nuclear accidents. After the Chernobyl accident, which spread a radiation cloud across Europe, the European Commission proposed new and more restrictive limits on levels of caesium in food and drinking water. (Source: WRIGHT)

calcium - A malleable silvery-white metallic element of the alkaline hearth group; the fifth most abundant element in the earth crust, occurring especially as forms of calcium carbonate. It is an essential constituent of bones and teeth and is used as a deoxidizer in steel. (Source: CED)

calcium content - Amount of calcium contained in a solution. (Source: MGHa)

calculation - The act, process or result of calculating. (Source: CED)

calculation method - No definition needed.

calibration - To mark the scale of a measuring instrument so that readings can be made in appropriate units. (Source: CED)

calibration of measuring equipment - The determination or rectification of, according to an accepted standard, the graduation of any instrument giving quantitative measurements. (Source: APD / RHW)

camp - 1) A place where tents, cabins, or other temporary structures are erected for the use of military troops, for training soldiers, etc. 2) Tents, cabins, etc., used as temporary lodgings by a group of travellers, holiday-makers, Scouts, Gypsies, etc. (Source: CED)

camping - Guarded area equipped with sanitary facilities where holiday-makers may pitch a tent and camp by paying a daily rate. (Source: ZINZAN)

camping site - A piece of land where people on holiday can stay in tents, usually with toilets and places for washing. (Source: CAMB)

canal - An artificial open waterway used for transportation, waterpower, or irrigation. (Source: MGH)

canal lock - A chamber with gates on both ends connecting two sections of a canal or other waterway, to raise or lower the water level in each section. (Source: MGH)

cancer - Any malignant cellular tumour including carcinoma and sarcoma. It encompasses a group of neoplastic diseases in which there is a transformation of normal body cells into malignant ones, probably involving some change in the genetic material of the cells, possibly as a result of faulty repair of damage to the cell caused by carcinogenic agents or ionizing radiation. (Source: KOREN)

cancer risk - The probability that exposure to some agent or substance will adversely transform cells to replicate and form a malignant tumor. (Source: APD / HMD)

canid - Carnivorous mammal in the superfamily Canoidea, including dogs and their allies. (Source: MGH)

canyon - A long deep, relatively narrow steep-sided valley confined between lofty and precipitous walls in a plateau or mountainous area, often with a stream at the bottom; similar to, but largest than, a gorge. It is characteristic of an arid or semiarid area (such as western U.S.) where stream downcutting greatly exceeds weathering. (Source: BJGEO)

car - A four-wheeled motor vehicle used for land transport, usually propelled by a gasoline or diesel internal combustion engine. (Source: RHW)

car park - Area of ground or a building where there is space for vehicles to be parked. (Source: CAMB)

car tyre - A rubber ring placed over the rim of a wheel of a road vehicle to provide traction and reduce road shocks, especially a hollow inflated ring consisting of a reinforced outer casing enclosing an inner tube. (Source: CED)

carbohydrate - Any of the group of organic compounds composed of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, including sugars, starches and celluloses. (Source: MGH)

carbon - A nonmetallic element existing in the three crystalline forms: graphite, diamond and buckminsterfullerene: occurring in carbon dioxide, coal, oil and all organic compounds. (Source: CED)

carbon cycle - The cycle of carbon in the biosphere, in which plants convert carbon dioxide to organic compounds that are consumed by plants and animals, and the carbon is returned to the biosphere in inorganic form by processes of respiration and decay. (Source: MGH)

carbon dioxide - A colourless gas with a faint tingling smell and taste. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is the source of carbon for plants. As carbon dioxide is heavier than air and does not support combustion, it is used in fire extinguishers. It is a normal constituent of the atmosphere, relatively innocuous in itself but playing an important role in the greenhouse effect. It is produced during the combustion of fossil fuels when the carbon content of the fuels reacts with the oxygen during combustion. It is also produced when living organisms respire. It is essential for plant nutrition and in the ocean phytoplankton is capable of absorbing and releasing large quantities of the gas. (Source: UVAROV / GILP96)

carbon dioxide tax - Compulsory charges levied on fuels to reduce the output of carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a colourless and odourless gas substance that is incombustible. (Source: ODE / RHW)

carbon monoxide - Colorless, odourless, tasteless, non-corrosive, highly poisonous gas of about the same density as that of air. Very flammable, burning in air with bright blue flame. Although each molecule of CO has one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, it has a shape similar to that of an oxygen molecule (two atoms of oxygen), which is important with regard to it's lethality. (Source: PHYMAC)

carbonate - A salt or ester of carbonic acid. (Source: CED)

carcass disposal - The disposal of slaughtered animals, other dead animal bodies and animal body parts after removal of the offal products. (Source: ISEP)

carcinogen - A substance that causes cancer in humans and animals. (Source: WRIGHT)

carcinogenicity - The ability or tendency of a substance or physical agent to cause or produce cancer. (Source: CONFER)

carcinogenicity test - Test for assessing if a chemical or physical agent increases the risk of cancer. The three major ways of testing for carcinogens are animals tests, epidemiological studies and bacterial tests. (Source: EPAGLO)

cardiology - The study of the heart. (Source: MGH)

cardiovascular disease

cardiovascular system - Those structures, including the heart and blood vessels, which provide channels for the flow of blood. (Source: MGH)

carnivore - An animal that eats meat. (Source: CAMB)

carry-over effect - Effect caused by the successive passages of polluting substances through the different organisms of a food chain. (Source: RRDA)

cartography - The making of maps and charts for the purpose of visualizing spatial distributions over various areas of the earth. (Source: MGH)

cash crop - Crops that are grown for sale in the town markets or for export. They include coffee, cocoa, sugar, vegetables, peanuts and non-foods, like tobacco and cotton. Huge areas of countries in the developing world have been turned over to cash crops. Those countries with no mineral or oil resources depend on cash crops for foreign money, so that they can import materials do develop roads, for construction, or to buy Western consumer goods and, indeed, food. However, critics argue that cash crops are planted on land that would otherwise be used to grow food for the local community and say this is a cause of world famine. Cash crops, such as peanuts, can ruin the land if it is not left fallow after six years of harvests. Moreover, if the best agricultural land is used for cash crops, local farmers are forced to use marginal land to grow food for local consumption, and this has a further dramatic effect on the environment. (Source: WRIGHT)

catalysis - A phenomenon in which a relatively small amount of substance augments the rate of a chemical reaction without itself being consumed. (Source: MGH)

catalyst - A substance whose presence alters the rate at which a chemical reaction proceeds, but whose own composition remains unchanged by the reaction. Catalysts are usually employed to accelerate reactions(positive catalyst), but retarding (negative) catalysts are also used. (Source: ALL)

catalytic converter - Catalytic converters are designed to clean up the exhaust fumes from petrol-driven vehicles, which are otherwise the major threat to air quality standards in congested urban streets and on motorways. Converters remove carbon monoxide, the unburned hydrocarbons and the oxides of nitrogen. These compounds are damaging to human health and the environment in a variety of ways. The converter is attached to the vehicle' s exhaust near the engine. Exhaust gases pass through the cellular ceramic substrate, a honeycomb-like filter. While compact, the intricate honeycomb structure provides a surface area of 23.000 square metres. This is coated with a thin layer of platinum, palladium and rhodium metals, which act as catalysts that simulate a reaction to changes in the chemical composition of the gases. Platinum and palladium convert hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide and water vapour. Rhodium changes nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons into nitrogen and water, which are harmless. (Source: WRIGHT)

catastrophe - A sudden, widespread disaster or calamity that greatly exceeds the resources of an area or region. (Source: HMD)

catch yield - The yield obtained from a given fishery; fishery catches should be strictly controlled so that the fish population can have a sufficient breeding mass and thus give a sustained yield for future generations. (Source: PORTa)

catchment - A structure in which water is collected. (Source: CED)

catchment area - 1) An area from which surface runoff is carried away by a single drainage system. 2) The area of land bounded by watersheds draining into a river, basin or reservoir. (Source: LANDY / CED)

category of endangered species - Those of the planet's flora and fauna which are threatened with extinction. Hunting and poaching to fuel the trade in ivory, horn, skins, fur and feathers have long been a threat to already endangered species. Pollution, agricultural expansion, loss of wetlands, deforestation and other erosion of habitats have been added to the hazards. Human activity was responsible for most of the animals and plants known to have been lost in the past two centuries. (Source: WRIGHT)

cation - A positively charged atom or group of atoms, or a radical which moves to the negative pole (cathode) during electrolysis. (Source: MGH)

cattle - Domesticated bovine animals, including cows, steers and bulls, raised and bred on a ranch or farm. (Source: MGH)

cause for concern principle - Principle connected with the precautionary principle: it means that, if there are strong reasons for expecting serious or irreversible damage to the environment following a given project, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation. Critics of this approach are concerned about large commitments of resources to deal with vaguely defined problems. (Source: GILP96a)

cause-effect relation - The relating of causes to the effects that they produce. (Source: UVAROV)

cave - 1) An underground hollow with access from the ground surface or from the sea, often found in limestone areas and on rocky coastlines. 2) A natural cavity, chamber or recess which leads beneath the surface of the earth, generally in a horizontal or obliquely inclined direction. It may be in the form of a passage or a gallery, its shape depending in part on the joint pattern or structure of the rock and partly on the type of process involved in its excavation. Thus, caves worn by subterranean rivers may be different in character from, and of considerably greater extent than, a sea-cave eroded by marine waves. 3) A natural underground open space, generally with a connection to the surface and large enough for a person to enter. The most common type of cave is formed in a limestone by dissolution. (Source: CED / WHIT / BJGEO)

cell (biology) - The microscopic functional and structural unit of all living organisms, consisting of a nucleus, cytoplasm, and a limiting membrane. (Source: MGH)

cell (energy) - The basic building block of a battery. It is an electrochemical device consisting of an anode and a cathode in a common electrolyte kept apart with a separator. This assembly may be used in its own container as a single cell battery or be combined and interconnected with other cells in a container to form a multicelled battery. (Source: LEE)

cellulose - The main polysaccharide in living plants, forming the skeletal structure of the plant cell wall; a polymer of beta-D-glucose linked together with the elimination of water to form chains of 2000-4000 units. (Source: MGH)

cellulose industry - No definition needed.

cement - A dry powder made from silica, alumina, lime, iron oxide, and magnesia which hardens when mixed with water; used as an ingredient in concrete. (Source: MGH)

cement industry - Industry for the production of cement. The emissions of most relevance from this sector are atmospheric: dust, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides are the most important. Cement is essential for the construction sector, either directly or mixed with sand or gravel to form concrete. (Source: DOBRIS)

cement manufacture - Cement is produced by heating a mixture of clay or shale plus chalk or lime in a rotary kiln up to 250 m long per 8 m diameter rotating at 1 rpm. The process can be wet, semi-dry or dry and the fuel can be pulverized coal, oil or gas. As the coal ash is similar in composition to the clay or shale, it can stay in the cement clinker. As one of the kiln operator's major costs is fuel and even a modest sized kiln can consume 8-10 tons of coal per hour, the cement kiln could, therefore, solve a disposal problem and also benefit the cement manufacturer by reducing fuel costs. (Source: PORT)

census survey - An official periodic count of a population including such information as sex, age, occupation, etc. (Source: CED)

central government - A system in which a governing or administrative body has a certain degree of power or authority to prevail in the management of local, national and international matters. (Source: WAP / BLD)

central park area - The core area of a park or of a reserve where there can be no interference with the natural ecosystem. (Source: WRIGHT)

centralisation

centrifugation - Separation of particles from a suspension in a centrifuge: balanced tubes containing the suspension are attached to the opposite ends of arms rotating rapidly about a central point; the suspended particles are forced outwards, and collect at the bottoms of the tubes. (Source: UVAROV)

cephalopod - Exclusively marine animals constituting the most advanced class of the Mollusca, including squid, octopuses, and Nautilus. (Source: MGH)

ceramics - The art and techniques of producing articles of clay, porcelain, etc. (Source: CED)

ceramics industry - Manufacturing plant producing ceramic items. (Source: LEE)

certification - The formal assertion in writing of some fact. (Source: BLACK)

cetacean - Aquatic mammals, including the whales, dolphins, and porpoises. (Source: MGH)

chain management - The administration, organization and planning for the flow of materials or merchandise through various stages of production and distribution, involving a network of vendors, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and other trading partners. (Source: MSE)

chalk - A soft, pure, earthy, fine-textured, usually white to light gray or buff limestone of marine origin, consisting almost wholly (90-99%) of calcite, formed mainly by shallow-water accumulation of calcareous tests of floating microorganisms (chiefly foraminifers) and of comminuted remains of calcareous algae (such as cocoliths and rhabdoliths), set in a structureless matrix of very finely crystalline calcite. The rock is porous, somewhat friable, and only slightly coherent. It may include the remains of bottom-dwelling forms (e.g. ammonites, echinoderms, and pelecypods), and nodules of chert and pyrite. The best known and most widespread chalks are of Cretaceous age, such as those exposed in cliffs on both sides of the English Channel. (Source: BJGEO)

change in value

channelling - Any system of distribution canals or conduits for water, gas, electricity, or steam. (Source: MGH)

charcoal - A porous solid product containing 85-98% carbon and produced by heating carbonaceous materials such as cellulose, wood or peat at 500-600 C° in the absence of air. (Source: MGH)

chart (act) - A formal written record of transactions, proceedings, etc., as of a society, committee, or legislative body. (Source: CED)

chart (nautical) - A map for navigation that delineates a portion of the sea, indicating the outline of the coasts and the position of rocks, sandbanks and other parts of a sea. (Source: OED)

chelicerate - A subphylum of the phylum Artrophoda; chelicerae are characteristically modified as pincers. (Source: MGH)

chemical - Any substance used in or resulting from a reaction involving changes to atoms or molecules. (Source: CED)

chemical addition - Chemical reaction in which one or more of the double bonds or triple bonds in an unsaturated compound is converted to a single bond by the addition of other atoms or groups. (Source: UVAROV)

chemical analysis - The complex of operations aiming to determine the kinds of constituents of a given substance. (Source: ZINZAN)

chemical composition - The nature and proportions of the elements comprising a chemical compound. (Source: CED)

chemical contamination - The addition or presence of chemicals to, or in, another substance to such a degree as to render it unfit for its intended purpose. Also refers to the result(s) of such an addition or presence. (Source: ISEP)

chemical corrosivity - The tendency of a metal to wear away another by chemical attack. (Source: MGH)

chemical decontamination - Removal of chemical substances from a building, a watercourse, a person's clothes, etc. (Source: PHC)

chemical degradation - The act or process of simplifying or breaking down a molecule into smaller parts, either naturally or artificially. (Source: OED)

chemical element - A substance made up of atoms with the same atomic number; common examples are hydrogen, gold, and iron. (Source: MGH)

chemical engineering - The branch of engineering concerned with industrial manufacture of chemical products. It is a discipline in which the principles of mathematical, physical and natural sciences are used to solve problems in applied chemistry. Chemical engineers design, develop, and optimise processes and plants, operate them, manage personnel and capital, and conduct research necessary for new developments. Through their efforts, new petroleum products, plastics, agricultural chemicals, house-hold products, pharmaceuticals, electronic and advanced materials, photographic materials, chemical and biological compounds, various food and other products evolve. (Source: USTa)

chemical fallout - The sedimentation of chemical substances accumulated in the atmosphere as a result of industrial emissions. (Source: ZINZANa)

chemical fertiliser - Fertilizer manufactured from chemicals; excessive use of them can cause pollution, when all the chemicals are not taken up by the plants and the excess is leached out of the soil into rivers and may cause algal bloom. (Source: PHC)

chemical in the environment - The presence in the environment of any solid, liquid or gaseous material discharged from a process and that may pose substantial hazard to human health and the environment.

chemical industry - Industry related with the production of chemical compounds. The chemical processing industry has a variety of special pollution problems due to the vast number of products manufactured. The treatment processes combine processing, concentration, separation, extraction, by-product recovery, destruction, and reduction in concentration. The wastes may originate from solvent extraction, acid and caustic wastes, overflows, spills, mechanical loss, etc. (Source: PZ)

chemical installation - Building where chemicals are manufactured. (Source: PHC)

chemical measurement of pollution - The quantitative determination of the presence, extent or type of pollutant substances in the environment by studying the actions or reactions of known chemicals to those pollutants. (Source: APD / RHW)

chemical oceanography

chemical oxygen demand - The quantity of oxygen used in biological and non-biological oxidation of materials in water; a measure of water quality. (Source: LANDY)

chemical pest control - Control of plants and animals classified as pests by means of chemical compounds. (Source: WPR)

chemical plant - Plants where basic raw materials are chemically converted into a variety of products. (Source: MGH)

chemical policy

chemical pollutant

chemical pollution - Pollution caused by substances of chemical nature, including chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, metals as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, etc. (Source: GILP96)

chemical process - The particular method of manufacturing or making a chemical usually involving a number of steps or operations. (Source: KOREN)

chemical product - A substance characterized by definite molecular composition. (Source: MGH)

chemical property - Properties of a substance depending on the arrangement of the atoms in the molecule, e.g. bio-availability, degradability, persistence, etc. (Source: RRDA)

chemical reaction - A change in which a substance is transformed into one or more new substances. (Source: MGH)

chemical reduction - Chemical reaction in which an element gains an electron. (Source: MGH)

chemical risk - Probability of harm to human health, property or the environment posed by contact with any substance of a defined molecular composition. (Source: APD)

chemical structure - The arrangement of atoms in a molecule of a chemical compound. (Source: CED)

chemical treatment - Processes that alter the chemical structure of the constituents of the waste to produce either an innocuous or a less hazardous material. Chemical processes are attractive because they produce minimal air emissions, they can often be carried out on the site of the waste generator, and some processes can be designed and constructed as mobile units. (Source: PARCOR)

chemical treatment of waste

chemical waste - Any by-product of a chemical process, including manufacturing processes. Often this by-product is considered a toxic or polluting substance. (Source: APD / ERG)

chemical weapon - Chemical agents of warfare include all gaseous, liquid or solid chemical substances which might be employed because of their direct toxic effects on man and animals. Chemical weapons also include the chemical's precursors, the munitions and devices designed to deliver them, and any equipment specifically designed for their use in warfare. Nerve agents (chemicals of the same family as organophosphorous insecticides) are the most lethal of the classical chemical warfare agents, killing by poisoning the nervous system and disrupting bodily functions. Other chemical weapons include blister agents, vesicants, choking agents, etc. (Source: WPR)

chemicals act

chemisorption - The process of chemical adsorption. (Source: MGH)

chemistry - The scientific study of the properties, composition, and structure of matter, the changes in structure and composition of matter, and accompanying energy changes. (Source: MGH)

chestnut - Any north temperate fagaceous tree of the genus Castanea, such as Castanea sativa, which produce flowers in long catkins and nuts in a prickly bur. (Source: CED)

child - A person below the age of puberty. (Source: ISEP)

chimney - A vertical structure of brick, masonry, or steel that carries smoke or steam away from a fire, engine, etc. (Source: CED)

chimney height - The appropriate height for chimneys serving industrial combustion plants in order to avoid unacceptable pollution. (Source: PORT)

chiropteran - Order of placental mammals comprising the bats having the front limbs modified as wings. (Source: CED)

chloride - A compound which is derived from hydrochloric acid and contains the chlorine atom in the -1 oxidation state. (Source: MGH)

chlorinated hydrocarbon - A class of persistent, broad-spectrum insecticides that linger in the environment and accumulate in the food chain. Among them are DDT, aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor, chlordane, lindane, endrin, mirex, hexachloride, and toxaphene. In insects and other animals these compounds act primarily on the central nervous system. They also become concentrated in the fats of organisms and thus tend to produce fatty infiltration of the heart and fatty degeneration of the liver in vertebrates. In fishes they have the effect of preventing oxygen uptake, causing suffocation. They are also known to slow the rate of photosynthesis in plants. Their danger to the ecosystem resides in their rate stability and the fact that they are broad-spectrum poisons which are very mobile because of their propensity to stick to dust particles and evaporate with water into the atmosphere. (Source: EPAGLO / PORT)

chlorination - The application of chlorine to water, sewage or industrial wastes for disinfection or other biological or chemical purposes. (Source: ALL)

chlorine - A very reactive and highly toxic green, gaseous element, belonging to the halogen family of substances. It is one of the most widespread elements, as it occurs naturally in sea-water, salt lakes and underground deposits, but usually occurs in a safe form as common salt (NaCl). Commercially it is used in large quantities by the chemical industry both as an element to produce chlorinated organic solvents, like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and for the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride plastics, thermoplastic and hypochlorite bleaches. Chlorine was the basis for the organochlorine pesticides, like DDT and other agricultural chemicals that have killed wildlife. The reactivity of chlorine has proved disastrous for the ozone layer and has been the cause of the creation of the ozone hole, which was first detected in the Southern Hemisphere over Antarctica and then over the Northern Hemisphere. (Source: WRIGHT)

chloroethylene - A flammable, explosive gas with an ethereal aroma; soluble in alcohol and ether, slightly soluble in water; boils at -14° C; an important monomer for polyvinyl chloride and its copolymers; used in organic synthesis and in adhesives. (Source: MGH)

chlorofluorocarbon - Gases formed of chlorine, fluorine, and carbon whose molecules normally do not react with other substances; they are therefore used as spray can propellants because they do not alter the material being sprayed. (Source: LANDY)

chlorophenol - Major group of chlorinated hydrocarbons, pesticides and biocides which account for a very high percentage of the non-agricultural pesticide use, such as anti-rotting agents in non-woollen textiles and wood preservatives. The chlorophenols act as biocides by inhibiting the respiration and energy-conversion processes of the microorganisms. They are toxic to man above 40 parts per million, to fish above 1 ppm, whilst concentrations as low as one part per thousand million can taint water. (Source: PORT)

chlorophyll - A green pigment, present in algae and higher plants, that absorbs light energy and thus plays a vital role in photosynthesis. Except in Cyanophyta (blue-green algae), chlorophyll is confined to chloroplasts. There are several types of chlorophyll, but all contain magnesium and iron. Some plants (e.g., brown algae, red algae, copper beech trees) contain additional pigments that masks the green of their chlorophyll. (Source: ALL)

chlorosis - A disease condition of green plants seen as yellowing of green parts of the plants. (Source: MGH)

chordate - The highest phylum in the animal kingdom, characterized by a notochord, nerve cord, and gill slits; includes the urochordate, lancelets and vertebrates. (Source: MGH)

chorology - The study of the causal relations between geographical phenomena occurring within a particular region. (Source: CED)

chromatographic analysis - The analysis of chemical substances that are poured into a vertical glass tube containing an adsorbent where the various components of the substance move through the adsorbent at different rates of speed according to their degree of attraction to it, thereby producing bands of color at different levels of the adsorption column. (Source: KOREN)

chromatography - A method of separating and analyzing mixtures of chemical substances by selective adsorption in a column of powder or on a strip of paper. (Source: MGH)

chromium - A hard grey metallic element that takes a high polish, occurring principally in chromite: used in steel alloys and electroplating to increase hardness and corrosion-resistance. (Source: CED)

chrysophyta - The golden-brown and orange-yellow algae; a diverse group of microscopically small algae which inhabit fresh and salt water, many being planktonic. They contain carotenoid pigments and may be unicellular, colonial, filamentous or amoeboid. (Source: ALL)

church - A building for religious activities. (Source: CAMB)

cinematographic film - Any motion picture of a story, drama, episode or event, often considered as an art form or used as a medium for entertainment. (Source: OED)

circular mail - A memorandum, letter or notice in either paper or electronic format distributed widely throughout an organization or to a general list of interested parties. (Source: RHW)

citizen - A native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance, bears responsibilities and obtains rights, including protection, from the government. (Source: RHW)

citizen awareness - State of citizens of being aware of their civic obligations. (Source: ZINZAN)

citizen initiative

citizen rights - Rights recognized and protected by law, pertaining to the members of a state. (Source: ZINZANa)

city - Term used generically today to denote any urban form but applied particularly to large urban settlements. There are, however, no agreed definitions to separate a city from the large metropolis or the smaller town. (Source: GOOD)

city centre - The central part of a city. (Source: CAMB)

civil air traffic - Air traffic pertaining to or serving the general public, as distinguished from military air traffic.

civil engineering - The planning, design, construction, and maintenance of fixed structures and ground facilities for industry, transportation, use and control of water or occupancy. (Source: MGH)

civil law - Law inspired by old Roman Law, the primary feature of which was that laws were written into a collection; codified, and not determined, as is common law, by judges. The principle of civil law is to provide all citizens with an accessible and written collection of the laws which apply to them and which judges must follow. (Source: DUHA)

civil safety - Actions and measures undertaken, often at a local level, to ensure that citizens of a community are secure from harm, injury, danger or risk. (Source: RHW / OEC)

civilian protection - The organization and measures, usually under governmental or other authority depending on the country, aimed at preventing, abating or fighting major emergencies for the protection of the civilian population and property, particularly in wartime. (Source: ECHO1)

claim for restitution - A legal remedy in which a person or party may demand or assert the right to be restored to a former or original position prior to loss, damage or injury. (Source: BLD)

class action suits law - Legal action initiated by a single person or a few people on behalf of a group with similar claim or claims. (Source: GILP96)

classification - An arrangement or organization of persons, items or data elements into groups by reason of common attributes, characteristics, qualities or traits. (Source: RHW)

classified facility - Facility that is forbidden to be disclosed outside a specified ring of secrecy for reasons of national security. (Source: WEBSTE)

classified site - Site which is declared protected because of its natural, landscape, artistic or archeological features in order to guarantee its conservation, maintenance and restoration. (Source: SKENEa)

clay - A loose, earthy, extremely fine-grained, natural sediment or soft rock composed primarily of clay-size or colloidal particles and characterized by high plasticity and by a considerable content of clay mineral and subordinate amounts of finely divided quartz, decomposed feldspar, carbonates, ferruginous matter, and other impurities; it forms a plastic, moldable mass when finely ground and mixed with water, retains its shape on drying, and becomes firm, rocklike and permanently hard on heating or firing. (Source: BJGEO)

clean air area - Areas where significant reductions in ozone forming pollutants have been achieved through industrial initiatives to control and/or prevent pollution, through implementation of transportation improvement plans, national efforts to reduce automobile tailpipe emissions and lower the volatility (evaporation rate) of gasoline. (Source: CIHUNT)

clean air car - Vehicles that function without emitting pollutants in the atmosphere. (Source: RRDA)

clean technology - Industrial process which causes little or no pollution. (Source: PHC)

cleaning up - The process of bringing desert, marsh, sea coast or other waste or unproductive land into use or cultivation. (Source: GOOD)

cleanliness (hygiene) - The state of being clean and keeping healthy conditions. (Source: PHCa)

cleansing - The act or process of washing, laundering or removing dirt and other unwanted substances from the surface of an object, thing or place. (Source: RHW)

cleansing department - A division, usually within municipal government, responsible for providing services that remove dirt, litter or other unsightly materials from city or town property. (Source: ISEP)

cleansing product

clearing sludge

cliff - A steep coastal declivity which may or may not be precipitous, the slope angle being dependent partly on the jointing, bedding and hardness of the materials from which the cliff has been formed, and partly on the erosional processes at work. Where wave attack is dominant the cliff-foot will be rapidly eroded and cliff retreat will take place, especially in unconsolidated materials such as clays, sands, etc., frequently leaving behind an abrasion platform at the foot of the cliff. (Source: WHIT)

climate - The average weather condition in a region of the world. Many aspects of the Earth's geography affect the climate. Equatorial, or low, latitudes are hotter than the polar latitudes because of the angle at which the rays of sunlight arrive at the Earth's surface. The difference in temperature at the equator and at the poles has an influence on the global circulation of huge masses of air. Cool air at the poles sinks and spreads along the surface of the Earth towards the equator. Cool air forces its way under the lower density warmer air in the lower regions, pushing the lighter air up and toward the poles, where it will cool and descend. (Source: WRIGHT)

climate protection - Precautionary actions, procedures or installations undertaken to prevent or reduce harm from pollution to natural weather conditions or patterns, including the prevailing temperature, atmospheric composition and precipitation. (Source: DOE / RHW)

climate resource - No definition needed.

climate type - Weather conditions typical of areas roughly corresponding to lines of latitude. (Source: CEDa)

climatic alteration - The slow variation of climatic characteristics over time at a given place. This may be indicated by the geological record in the long term, by changes in the landforms in the intermediate term, and by vegetation changes in the short term. (Source: WHIT)

climatic change - The long-term fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, wind, and all other aspects of the Earth's climate. External processes, such as solar-irradiance variations, variations of the Earth's orbital parameters (eccentricity, precession, and inclination), lithosphere motions, and volcanic activity, are factors in climatic variation. Internal variations of the climate system, e.g., changes in the abundance of greenhouse gases, also may produce fluctuations of sufficient magnitude and variability to explain observed climate change through the feedback processes interrelating the components of the climate system. (Source: GSFC)

climatic effect - Climate has a central influence on many human needs and activities, such as agriculture, housing, human health, water resources, and energy use. The influence of climate on vegetation and soil type is so strong that the earliest climate classification schemes where often based more on these factors than on the meteorological variables. While technology can be used to mitigate the effects of unfavorable climatic conditions, climate fluctuations that result in significant departures from normal cause serious problems for modern industrialized societies as much as for primitive ones. The goals of climatology are to provide a comprehensive description of the Earth's climate, to understand its features in terms of fundamental physical principles, and to develop models of the Earth's climate that will allow the prediction of future changes that may result from natural and human causes. (Source: PARCOR)

climatic experiment - Experiments conducted to estimate future climatic conditions employing modelling of the physical processes underlying climatic change and variability; also, assessments are required of uncertain future man-made inputs such as increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and other green-house gases. (Source: YOUNG)

climatic factor - Physical conditions that determine the climate in a given area, e.g. latitude, altitude, ocean streams, etc. (Source: UNUN)

climatic zone - A belt of the earth's surface within which the climate is generally homogeneous in some respect; an elemental region of a simple climatic classification. (Source: MGH)

climatology - That branch of meteorology concerned with the mean physical state of the atmosphere together with its statistical variations in both space and time as reflected in the weather behaviour over a period of many years. (Source: MGH)

climax - A botanical term referring to the terminal community said to be achieved when a sere (a sequential development of a plant community or group of plant communities on the same site over a period of time) achieves dynamic equilibrium with its environment and in particular with its prevailing climate. Each of the world's major vegetation climaxes is equivalent to a biome. Many botanists believe that climate is the master factor in a plant environment and that even if several types of plant succession occur in an area they will all tend to converge towards a climax form of vegetation. (Source: WHIT)

climbing plant (wall) - A plant that lacks rigidity and grows upwards by twining, scrambling, or clinging with tendrils and suckers. (Source: CED)

clinical symptom - Any objective evidence of disease or of a patient's condition founded on clinical observation. (Source: RRDA)

cloning - The production of genetically identical individuals from a single parent. Cloning plants usually involves plant cell culture. Cloning animals is more difficult and relays on some manipulation of their normal reproductive cycle. A clone is a group of organisms of identical genetic constitution, unless mutation occurs, produced from a single individual by asexual reproduction, parthenogenesis or apomixis. (Source: BIOTAZ)

closing down - The cessation, discontinuation or breaking-off of a business transaction, lease, contract or employment arrangement, usually before its anticipated or stipulated end. (Source: BLD)

closing down of firm - The termination or shutdown, temporary or permanent, of a corporation, factory or some other business organization. (Source: RHW)

clothing - Clothes considered as a group. (Source: AMHER)

clothing industry

cloud - Suspensions of minute water droplets or ice crystals produced by the condensation of water vapour. (Source: ZINZAN)

co-incineration - Joint incineration of hazardous waste, in any form, with refuse and/or sludge. (Source: LEE)

co-operation

co-operation policy - Political course of action aiming at establishing trade agreements among the states. (Source: NDGIUR)

co-operation principle

co-ordinate system - A reference system used to measure horizontal and vertical distances on a planimetric map. A coordinate system is usually defined by a map projection, a spheroid of reference, a datum, one or more standard parallels, a central meridian, and possible shifts in the x- and y-directions to locate x, y positions of point, line, and area features. A common coordinate system is used to spatially register geographic data for the same area. (Source: ESRI)

co-ordination

coagulation - A separation or precipitation from a dispersed state of suspensoid particles resulting from their growth; may result from prolonged heating, addition of an electrolyte, or from a condensation reaction between solute and solvent. (Source: MGH)

coal - The natural, rocklike, brown to black derivative of forest-type plant material, usually accumulated in peat beds and progressively compressed and indurated until it is finally altered in to graphite-like material. (Source: MGH)

coal gasification - Process of conversion of coal to a gaseous product which is used as fuel in electric power stations. (Source: ECSK)

coal industry - Industry related with the technical and mechanical activity of removing coal from the earth and preparing it for market. (Source: MGH)

coal liquefaction - The process of preparing a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons by destructive distillation of coal. (Source: MGH)

coal mining - The technical and mechanical job of removing coal from the earth and preparing it for market. (Source: MGH)

coal refining - The processing of coal to remove impurities. (Source: PHCa)

coal technology - The processing of coal to make gaseous and liquid fuels. (Source: ENVAR)

coal-based energy - Power generated by the steam raised by burning coal in fire-tube or water-tube boilers. (Source: PARCOR)

coal-fired power plant - Power plant which is fuelled by coal. (Source: CAMB)

coast - A line or zone where the land meets the sea or some other large expanse of water. (Source: CED)

coast protection - A form of environmental management designed to allay the progressive degradation of the land by coastal erosion processes. Sea defence works can be undertaken to protect the land from erosion and encroachment by the sea and against flooding. These involve engineering solutions such as groynes, sea walls, bulkheads, revetments and breakwaters. (Source: GOOD)

coastal area - The areas of land and sea bordering the shoreline and extending seaward through the breaker zone. (Source: BJGEO)

coastal development - Concentration of human settlements, infrastructures and economical activities along the coasts, being these areas very favourable for trade, communication and marine resources exploitation; the impact of the accelerated population growth and of the industrial and touristic development in these areas has caused the disruption of the ecological integrity of the coastal zones. (Source: DIFIDa / RRDA)

coastal ecosystem - Marine environments bounded by the coastal land margin (seashore) and the continental shelf 100-200 m below sea level. Ecologically, the coastal and nearshore zones grade from shallow water depths, influenced by the adjacent landmass and input from coastal rivers and estuaries, to the continental shelf break, where oceanic processes predominate. Among the unique marine ecosystems associated with coastal and nearshore waterbodies are seaweed-dominated communities, coral reefs and upwellings. (Source: PARCOR)

coastal environment - The areas where the land masses meet the seas. Coastal environments include tidal wetlands, estuaries, bays, shallow near-shore waters, mangrove swamps, and in-shore reef systems. The critical habitats of these zones are: feeding, breeding, nursery, and resting areas. Coastal areas throughout the world are under enormous environmental stress, which is caused by a wide range of factors, including pollution and the destruction and deterioration of marine habitats. (Source: GILP96 / WRIGHT)

coastal erosion - The gradual wearing away of material from a coast by the action of sea water. (Source: GREMESa)

coastal fishing - Fishing in an area of the sea next to the shoreline. (Source: PHC)

coastal management - Measures by way of planning, prior approval of works, prohibition of some activities, physical structures, and restoration efforts to protect the coastline against the ravages of nature and haphazard and unplanned developments. (Source: GILP96)

coastal pollution - The presence, release or introduction of polluting substances in or onto the seashore or the land near it. (Source: TOE / DOE / RHW)

coastal water - Coastal waters are typically characterized by a shallow continental shelf, gently sloping seaward to a continental slope, which drops relatively abruptly to the deep ocean. The proximity of coastal water to land also influences the water circulation. In the vicinity of freshwater inflows, the nearshore circulation is altered by the presence of density-driven motions. Coastal waters are under enormous environmental stress, caused by a wide range of factors including pollution and the destruction and deterioration of marine habitats. (Source: WRIGHT)

coastal zone planning - The objective of coastal management and planning is the preservation of coastal resources whilst simultaneously satisfying the sometimes conflicting interests and requirements of protection, development, usage and conservation. (Source: TELFO)

coastguard - A maritime force which aids shipping, saves lives at sea, prevents smuggling, etc. It also responds to emergencies involving oil spills and other discharges at sea and takes the lead in enforcing the law, including assessing penalties for environmental violations. (Source: CED / PATHUL)

coating - A material applied onto or impregnated into a substrate for protective, decorative, or functional purposes. Such materials include, but are not limited to, paints, varnishes, sealers, adhesives, thinners, diluents, and inks. (Source: LEE)

cobalt - A metallic element used chiefly in alloys. (Source: MGH)

cockroach - The most primitive of the living winged insects. It is thought they have been unchanged for more than 300 million years, and are among the oldest fossil insects. Cockroaches are usually found in tropical climates, but a few species, out of the total 3.500 known species, have become pests. They are common household pests in many countries, imported by ship and carried home in grocery bags. Cockroaches eat plant and animal products, including food, paper, clothing and soiled hospital waste, fouling everything they touch with their droppings and unpleasant odour, to which many people are allergic. They are a major health hazard and carry harmful bacteria, protozoan parasites and faunal pathogens, including those that cause typhoid, leprosy and salmonella. Conventional insecticides make little or no impact on the cockroaches population. (Source: WRIGHT / WPR)

code - A systematic collection, compendium or revision of laws, rules, or regulations. A private or official compilation of all permanent laws in force consolidated and classified according to subject matter. Many states have published official codes of all laws in force, including the common law and statutes as judicially interpreted, which have been compiled by code commissions and enacted by the legislatures. (Source: WESTS)

code of practice - A systematic collection of procedures outlining the established method of application of all relevant laws, rules or regulations to a specific endeavor. (Source: BLD)

codification - The process of collecting and arranging systematically, usually by subject, the laws of a state or country, or the rules and regulations covering a particular area or subject of law or practice. (Source: WESTS)

coelenterate - Animals that have a single body cavity (the coelenteron). The name was formerly given to a phylum comprising the Cnidaria and Ctenophora, but these are now regarded as phyla in their own right, and the name Coelenterata has fallen from use, although it is sometimes used as a synonym for Cnidaria. (Source: ALL)

cogeneration - Usually the generation of heat in the form of steam, and the generation of power in the form of electricity. Combined heat and power plants are able to convert a much higher proportion of the energy in fuel into final output. The steam produced may be used through heat exchangers in a district heating scheme, while the electricity provides lighting and power. (Source: GILP96)

coke - A coherent, cellular, solid residue remaining from the dry distillation of a coking coal or of pitch, petroleum, petroleum residue, or other carbonaceous materials; contains carbon as its principal constituent. (Source: MGH)

cold - No definition needed.

cold zone ecosystem - The interacting system of a biological community and its non-living environmental surroundings located in climatic regions where the air temperature is below 10° Celsius for eight to eleven months of the year. (Source: TOE / EOC)

coliform bacterium - A group of bacteria that are normally abundant in the intestinal tracts of human and other warm-blooded animals and are used as indicators (being measured as the number of individuals found per millilitre of water) when testing the sanitary quality of water. (Source: ALL)

collective wastewater treatment

colloid - An intimate mixture of two substances, one of which, called the dispersed phase, is uniformly distributed in a finely divided state through the second substance, called the dispersion medium. (Source: MGH)

colloidal state - A system of particles in a dispersion medium, with properties distinct from those of a true solution because of the larger size of the particles. The presence of these particles can often be detected by means of the ultramicroscope. (Source: UVAROV)

colonisation - The successful invasion of a new habitat by a species. (Source: LBC)

colour - An attribute of things that results from the light they reflect, transmit, or emit in so far as this light causes a visual sensation that depends on its wavelengths. (Source: CED)

colour composition - A remote-sensing term referring to the process of assigning different colours to different spectral bands. The colour picture formed by this process is called a "colour composite" (a colour image produced through optical combination of multiband images by projection through filters) and is produced by assigning a colour to an image of the Earth's surface recorded in a particular waveband. For a Landsat colour composite, the green waveband is coloured blue, the red waveband is coloured green and the infrared waveband is coloured red. This produces an image closely approximating a false colour photograph. Colour composite images are easier to interpret than separate images recording different wavebands. US national experimental crop inventories are based upon visual interpretation of Landsat colour composites. (Source: RRDA / WHIT)

colourimetry - Any technique by which an unknown colour is evaluated in terms of standard colours; the technique may be visual, photoelectric or indirect by means of spectrophotometry. (Source: MGH)

colubrid - Any snakes of the family of Colubridae, including many harmless snakes, such as the grass snake and whip belonging to the Colubridae. (Source: CED)

combination effect - A combined effect of two or more substances or organisms which is greater than the sum of the individual effect of each. (Source: KOREN)

combined cycle-power station - This type of plant is flexible in response and can be built in the 100-600 MW capacity range. It produces electrical power from both a gas turbine (ca. 1300°C gas inlet temperature), fuelled by natural gas or oil plus a steam turbine supplied with the steam generated by the 500°C exhaust gases from the gas turbine. The thermal efficiency of these stations is ca. 50 per cent compared with a maximum of 40 per cent from steam turbine coal fired power stations. This type of plant can be built in two years compared with six years for a coal-fired station and 10-15 years for nuclear. (Source: PORT)

combined sewer system - A sewer intended to serve as a sanitary sewer and a storm sewer, or as an industrial sewer and a storm sewer. (Source: JJK)

combined transport - Transport in which more than one carrier is used, e.g. road, rail and sea. (Source: ECHO1)

combined waste water - A mixture of domestic or industrial wastewater and surface runoff. (Source: ISEP / WWC)

combustibility - The property of a substance of being capable of igniting and burning. (Source: CEDa)

combustion engine - An engine that operates by the energy of combustion of a fuel. (Source: MGH)

combustion gas - The exhaust gas from a combustion process. It may contain nitrogen oxides, carbon oxides, water vapour, sulfur oxides, particles and many chemical pollutants. (Source: LEE)

combustion residue - A residual layer of ash on the heat-exchange surfaces of a combustion chamber, resulting from the burning of fuel. (Source: APD)

commercial fishery - Such fisheries belong to one of two groups: one catching demersal (bottom-living) fish, e.g. cod, haddock, plaice, sole; the other catching pelagic (surface-living) fish, e.g. anchovy, tuna, herring. (Source: GOOD)

commercial law - The whole body of substantive jurisprudence applicable to the rights, intercourse and relations of persons engaged in commerce, trade or mercantile pursuits. (Source: BLACK)

commercial noise - Noise emitted from commercial activities.

commercial traffic - The operations and movements related to the transportation and exchange of goods. (Source: RRDA)

commercial transaction - The conduct or carrying on of trade, business or a financial matter to a conclusion or settlement. (Source: RHW)

commercial vehicle - Vehicle designed and equipped for the transportation of goods. (Source: RRDA)

commercialisation - Holding or displaying for sale, offering for sale, selling, delivering or placing on the market in any other form. (Source: ECHO1)

common agreement - A system of law established by following earlier judicial decisions and customs, rather than statutory or legislatively enacted law. (Source: BLD / WOR)

common agricultural policy - The set of regulations and practices adopted by member countries of the European Community that consolidates efforts in promoting or ensuring reasonable pricing, fair standards of living, stable markets, increased farm productivity and methods for dealing with food supply or surplus. (Source: CNI)

common commercial policy - The set of uniform trade principles or practices established by an European Community customs union, which implements common tariff rates, tariff and trade agreements with non-member countries, import and export policies, and export promotion. (Source: EUR)

common tariff policy - A course of action adopted and pursued by member countries, in which it is agreed to impose a system of duties or tax charges on imports from non-member countries. (Source: ODE)

communications - The concept, science, technique and process of transmitting, receiving or otherwise exchanging information and data.

communications industry

communications policy - Measures and practices adopted by governments relating to the management of communication media. (Source: RRDA)

communications system - A coordinated assemblage of people, devices or other resources designed to exchange information and data by means of mutually understood symbols. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

community facility - Buildings, equipment and services provided for a community. (Source: CAMB)

community participation - Involvement in public or private actions, as members or as a member of a particular ethnic, political or social group, with the purpose of exerting influence. (Source: RHW)

community-pays principle - A tenet of environmental policy, according to which the costs of ecological challenges, environmental quality improvements and the removal of environmental hazards are allotted to community groups or local corporations and, thereby, to the general public. (Source: GAB)

commuter traffic - Traffic caused by people travelling regularly over some distance, as between a suburb and a city and back, between their place of residence and their place of work.

commuting

compaction - Reduction of the bulk of solid waste by rolling and tamping. (Source: LEE)

company policy - Official guidelines or set of guidelines adopted by a company for the management of its activity. (Source: RRDA)

company structure - The type of organization of a company. Three kinds of structure are usually recognized: centralized, formal or hierarchical. (Source: ECONSK)

comparative law - The study of the principles of legal science by the comparison of various systems of law. (Source: BLACK)

comparative test - Tests conducted to determine whether one procedure is better than another. (Source: MGH)

comparison - The placing together or juxtaposing of two or more items to ascertain, bring into relief, or establish their similarities and dissimilarities. (Source: WEBSTE)

compensation - Equivalent in money for a loss sustained; equivalent given for property taken or for an injury done to another; recompense or reward for some loss, injury or service. (Source: WESTS)

compensation for damage - Equivalent in money or other form for a loss sustained for an injury, for property taken, etc. (Source: BLACK)

compensatory measure - Any administrative or legislative action, procedure or enactment designed to redress disruptions of ecological integrity or damage to the supply of natural resources. (Source: BLD / RHW)

compensatory tax - Compulsory charge levied by a government for the purpose of redressing or countervailing economic disparity. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

competition (biological) - The simultaneous demand by two or more organisms or species for an essential common resource that is actually or potentially in limited supply. (Source: LBC)

competition law - That part of the law dealing with matters such as those arising from monopolies and mergers, restrictive trading agreements, resale price maintenance and agreements involving distortion of competition affected by EU rules. (Source: CURZON)

competitive examination - A test given to a candidate for a certificate or a position and concerned typically with problems to be solved, skills to be demonstrated, or tasks to be performed. (Source: WEBSTE)

competitiveness - The ability of a firm to strive in the market with rivals in the production and sale of commodities or services and, analogously, the ability of a country to maintain a relatively high standard of living for its citizens through trade in international markets. (Source: http://www.indiana.edu/~ipe/glossry.html / OED)

complex formation - Formation of a complex compound. Also known as complexing or complexation. (Source: MGH)

complexing agent - A substance capable of forming a complex compound with another material in solution. (Source: MGH)

composite pollution - Emissions of ozone-degrading gases (CFCs, halons); emissions of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, CFCs, nitrous oxides, halons); emissions of acidifying gases (sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides); emissions of substances that contribute to eutrophication (phosphate and nitrogen-containing materials); emissions of toxic materials (pesticides, radioactive substances, priority toxic substances); solid wastes returned to the environment. (Source: UNEP)

composition of population - The constituent groupings and proportions of the total inhabitants of a given nation, area, region or city, as seen from various perspectives. (Source: RHW)

compost - A mixture of decaying organic matter used to fertilize and condition the soil. (Source: MGH)

compostable waste - Waste consisting largely of biodegradable organic matter.

composting - The natural biological decomposition of organic material in the presence of air to form a humus-like material. Controlled methods of composting include mechanical mixing and aerating, ventilating the materials by dropping them through a vertical series of aerated chambers, or placing the compost in piles out in the open air and mixing it or turning it periodically. (Source: LEE)

composting by producer - No definition needed.

compression - Reduction in the volume of a substance due to pressure. (Source: MGH)

compressor - A mechanical device a) to provide the desired pressure for chemical and physical reactions, b) to control boiling points of fluids, as in gas separation, refrigeration, and evaporation, c) to evacuate enclosed volumes, d) to transport gases or vapors, e) to store compressible fluids as gases or liquids under pressure and assist in recovering them from storage or tank cars, and f) to convert mechanical energy to fluid energy for operating instruments, air agitation, fluidization, solid transport, blowcases, air tools, and motors. (Source: LEE)

compulsory use

concentration (process) - The process of increasing the quantity of a component in a solution. The opposite of dilution. (Source: CED)

concentration (value) - In solutions, the mass, volume, or number of moles of solute present in proportion to the amount of solvent or total solution. (Source: MGH)

concept of environment - The development at any level of a general notion of the surrounding ecosystem, its foundational relationship to human life and the need to preserve its integrity. (Source: TOE / RHW)

concession - Any rebate, abatement, voluntary grant of or a yielding to a demand or claim, typically made by a government or controlling authority to an individual or organization. (Source: BLD)

concrete - A mixture of aggregate, water, and a binder, usually Portland cement; it hardens to stonelike condition when dry. (Source: MGH)

concrete products industry - No definition needed.

condensation (process) - Transformation from a gas to a liquid. (Source: MGH)

conductivity - The ratio of the electric current density to the electric field in a material. Also known as electrical conductivity. (Source: MGH)

conflict - A state of opposition or disagreement between ideas, interests, etc. (Source: CED)

conflict of aims

conflict of interests - Clash between public interest and the private pecuniary interest of the individual concerned. A situation in which regard for one duty tends to lead to disregard of another. (Source: BLACK)

conflicting use

congress - A formal meeting, often consisting of representatives of various organizations, that is assembled to promote, discuss or make arrangements regarding a particular subject or some matter of common interest. (Source: RHW)

conifer - An order of conebearing plants which includes nearly all the present day Gymnospermae. Most are tall evergreen trees with needle-like (e.g., pines), linear (e.g. firs) or scale-like (e.g., cedars) leaves. They are characteristic of temperate zones and the main forest trees of colder regions. They provide timber, resins, tars, turpentine and pulp for paper. (Source: ALL)

coniferous forest - A forest type characterized by cone-bearing, needle-leaved trees. They are generally, but not necessarily, evergreen and relatively shallow-rooted. Since they grow more rapidly than most broad-leaved trees, conifers are extensively planted as a source of softwood timber and pulp. They are tolerant of wide-ranging climatic conditions, of many different types of soil and of considerable differences in terrain. Thus, they are found from the polar latitudes to the tropics, on most types of soils (especially, thin acid soils) and from mountain summits to coastal environments. (Source: WHIT)

coniferous tree

coniferous wood

conservation - No definition needed.

conservation of genetic resources - Controlled utilization, protection and development of the gene pool of natural and cultivated organisms to ensure variety and variability and for current and potential value to human welfare. (Source: TOE / ISEP)

conservation of monuments - Measures adopted for the protection and the maintenance of hystorical and art monuments. (Source: ZINZANa)

conservation of petroleum resources - Controlled utilization, protection and development of exploited and potentially exploitable sources of crude oil to meet current demand and ensure future requirements. (Source: MHE)

conservation of species - Controlled utilization, protection or development of selected classes of plants or animals for their richness, biodiversity and benefits to humanity. (Source: TOE / EEN)

conservation policy - The guiding procedure, philosophy or course of action for preserving and renewing human and natural resources. (Source: RHW / TOE)

constitutional law - That branch of the public law of a nation or state which treats of the organization, powers and frame of government, the distribution of political and governmental authorities and functions, the fundamental principles which are to regulate the relations of government and citizen and which prescribes generally the plan and method according to which the public affairs of the nation or state are to be administered. (Source: BLACK)

construction equipment - Heavy power machines which perform specific construction or demolition functions. (Source: MGH)

construction noise - Noise resulting from construction activities such as site preparation, site clearance, demolition of existing buildings, piling, concreting, erection of structures, etc.

construction of installations - No definition needed.

construction policy - A course of action adopted and pursued by government, business or some other organization, which plans or organizes for the maintenance, development and erection of houses, offices, bridges or other building structures. (Source: OED)

construction technology - No definition needed.

construction with recycled material - Construction with waste product used as raw material. (Source: LANDYa)

construction work - The construction, rehabilitation, alteration, conversion, extension, demolition or repair of buildings, highways, or other changes or improvement to real property, including facilities providing utility services. The term also includes the supervision, inspection, and other on-site functions incidental to the actual construction. (Source: LEE)

consultancy - The position or practice of a qualified person paid for advice or services. (Source: OED)

consultation - Any meeting or inquiry of concerned persons or advisors for the purpose of deliberation, discussion or decision on some matter or action. (Source: BLD)

consumer behaviour - An observable pattern of activity concerned with the purchase of goods and services and susceptible to the influence of marketing and advertising strategies. (Source: CON)

consumer goods - Manufactured products intended primarily for personal use by individuals or families and classified as either durables or non-durables, depending on length of use. (Source: ODE / Greenwald)

consumer group - A collection of persons united to address concerns regarding the purchase and use of specific commodities or services. (Source: RHW)

consumer information - Factual, circumstantial and, often, comparative knowledge concerning various goods, services or events, their quality and the entities producing them. (Source: RHW)

consumer product - Economic good that directly satisfies human wants or desires. (Source: WEBSTE)

consumer protection - Information disseminated or measures and programs established to prevent and reduce damage, injury or loss to users of specific commodities and services. (Source: RHW)

consumer waste - Materials purchased, used and discarded by the buyer, or consumer, as opposed to those discarded in a manufacturing process. (Source: EED)

consumption - Spending for survival or enjoyment in contrast to providing for future use or production. (Source: ODE)

consumption pattern - The combination of qualities, quantities, acts and tendencies characterizing a community or human group's use of resources for survival, comfort and enjoyment. (Source: ODE / RHW)

container - A large case that can be transported by truck and than easily loaded on a ship. (Source: PHC)

containment (nuclear industry) - The reinforced steel or concrete vessel that encloses a nuclear reactor. It is designed to withstand minor explosions in the core, to keep radionuclides from escaping into the environment, and to be safe against terrorist attack. (Source: WRIGHT)

contaminated area - Any site or region that is damaged, harmed or made unfit for use by the introduction of unwanted substances, particularly microorganisms, chemicals, toxic and radioactive materials and wastes. (Source: TOE / HMD)

contaminated soil - Soil which because of its previous or current use has substances under, on or in it which, depending upon their concentration and/or quantity, may represent a direct potential or indirect hazard to man or to the environment. (Source: GRAHAW)

contamination - Introduction into or onto water, air, soil or other media of microorganisms, chemicals, toxic substances, wastes, wastewater or other pollutants in a concentration that makes the medium unfit for its next intended use. (Source: TOE)

continent - A protuberance of the earth's crustal shell, with an area of several million square miles and sufficient elevation so that much of it above sea level. (Source: MGH)

continental climate - A climate characterized by hot summers, cold winters, and little rainfall, typical of the interior of a continent. (Source: CED)

continental shelf - The gently sloping seabed of the shallow water nearest to a continent, covering about 45 miles from the shore and deepening over the sloping sea floor to an average depth of 400 ft. It continues until it reaches the continental slope. The continental shelf contains most of the important fishing grounds and a range of resources, including gas and oil, sand and gravel. However, the shelf is, in general, a structural extension of the continent, and so may also be a source of minerals found in that region, such as tin, gold and platinum. (Source: WRIGHT)

continuing education - Various forms, methods, and processes of formal and informal education for the continued learning of all ages and categories of the general public. Oriented toward the continued learning/developmental processes of the individual throughout life. (Source: UNUN)

continuous load - The amount or quantity of polluting material found in a transporting agent that flows at a steady rate, in contrast to a sudden or dramatic influx. (Source: APD)

contour farming - The performing of cultivations along lines connecting points of equal elevation so reducing the loss of top soil by erosion, increasing the capacity of the soil to retain water and reducing the pollution of water by soil. (Source: ALLa)

contract - An agreement between two or more persons which creates an obligation to do or not to do a particular thing. Its essential are competent parties, subject matter, a legal consideration, mutuality of agreement, and mutuality of obligation. (Source: WESTS)

contract cleaner - A commercial service provider, usually bound by a written agreement, responsible for the removal of dirt, litter or other unsightly materials from any property. (Source: RHW)

control measure

controlled burning - The planned use of carefully controlled fire to accomplish predetermined management goals. The burn is set under a combination of weather, fuel moisture, soil moisture, and fuel arrangement conditions that allow the management objectives to be attained, and yet confine the fire to the planned area. (Source: DUNSTE)

controlled hunting zone - An administered geographic area in which the pursuit, capture and killing of wild animals for food or sport, is allowed, often with certain restrictions or regulations. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

controlling authority - The power of a person or an organized assemblage of persons to manage, direct, superintend, restrict, regulate, govern, administer or oversee. (Source: BLD)

conurbation - 1) A large densely populated urban sprawl formed by the growth and coalescence of individual towns or cities. 2) Large area covered with buildings (houses or factories or public building, etc.) 3) A large area occupied by urban development, which may contain isolated rural areas, and formed by the merging together of expanding towns that formerly were separate. (Source: CED / PHC / ALL)

convenience food - Food so prepared and presented as to be easily and quickly ready for consumption. (Source: ECHO2)

convention - International agreement on a specific topic. (Source: RRDA)

conventional energy - Power provided by traditional means such as coal, wood, gas, etc., as opposed to alternative energy sources such as solar power, tidal power, wind power, etc. (Source: PHC)

cooling - Setting aside a highly radioactive material until the radioactivity has diminished to a desired level. (Source: MGH)

cooling oil - Oil used as a cooling agent, either with forced circulation or with natural circulation. (Source: ECHO2a)

cooling tower - A device that aids in heat removal from water used as a coolant in electric power generating plants. (Source: LANDY)

cooling water - Water used to make something less hot, such as the irradiated elements from a nuclear reactor or the engine of a machine. (Source: PHC)

copper - A chemical element; one of the most important nonferrous metals; a ductile and malleable metal found in various ores and used in industry, engineering, and the arts in both pure and alloyed form. (Source: MGH)

coppice - A growth of small trees that are repeatedly cut down at short intervals; the new shoots are produced by the old stumps. (Source: MGH)

coppice with standards - A traditional system of woodland management whereby timber trees are grown above a coppiced woodland. It is used in particular as a method of exploiting oakwoods, in which all the trees except a rather open network of tall, well-formed oaks - the standards at about fifty per hectare - are felled, leaving plenty of space for hazels and other underwood to grow and be coppiced at intervals of ten to fifteen years. (Source: GOOD)

coral - The skeleton of certain solitary and colonial anthozoan coelenterates; composed chiefly of calcium carbonate. (Source: MGH)

coral reef - Coral reefs have been built up from the skeletons of reef-building coral a small primitive marine animal, and other marine animals and algae over thousands of years. They occur in clear, shallow and sunlit seas. Coral reefs are one of the most productive and diverse ecosystems and are estimated to yield about 12% of the world's fish catch. They are very vulnerable to any change in their environment, especially pollution, because it makes the water opaque. They must have light in order that photosyntesis by the algae can take place. Like trees, corals reflect the environmental conditions in which they grow, indicating marine pollution, sea-surface temperature and other aquatic conditions. (Source: WRIGHT)

coral reef lagoon - A coastal stretch of shallow saltwater virtually cut off from the open sea by a coral reef. (Source: WHIT)

core meltdown - An accidental overheating of the part of the nuclear reactor where fission takes place, causing fuel elements and other parts of the reactor to melt, potentially leading to catastrophic consequences in which dangerous levels of radioactive materials would be released into the environment. (Source: FFD)

cork - The thick light porous outer bark of the cork oak, used widely as an insulator and for stoppers for bottles, casks, etc. (Source: CED)

corridor - A physical linkage, connecting two areas of habitat and differing from the habitat on either side. Corridors are used by organisms to move around without having to leave the preferred habitat. (Source: DUNSTE)

corrosion - A process in which a solid, especially a metal, is eaten away and changed by a chemical action. (Source: CED)

corrosion inhibitor - A chemical agent which slows down or prohibits a corrosion reaction. (Source: LEE)

cosmetic industry - Industry for the production of substances for improving the appearance of the body. (Source: CEDa)

cosmic radiation - Radiations consisting of atomic nuclei, especially protons, of very high energy that reach the earth from outer space. Some cosmic radiations are very energetic and are able to penetrate a mile or more into the Earth. (Source: CED / WRIGHT)

cost - In economics, the value of the factors of production used by a firm in producing or distributing goods and services or engaging in both activities. (Source: GREENW)

cost increase - The augmentation or rise in the amount of money incurred or asked for in the exchange of goods and services. (Source: ISEP / EFP)

cost recovery basis - A standard used to provide reimbursement to individuals or organizations for any incurred expense or provided service. (Source: RHW)

cost reduction - The lessening or lowering in the amount of money incurred or asked for in the exchange of goods and services. (Source: ISEP / EFP)

cost-benefit - Relation between costs of a certain activity and its benefits to a certain community.

cost-benefit analysis - The attempt to assess, compare and frequently justify the total price or loss represented by a certain activity or expenditure with the advantage or service it provides. (Source: ODE)

cotton - The most economical natural fiber, obtained from plants of the genus Gossypium, used in making fabrics, cordage, and padding and for producing artificial fibers and cellulose. (Source: MGH)

country lodge - A small house or a hut located in the countryside. (Source: HARRIS)

county - An area comprising more than one city and whose boundaries have been designed according to some biological, political, administrative, economic, demographic criteria. (Source: LANDYa)

court - An organ of the government, belonging to the judicial department, whose function is the application of the laws to controversies brought before it and the public administration of justice. The presence of a sufficient number of the members of such a body regularly convened in an authorized place at an appointed time, engaged in the full and regular performance of its functions. A body in the government to which the administration of justice is delegated. A body organized to administer justice, and including both judge and jury. An incorporeal, political being, composed of one or more judges, who sit at fixed times and places, attended by proper officers, pursuant to lawful authority, for the administration of justice. An organized body with defined powers, meeting at certain times and places for the hearing and decision of causes and other matters brought before it, and aided in this, its proper business, by its proper officers, attorneys and counsel to present and manage the business, clerks to record and attest its acts and decisions, and ministerial officers to execute its commands, and secure due order in its proceedings. (Source: WESTS)

court of justice - A tribunal having jurisdiction of appeal and review, including the ability to overturn decisions of lower courts or courts of first instance. (Source: BLD)

cove - 1) A deep recess hollow, or nook in a cliff or steep mountainside, or a small, straight valley extending into a mountain or down a mountainside. 2) A valley or portion of lowland that penetrates into a plateau or mountain front. (Source: BJGEO / WHIT)

covering - No definition needed.

craft - An occupation or trade requiring manual dexterity or skilled artistry. (Source: AMHER)

craft industry - No definition needed.

credit - The financial facility or system by which goods and services are provided in return for deferred, instead of immediate, payment. (Source: ODE)

credit assistance - The help and support from banks and other financial institutions in providing money or goods without requiring present payment. (Source: ISEP / OED)

credit policy - An official course of action adopted by a business, financial institution or state to regulate, restrict or increase deferred payment arrangements for goods, services or money. (Source: ODE)

creek - A narrow inlet or bay, especially of the sea. (Source: CED)

crime - Any act done in violation of those duties which an individual owes to the community, and for the breach of which the law has provided that the offender shall make satisfaction to the public. (Source: BLACK)

criminal law - That body of the law that deals with conduct considered so harmful to society as a whole that it is prohibited by statute, prosecuted and punished by the government. (Source: DUHA)

criminal law procedure - The rules of law governing the procedure by which crimes are investigated, prosecuted, adjudicated, and punish. (Source: BLACK)

criminal liability

criminality - A violation of the law, punishable by the State in criminal proceedings. (Source: WEBSTEa)

crisis management - The technique, practice or science of handling or controlling situations of acute difficulty, danger or instability; or the total of measures taken to provide a solution for political, economic, environmental or other similar dangers and conflicts. (Source: ISEP)

critical level - General term referring to the concentration limit beyond which a substance can cause dangerous effects to living organisms. (Source: RRDA)

critical load - The maximum load that a given system can tolerate before failing. (Source: GRAHAWa)

crocodile - Any large tropical reptile of the family Crocodylidae: order Crocodylia. They have a broad head, tapering snout, massive jaws, and a thick outer covering of bony plates. (Source: CED)

crop production - The act or process of yielding produce from farmland, for livestock or human consumption. (Source: RHW / AGP)

crop protection - The problem of crop protection has changed dramatically since 1945. There is now a whole arsenal of chemicals with which to combat agricultural pests and diseases, but this development has itself many drawbacks. Such sophisticated techniques are available only to a minority of farmers; in most parts of the world the standard of crop protection remains abysmally low. In addition, modern crop protection methods have been criticized for relying too heavily on chemical control. Biological controls, both natural and contrived, have been neglected. In some cases involving misuse of agricultural chemicals, crops must be protected from the very measures intended for their protection. Meanwhile previously localized pests and diseases continue to spread worldwide. (Source: WPR)

crop rotation - An agricultural technique in which, season after season, each field is sown with crop plants in a regular rotation, each crop being repeated at intervals of several years. Crop rotation minimizes the risks of depleting the soil of particular nutrients. In rotation systems, a grain crop is often grown the first year, followed by a leafy-vegetable crop in the second year, and a pasture crop in the third. The last usually contains legumes; such plants can restore nitrogen to the soil. Notwithstanding, high yields tend to depend upon the continued addition of chemical fertilizers to the soil. (Source: GILP96)

crop treatment - Use of chemicals in order to avoid damage of crops by insects or weeds. (Source: WRIGHTa)

crop waste - Any unusable portion of plant matter left in a field after harvest. (Source: CNI)

crossing place - A place, often shown by markings, lights, or poles, where a street, railway, etc. may be crossed. (Source: CED)

crossing place for animals - Bridges and tunnels provided for animals for crossing roads and railways. Railway and road infrastructures represent an hindrance to wildlife migration. (Source: DOBRIS)

crude oil - A comparatively volatile liquid bitumen composed principally of hydrocarbon, with traces of sulphur, nitrogen or oxygen compounds; can be removed from the earth in a liquid state. (Source: MGH)

cruising - Travelling by sea in a liner for pleasure, usually calling at a number of ports. (Source: CED)

crustacean - A class of arthropod animals having jointed feet and mandibles, two pairs of antennae, and segmented, chitin-encased bodies. (Source: MGH)

cryptogam - A large group of plants, comprising the Thallophyta, Bryophyta and Pteridophyta, the last of which are cryptogams. (Source: ALL)

crystallisation - The formation of crystalline substances from solutions or melts. (Source: MGH)

crystallography - The branch of science that deals with the geometric description of crystals and their internal arrangement. (Source: MGH)

cultivated plant - Plants specially bred or improved by cultivation. (Source: CED)

cultivation - The practice of growing and nurturing plants outside of their wild habitat (i.e., in gardens, nurseries, arboreta). (Source: DUNSTE)

cultivation method - Any procedure or approach used to prepare land or soil for the growth of new crops, or to promote or improve the growth of existing crops. (Source: RHW / AGP)

cultivation of agricultural land - Cultivation of land for the production of plant crops. Agricultural land may be employed in an unimproved state with few, if any, management inputs (extensive rangeland), or in an intensively managed state with annual inputs of fertilizer, pest, control treatments, and tillage. (Source: DUNSTE)

cultivation system - Any overall structure or set-up used to organize the activity of preparing land or soil for the growth of new crops, or the activity of promoting or improving the growth of existing crops. (Source: RHW / AGP)

cultural development - The process whereby the capabilities or possibilities inherent in a people's beliefs, customs, artistic activity and knowledge are brought out or made more effective. (Source: PPP / RHW)

cultural facility - Any building or structure used for programs or activities involving the arts or other endeavors that encourage refinement or development of the mind. (Source: WCD / OED)

cultural goods

cultural heritage - The inherited body of beliefs, customs, artistic activity and knowledge that has been transmitted by ancestors. (Source: RHW)

cultural indicator - Cultural indicators give information about societies, which may be interesting even when one is not trying to evaluate the cultures of these societies from any normative point of view. Cultural indicators may also have an evaluative purpose involving explicit or implicit normative criteria. (Source: UNESCO)

cultural policy

culture (society) - The body of customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits constituting a distinct complex of tradition of a racial or social group. (Source: WEBSTE)

curriculum - The aggregate of courses of study provided in a particular school, college, university, adult education program, technical institution or some other educational program. (Source: RHW)

custom and usage - A group pattern of habitual activity usually transmitted across generations and, in some instances, having the force of law. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

customs - Duties charged upon commodities on their importation into, or exportation out of, a country.

customs regulation - A body of rules or orders generally issued by the executive authority of a government to establish and direct the taxes, duties or tariffs payable upon merchandise exported or imported. (Source: BLD)

customs tariff - An official list or schedule setting forth the duties imposed by a government on imported or exported goods. (Source: OED)

cutting (forestry) - The act or process of felling or uprooting standing trees, in order to produce timber products. (Source: TIM)

cutting (vegetative propagation) - In plant propagation, young shoots or stems removed for the purpose of growing new plants by vegetatively rooting the cuttings. (Source: DUNSTE)

cyanate - A salt or ester of cyanic acid containing the radical OCN. (Source: MGH)

cyanide - Any of a group of compounds containing the CN group and derived from hydrogen cyanide, HCN. (Source: MGH)

cycle path - Part of the road or a special path for the use of people riding bicycles. (Source: CAMB)

cyclone - A storm characterized by the converging and rising giratory movement of the wind around a zone of low pressure (the eye) towards which it is violently pulled from a zone of high pressure. Its circulation is counterclockwise round the center in the northern hemisphere, clockwise in the southern hemisphere. (Source: GUNN)

cytology - A branch of the biological sciences which deals with the structure, behaviour, growth, and reproduction of cells and the functions and chemistry of cell components. (Source: MGH)

cytotoxicity - The degree to which an agent possesses a specific destructive action on certain cells or the possession of such action; used particularly in referring to the lysis of cells by immune phenomena and to antineoplastic drugs that selectively kill dividing cells.

DDT - A persistent organochlorine insecticide, also known as dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, that was introduced in the 1940s and used widely because of its persistence (meaning repeated applications were unnecessary), its low toxicity to mammals and its simplicity and cheapness of manufacture. It became dispersed all over the world and, with other organochlorines, had a disruptive effect on species high in food chains, especially on the breeding success of certain predatory birds. DDT is very stable, relatively insoluble in water, but highly soluble in fats. Health effects on humans are not clear, but it is less toxic than related compounds. It is poisonous to other vertebrates, especially fish, and is stored in the fatty tissue of animals as sublethal amounts of the less toxic DDE. Because of its effects on wildlife its use in most countries is now forbidden or strictly limited. (Source: MGH / ALL)

DNA - The principal material of inheritance. It is found in chromosomes and consists of molecules that are long unbranched chains made up of many nucleotides. Each nucleotide is a combination of phosphoric acid, the monosaccharide deoxyribose and one of four nitrogenous bases: thymine, cytosine, adenine or guanine. The number of possible arrangements of nucleotides along the DNA chain is immense. Usually two DNA strands are linked together in parallel by specific base-pairing and are helically coiled. Replication of DNA molecules is accomplished by separation of the two strands, followed by the building up of matching strands by means of base-pairing, using the two halves as templates. By a mechanism involving RNA, the structure of DNA is translated into the structure of proteins during their synthesis from amino acids. (Source: ALL)

dairy farm - A commercial establishment for processing or selling milk and milk products. (Source: AMHER)

dairy industry - Production of food made from milk or milk products. (Source: MGH)

dairy product - Products derived from milk, such as butter, cheese, lactose, etc. (Source: CED)

dam - Structure constructed across a watercourse or stream channel. (Source: LANDY)

dam draining - The drawing of water from a reservoir by means of draining pipes located at the bottom of the basin and controlled by a system of sluices which ensure, if necessary, the emptying of the basin in a given period of time in respect of downstream conditions. (Source: MANCOS)

damage - An injury or harm impairing the function or condition of a person or thing. (Source: CED)

damage assessment - The evaluation or determination of losses, harm and injuries to persons, property or the environment. (Source: TOE)

damage from military manoeuvres - Injury or harm resulting from the planned movement of armed forces or from the tactical exercises simulating war operations that is carried out for training and evaluation purposes. (Source: GT2 / JSS)

damage insurance - A commercial product which provides a guarantee against damage to property in return for premiums paid. (Source: RHW / ISEP)

damage prevention - The aggregate of approaches and measures to ensure that human action or natural phenomena do not cause damage. It implies the formulation and implementation of long-range policies and programmes to eliminate or prevent the damages caused by disasters. (Source: GUNN)

danger analysis - The process of evaluating the scale and probability of harm caused by any hazard to persons, property or the environment. (Source: ISEP / DDP)

dangerous goods - Goods or products that are full of hazards or risks when used, transported, etc. (Source: ISEP)

dangerous goods law

dangerous goods regulation - Rules on the handling of articles or substances capable of posing a significant risk to health, safety, or property, and that ordinarily require special attention when being transported. (Source: TOLGARa)

dangerous installation - Installations whose functioning involves the possibility of major hazards such as chemical plants, nuclear, coal and oil power production plants, etc. (Source: WPRa)

dangerous materials transport - Type of transport regulated by special safety rules. (Source: RRDA)

data acquisition - The act of collecting and gathering individual facts, statistics or other items of information. (Source: RHW)

data analysis - The evaluation of digital data, i.e. data represented by a sequence of code characters. (Source: MGH)

data base - A computerized compilation of data, facts and records that is organized for convenient access, management and updating. (Source: WIC)

data carrier - A medium on which data can be recorded, and which is usually easily transportable, such as cards, tape, paper, or disks. (Source: MGH)

data centre - An organization established primarily to acquire, analyze, process, store, retrieve, and disseminate one or more types of data. (Source: MGH)

data exchange - A reciprocal transfer of individual facts, statistics or items of information between two or more parties for the purpose of enhancing knowledge of the participants. (Source: RHW)

data on the state of the environment - No definition needed.

data processing - Any operation or combination of operations on data, including everything that happens to data from the time they are observed or collected to the time they are destroyed. (Source: MGH)

data processing law

data processing system - An assembly of computer hardware, firmware and software configured for the purpose of performing various operations on digital information elements with a minimum of human intervention. (Source: JON)

data protection - Policies, procedures or devices designed to maintain the integrity or security of informational elements in storage or in transmission. (Source: ISEP)

data recording technique - The body of specialized procedures and methods used for the preservation, collocation or registration of individual elements of information. (Source: RHW / APD)

dating - Any of several techniques such as radioactive dating, dendrochronology, or varve dating, for establishing the age of rocks, palaeontological or archaeological specimens, etc. (Source: CED)

de-inking - Series of processes by which various types of printing inks are removed from paper fibre pulp during the pre-processing and recycling of recovered paper products. Particularly necessary where high quality and whiteness of the finished product are required. (Source: GRAHAW)

debt - Something owed to someone else. (Source: SCRUZ)

debt service - The fees or amount of money necessary to pay interest on an outstanding debt, the principal of maturing serial bonds, and the required contributions to an amortization or sinking fund for term bonds. (Source: EFP)

decantation - Sizing or classifying particulate matter by suspension in a fluid (liquid or gas), the larger particulates tending to separate by sinking. (Source: ECHO2)

decay product - An isotope formed by the radioactive decay of some other isotope. This newly formed isotope possesses physical and chemical properties that are different from those of its parent isotope, and may also be radioactive. (Source: LEE)

decentralisation - Basic organizational leadership concept and process of shifting and delegating power and authority from a higher level to subordinate levels within the administrative/managerial hierarchy in order to promote independence, responsibility, and quicker decision-making in applying or interpreting policies and procedures to the needs of these levels.

dechlorination - Removal of chlorine from a substance. (Source: MGH)

decibel - A unit used to express relative difference on power, usually between acoustic or electric signals, equal to ten times the common logarithm of the ratio of the two level. (Source: AMHER)

deciduous forest - The temperate forests comprised of trees that seasonally shed their leaves, located in the east of the USA, in Western Europe from the Alps to Scandinavia, and in the eastern Asia. The hardwood of these forests have been exploited since the 16th century. The trees of deciduous forests usually produce nuts and winged seeds. (Source: WRIGHT)

deciduous tree - Tree losing its leaves in autumn and growing new ones in the spring. (Source: CAMB)

deciduous wood

decision - Means the exercise of agency authority at any stage of an undertaking where alterations might be made in the undertaking to modify its impact upon historic and cultural properties. (Source: LANDY)

decision making support

decision process

decision-support system - A coordinated assemblage of people, devices or other resources that analyzes, typically, business data and presents it so that users can make business decisions more easily. (Source: WIC)

declaration of public utility - Administrative Act giving the right to take private property for public use. (Source: BLACKa)

decomposition - The more or less permanent breakdown of a molecule into simpler molecules or atoms. (Source: MGH)

decontamination - The removing of chemical, biological, or radiological contamination from, or the neutralizing of it on a person, object, or area. (Source: LANDY)

decree - A declaration of the court announcing the legal consequences of the facts found. (Source: BLACK)

deep sea - Region of open ocean beyond the continental shelf. (Source: ECHO1)

deep sea deposit

deep sea fishing - Fishing in the deepest parts of the sea. (Source: PHC)

deep sea mining - The most valuable of the marine mineral resources is petroleum. About 15% of the world's oil is produced offshore, and extraction capabilities are advancing. One of the largest environmental impacts of deep sea mining are discharged sediment plumes which disperse with ocean currents and thus may negatively influence the marine ecosystem. Coal deposits known as extensions of land deposits , are mined under the sea floor in Japan and England. (Source: PARCOR / ERIB)

deep-sea disposal - The disposal of solid waste or sludge by carrying the wastes out to sea, usually in a barge, and dumping into deep water. (Source: WWC)

deer - The common name for 41 species of even-toed ungulates that compose the family Cervidae in the order Artiodactyla; males have antlers. (Source: MGH)

defence - The act or process of protecting citizens or any geographical area by preparing for or by using military means to resist the attack of an enemy. (Source: OED)

defoliation - 1) The drop of foliage from plants caused by herbicides such as Agent Orange, diuron, triazines, all of which interfere with photosynthesis. The use of defoliants, as in Vietnam or in jungle clearance for agriculture, can permanently destroy tropical forests. Once the tree cover is removed, the soil is subjected to erosion and precious nutrients are rapidly leached away. 2) Destroying (an area of jungle, forest, etc.) as by chemical sprays or incendiary bombs, in order to give enemy troops or guerilla forces no place of concealment. (Source: PORT / WEBSTE)

deforestation - The removal of forest and undergrowth to increase the surface of arable land or to use the timber for construction or industrial purposes. Forest and its undergrowth possess a very high water-retaining capacity, inhibiting runoff of rainwater. (Source: GILP)

degradability - The capacity of being decomposed chemically or biologically. (Source: CED)

degradation - A type of organic chemical reaction in which a compound is converted into a simpler compound in stages. (Source: ALL2)

degradation of natural resources - The result of the cumulative activities of farmers, households, and industries, all trying to improve their socio-economic well being. These activities tend to be counterproductive for several reasons. People may not completely understand the long-term consequences of their activities on the natural resource base. The most important ways in which human activity is interfering with the global ecosystem are: a) fossil fuel burning which may double the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration by the middle of the next century, as well as further increasing the emissions of sulphur and nitrogen very significantly; b) expanding agriculture and forestry and the associated use of fertilizers (nitrogen and phosphorous) are significantly altering the natural circulation of these nutrients; c) increased exploitation of the freshwater system both for irrigation in agriculture and industry and for waste disposal. (Source: WPR)

degradation of the environment - The process by which the environment is progressively contaminated, overexploited and destroyed. (Source: RRDA)

degradation product - Those chemicals resulting from partial decomposition or chemical breakdown of substances. (Source: LEE)

degreasing - 1) Removing grease from wool with chemicals. 2) Removing grease from hides or skins in tanning by tumbling them in solvents. 3) Removing grease, oil, or fatty material from a metal surface with fumes from a hot solvent. (Source: MGH)

dehydrated sludge - Sludge whose water content has been reduced by physical means. (Source: LEEa)

delegated management - The process of assigning or transferring authority, decision making or a specific administrative function from one entity to another. (Source: OED)

delinquency

delta - A delta is a vast, fan-shaped creation of land, or low-lying plain, formed from successive layers of sediment washed from uplands to the mouth of some rivers, such as the Nile, the Mississippi and the Ganges. The nutrient-rich sediment is deposited by rivers at the point where, or before which, the river flows into the sea. Deltas are formed when rivers supply and deposit sediments more quickly that they can be removed by waves of ocean currents. The importance of deltas was first discovered by prehistoric man, who was attracted to them because of their abundant animal and plant life. Connecting waterways through the deltas later provided natural routes for navigation and trade, and opened up access to the interior. Deltas are highly fertile and often highly populated areas. They would be under serious threat of flooding from any sea-level rise. (Source: WRIGHT)

demand - The desire, ability and willingness of an individual to purchase a good or service. The consumer must have the funds or the ability to obtain funds in order to convert the desire into demand. The demand of a buyer for a certain good is a schedule of the quantities of that good which the individual would buy at possible alternative prices at a given moment in time. (Source: GREENW)

demesnial water - A body of water that is owned and maintained by a national governmental body or agency. (Source: OED)

democracy - A system of governance in which ultimate authority power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their freely elected agents. (Source: APS)

demographic development - Growth in the number of individuals of a population. (Source: ZINZANa)

demographic evolution - The gradual pattern of change in the growth of human populations in a particular region or country, from a rapid increase in the birth and death rates to a leveling off in the growth rate due to reduced fertility and other factors. (Source: DOE / ANT)

demography - The statistical study of human vital statistics and population dynamics. (Source: LANDY)

demolition business - The activity of reducing buildings or other structures to rubble. (Source: OED)

demolition waste - Masonry or rubble wastes arising from the demolition of buildings or other civil engineering structures.

demonstrability - No definition needed.

dendrochronology - The science of dating the age of a tree by studying annual growth rings. It is also employed to interpret previous environments and climatic variations by examining certain kinds of trees. It is based on the theory that the width of the growth ring reflects the amount of rainfall and the temperature of the year in which it was formed. (Source: WRIGHT)

dendrometry - The measuring of the diameter of standing trees from the ground with a dendrometer that can also be used to measure tree heights. (Source: DUNSTE)

denitrification - 1) The loss of nitrogen from soil by biological or chemical means. It is a gaseous loss, unrelated to loss by physical processes such as through leachates. 2) The breakdown of nitrates by soil bacteria, resulting in the release of free nitrogen. This process takes place under anaerobic conditions, such as are found in water-logged soil, and it reduces soil fertility. (Source: WRIGHT / ALL)

denitrification of waste gas - Current methods for controlling NOx emissions in motor vehicles include retardation of spark timing, increasing the air/fuel ratio, injecting water into the cylinders, decreasing the compression ratio, and recirculating exhaust gas. For stationary sources, one abatement method is to use a lower NOx producing fuel or to modify the combustion process by injecting steam into the combustion chamber. (Source: PZ)

density - The mass of unit volume of a substance. (Source: UVAROV)

deposited particulate matter

deposition - The process by which polluting material is precipitated from the atmosphere and accumulates in ecosystems. (Source: APD)

deregulation - The removal or relaxation of government control over the economic activities of some commercial entity, industry or economic sector. (Source: ODE)

dermapteran

desalination - Removal of salt, as from water or soil. (Source: MGH)

desalination plant - 1) Plants for the extraction of fresh water from saltwater by the removal of salts, usually by distilling. 2) Parts of the world with severe water shortages are looking to desalination plants to solve their problems. Desalination of water is still nearly four times more expensive than obtaining water from conventional sources. However technology is improving and costs are likely to decrease slightly in the future. There is now more interest in building distillation plants beside electric installations so that the waste heat from power generation can be used to drive the desalination process. (Source: ALL / WRIGHT)

desert - A wide, open, comparatively barren tract of land with few forms of life and little rainfall. (Source: MGH)

desert climate - A climate type which is characterized by insufficient moisture to support appreciable plant life; that is, a climate of extreme aridity. (Source: MGH)

desert locust

desertification - 1) The development of desert conditions as a result of human activity or climatic changes. 2) The process of land damage which allows the soil to spread like a desert in arid and semi-arid regions. There is a loss of vegetative cover and the soil deteriorates in texture, nutrient content and fertility. Desertification affects the lives of three-quarters of the world's population, 70% of all drylands and one quarter of the total land area of the planet. There are many reasons for desertification, but the majority are caused by human activities, overgrazing, deforestation, poor land management and over-exploitation. Agenda 21 states that the priority in combating desertification should be establishing preventive measures for lands that are not yet, or are only slightly, degraded. (Source: LBC / WRIGHT)

desertification control - Remedial and preventive actions adopted against desertification include irrigation, planting of trees and grasses, the erection of fences to secure sand dunes, and a careful management of water resources. (Source: WRIGHT)

design (project) - A graphic representation, especially a detailed plan for construction or manufacture. (Source: AMHER)

desk study - No definition needed.

desorption - The process of removing a sorbed substance by the reverse of adsorption or absorption. (Source: MGH)

destination of transport - The targeted place to which persons, materials or commodities are conveyed over land, water or through the air. (Source: RHW)

desulphurisation - The removal of sulphur, as from molten metals or petroleum oil. Sulphur residues in fuels end up as sulphur dioxide when the fuel is burned causing acid rain. (Source: MGH)

desulphurisation of fuel - Removal of sulfur from fossil fuels (or removal of sulfur dioxide from combustion fuel gases) to reduce pollution. (Source: LEE)

detection - The act or process of discovering evidence or proof of governmental, legal or ethical violations. (Source: RHW)

detector - A mechanical, electrical, or chemical device that automatically identifies and records or registers a stimulus, such as an environmental change in pressure or temperature, an electrical signal, or radiation from a radioactive material. (Source: AMHER)

detergent - A surface-active agent used for removing dirt and grease from a variety of surfaces and materials. Early detergents contained alkyl sulphonates, which proved resistant to bacterial decomposition, causing foaming in rivers and difficulties in sewage treatment plants. These hard detergents were replaced during the 1960s with soft biodegradable detergents. Apprehension continues to be expressed about the use of phosphates in detergents, helping to promote the process of eutrophication. No satisfactory substitute has yet emerged. (Source: GILP96)

determination method - Method employed in the assessment or in the evaluation of a quantity, a quality, a fact, an event, etc. (Source: ZINZANa)

deterrence - Punishment aiming at deterring the criminal from repeating his offences or deterring others from committing similar acts. (Source: DICLAW)

deterrent - Any measure, implement or policy designed to discourage or restrain the actions or advance of another agent, organization or state. (Source: RHW)

detoxification - The act or process of removing a poison or the toxic properties of a substance in the body. (Source: MGH)

developed country - A nation possessing a relatively high degree of industrialization, infrastructure and other capital investment, sophisticated technology, widespread literacy and advanced living standards among its populations as a whole. (Source: UIA)

developing countries debt

developing country - A country whose people are beginning to utilize available resources in order to bring about a sustained increase in per capita production of goods and services. (Source: GREENW)

development aid - The economic assistance or other types of support provided to developing countries to promote or encourage advancement in living standards, institutions, infrastructure, agricultural practices and other aspects of an economy, and to resolve problems typically associated with developing countries. (Source: ODE)

development area - Area which has been given special help from a government to encourage business and factories to be set up there. (Source: PHC)

development co-operation

development model - A description, representation, or conception of the economic advancement process of a region or people. (Source: ISEP / OED)

development pattern - The combination of qualities, structures, acts and tendencies characterizing the economic and social growth of a community or human group. (Source: RHW)

development plan - The statement of local planning policies that each local planning authority is required by statute to maintain, and which can only be made or altered by following the procedures prescribed for that purpose, which include obligations to consult widely and to hold a public local inquiry into objections. The development plan includes: 1) the structure plan for the area (normally prepared by the country council); 2) an area-wide development plan for each district council area. (Source: GRAHAW)

development planning - The act or process of formulating a course of action that promotes the economic advancement of a region or people, particularly in countries known to have low levels of economic productivity and technological sophistication. (Source: OED / WBG)

devolution - The act of assigning or entrusting authority, powers or functions to another as deputy or agent, typically to a subordinate in the administrative structure of an organization or institution. (Source: RHW)

dialysis - A process of selective diffusion through a membrane; usually used to separate low-molecular-weight solutes which diffuse through the membrane from the colloidal and high-molecular-weight solutes which do not. (Source: MGH)

diatom - Unicellular algae, some of which are colonial, green or brownish in colour (but all contain chlorophyll) and with siliceous and often highly sculptured cell walls. Diatoms make up much of the producer level in marine and freshwater food chains, and they have contributed to the formation of oil reserves. Deposits of diatomaceous earths were formed by the accumulation of diatom cell walls. (Source: ALL)

dictionary - A reference book containing an explanatory alphabetical list of words, as a book listing a comprehensive or restricted selection of the words of a language; identifying usually, the phonetic, grammatical, and semantic value of each word, often with etymology, citations, and usage guidance and other information. (Source: RHW / ISEP)

didactics - The art or science of teaching. (Source: CED)

diesel engine - An internal combustion engine operating on a thermodynamic cycle in which the ratio of compression of the air charge is sufficiently high to ignite the fuel subsequently injected into the combustion chamber. (Source: MGH)

diesel fuel - Heavy oil residue used as fuel for certain types of diesel engines. (Source: MGH)

differentiation - The development of cells so that they are capable of performing specialized functions in the organs and tissues of the organisms to which they belong. (Source: UVAROV)

diffuse pollution - Pollution from widespread activities with no one discrete source, e.g. acid rain, pesticides, urban run-off etc. (Source: HGD)

diffuse source - Pollution which arises from various activities with no discrete source. (Source: GRAHAW)

diffusion - The spontaneous movement and scattering of particles (atoms and molecules), of liquid, gases, and solids. (Source: MGH)

digested sludge - Sludge or thickened mixture of sewage solids with water that has been decomposed by anaerobic bacteria. (Source: MGH)

digester - Machine which takes refuse and produces gas such as methane from it. (Source: PHC)

digestion (sewage) - The reduction in volume and the decomposition of highly putrescible organic matter to relatively stable or inert organic and inorganic compounds. Sludge digestion is usually done by aerobic organisms in the absence of free oxygen.

digital image processing technique - Techniques employed in the calibration of image data, the correction or reduction of errors occurring during capture or transmission of the data and in various types of image enhancement-operations which increase the ability of the analyst to recognize features of interest. (Source: YOUNG)

digital land model - A representation of a surface's topography stored in a numerical format. Each pixel has been assigned coordinates and an altitude. (Source: CCRS)

digitising - The process of converting data to a form used in computers, transmitted or stored with digital technology and expressed as a string of 0's and 1's. (Source: WIC)

diluted acid - A less concentrated acid. (Source: MGH)

dioxin - A by-product formed during the preparation of the herbicide 2, 4, 5-T, and sometimes produced by the incineration of chlorinated organic compounds. It may also occur naturally and is distributed widely in the environment, except locally in extremely low concentrations. Substantial amounts were released by the industrial accident of Seveso in 1976. (Source: ALL)

dipteran

direct discharger - Factories and industrial concerns which do not discharge their sewage directly into public sewers, but directly into a waterway. (Source: AZENP)

directive - The second rank of administrative acts (inferior to regulations, superior to decisions) made by the council or commission of the European Communities on order to carry out their tasks in accordance with the Treaties. They must be addressed to states, not individuals, but many create rights for individuals or allow the directive to be pleaded before municipal court.

disabled person - Person lacking one or more physical power, such as the ability to walk or to coordinate one's movements, as from the effects of a disease or accident, or through mental impairment. (Source: CED)

disaster - The result of a vast ecological breakdown in the relations between man and his environment, a serious and sudden event (or slow, as in drought) on such a scale that the stricken community needs extraordinary efforts to cope with it, often with outside help or international aid. (Source: GUNN)

disaster cleanup operation - A course or procedure of activity designed to clear the debris or remove harmful substances left by an ecological calamity, natural or human in origin, in a given area. (Source: ISEP / TOE)

disaster contingency plan - An anticipatory emergency plan to be followed in an expected or eventual disaster, based on risk assessment, availability of human and material resources, community preparedness, local and international response capability, etc. (Source: ECHO1)

disaster control service - Work done or agency established to analyze, plan, assign and coordinate available resources in order to prepare for, respond to, mitigate and recover from damage caused by an ecological calamity, natural or human in origin. (Source: ISEP / PPB)

disaster preparedness - The aggregate of measures to be taken in view of disasters, consisting of plans and action programmes designed to minimize loss of life and damage, to organize and facilitate effective rescue and relief, and to rehabilitate after disaster. Preparedness requires the necessary legislation and means to cope with disaster or similar emergency situations. It is also concerned with forecasting and warning, the education and training of the public, organization and management, including plans, training of personnel, the stockpiling of supplies and ensuring the needed funds and other resources. (Source: GUNN)

disaster prevention - The aggregate of approaches and measures to ensure that human action or natural phenomena do not cause or result in disaster or similar emergency. It implies the formulation and implementation of long-range policies and programmes to eliminate or prevent the occurrence of disasters. (Source: GUNN)

disaster relief - Money, food or other assistance provided for those surviving a sudden, calamitous event causing loss of life, damage or hardship. (Source: RHW)

disaster zone - Zone that has been stricken by a disaster and where measures must be taken to reduce the severity of the human and material damage caused by it. (Source: GUNN)

discarded medicinal drug

discharge legislation

discharge regime - The rate of flow of a river at a particular moment in time, related to its volume and its velocity. (Source: WHIT)

disease - A definite pathological process having a characteristic set of signs and symptoms which are detrimental to the well-being of the individual. (Source: KOREN)

disease cause

disinfectant - An agent, such as heat, radiation, or a chemical, that disinfects by destroying, neutralizing, or inhibiting the growth of disease-carrying microorganisms. (Source: AMHER)

disinfection - The complex of physical, chemical or mechanical operations undertaken to destroy pathogenic germs. (Source: CED / ZINZAN)

dispatch note

dispersion - A distribution of finely divided particles in a medium. (Source: MGH)

dispersion calculation - The calculation of pollutant dispersion is based on the use of air dispersion models that mathematically simulate atmospheric conditions and behaviour. Dispersion models can provide concentration or deposition estimates and can be used to evaluate both existing and hypothetical emissions scenarios. (Source: ENVAR)

displaced person - Persons who, for different reasons or circumstances, have been compelled to leave their homes. (Source: GUNN)

disposal of the dead

disposal of warfare materials - Disposal of the material remnants of war, which can seriously impede development and cause injuries and the loss of lives and property. The disposal of warfare waste is problematic because it can be highly dangerous, toxic, long-living and requires the utilization of specific and sophisticated technologies, particularly in the case of mines and unexploded bombs which have been left on the war territories. (Source: WPR)

dissolution - Dissolving of a material. (Source: MGH)

dissolved organic carbon - The fraction of total organic carbon (all carbon atoms covalently bonded in organic molecules) in water that passes through a 0.45 micron pore-diameter filter. (Source: WQA)

dissolved oxygen - The amount of oxygen dissolved in a stream, river or lake is an indication of the degree of health of the stream and its ability to support a balanced aquatic ecosystem. The oxygen comes from the atmosphere by solution and from photosynthesis of water plants. The maximum amount of oxygen that can be held in solution in a stream is termed the saturation concentration and, as it is a function of temperature, the greater the temperature, the less the saturation amount. The discharge of an organic waste to a stream imposes an oxygen demand on the stream. If there is an excessive amount of organic matter, the oxidation of waste by microorganisms will consume oxygen more rapidly than it can be replenished. When this happens, the dissolved oxygen is depleted and results in the death of the higher forms of life. (Source: PORT)

distillation - The process of producing a gas or vapour from a liquid by heating the liquid in a vessel and collecting and condensing the vapours into liquids. (Source: MGH)

distilling industry - A sector of the economy in which an aggregate of commercial enterprises is engaged in the manufacture and marketing of alcoholic beverages made by a distillation process of vaporization and condensation, such as vodka, rum, whiskey and other related beverages. (Source: RHW / SIC)

distortion of competition - Article 85(1) of the EEC Treaty prohibits all agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between member states and which have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the common market. All such arrangements are automatically null and void under Article 85(2), unless exempted by the Commission pursuant to Article 85(3). The text of Article 85 is as follows: "1. The following shall be prohibited as incompatible with the common market: all agreements between undertakings, decisions by associations of undertakings and concerted practices which may affect trade between member states and which have as their object or effect the prevention, restriction or distortion of competition within the common market, and in particular those which: (a) directly or indirectly fix purchase or selling prices or any other trading conditions; (b) limit or control production, markets, technical development, or investment; (c) share markets or sources of supply; (d) apply dissimilar conditions to equivalent transactions with other trading parties, thereby placing them at a competitive disadvantage; (e) make the conclusion of contracts subject to acceptance by the other parties of supplementary obligations which, by their nature or according to commercial usage, have no connection with the subject of such contracts. (Source: CLAORG)

distribution - In an environmental context, the term refers to the dispersion of air pollutants and depends on the type of pollution source (point source, line source, diffuse source), the wind velocity and the wind direction. Distribution can be active or passive. (Source: RRDA)

distribution area - 1) The overall geographical distribution of a talon. 2) The range occupied by a community or other group. (Source: LBC)

distributive trade - Distribution of material goods to consumers, through retailing and wholesaling. (Source: GOODa)

district heating - The supply of heat, either in the form of steam or hot water, from a central source to a group of buildings. (Source: MGH)

district heating plant - Plant for heating all houses in a district; it consists of a large, efficient, centralized boiler plant or "waste" steam from a power station. The heat is distributed by means of low-pressure steam or high-temperature water to the consumers. (Source: PHC / PORT)

disused military site - Military site where all activity has ceased. Such areas, being extremely well sheltered against outside disturbances and in many ways less affected by human landuse than many other open landscapes, can contain significant natural habitats and rare or endangered wildlife. Abandoned military territories constitute an important source of natural landscapes to be managed and restored in an environmentally sound way. (Source: RRDA / DOBRIS)

ditch - A long, narrow excavation artificially dug in the ground; especially an open and usually unpaved waterway, channel, or trench for conveying water for drainage or irrigation, and usually smaller than a canal. Some ditches may be natural watercourses. (Source: BJGEO)

doctrine (law) - A rule, principle, theory, or tenet of the law, as the doctrine of merger, the doctrine of relation, etc. (Source: WESTS)

document - Material of any kind, regardless of physical form, which furnishes information, evidence or ideas, including items such as contracts, bills of sale, letters, audio and video recordings, and machine readable data files. (Source: CCL)

document lending - The service provided by a library in which the library's clients are temporarily allowed to use books and other printed materials outside the library. (Source: RHW)

document type - Any one of a number of diverse classes of written, printed or digitized items furnishing information or evidence, and distinguished by content, form or function. (Source: RHW)

documentary film - Any motion picture or movie in which an actual event, era or life story is presented factually, with little or no fiction. (Source: C / RHW)

documentary system - A coordinated assemblage of people, devices or other resources providing written, printed or digitized items that furnish or substantiate information or evidence. (Source: RHW)

documentation - The process of accumulating, classifying and disseminating information, often to support the claim or data given in a book or article. (Source: OED)

documentation centre - Centre for assembling, coding, and disseminating recorded knowledge comprehensively treated as an integral procedure, utilizing various techniques for giving documentary information maximum accessibility and usability. (Source: WEBSTE)

dog - A common four-legged animal, especially kept by people as a pet or to hunt or guard things. (Source: CAMB)

domestic appliance - A machine or device, especially an electrical one used domestically. (Source: CED)

domestic fuel - Fuels obtained from different sources that are used for domestic heating. (Source: RRDA)

domestic fuel oil - Liquid petroleum product used in domestic heaters. (Source: CED)

domestic noise - Noise caused by domestic facilities and activities. (Source: RRDA)

domestic pollution

domestic trade - Trade wholly carried on at home; as distinguished from foreign commerce. (Source: WESTS)

domestic waste - Waste generated by residential households and comprised of any material no longer wanted or needed. (Source: EED)

domestic waste landfill - Site for the disposal of wastes arising from domestic activities. (Source: RRDA)

domestic waste water - Wastewater principally derived from households, business buildings, institutions, etc., which may or may not contain surface runoff, groundwater or storm water. (Source: WWC)

domesticated animal - 1) Wild animal which has been trained to live near a house and not be frightened of human beings; 2) species which was formerly wild, now selectively bred to fill human needs. (Source: PHC)

dosage - The amount of a substance required to produce an effect. (Source: CONFER)

dose - The amount of test substance administered. Dose is expressed as weight of test substance (g, mg) per unit weight of test animal (e.g., mg/kg), or as weight of food or drinking water. (Source: LEE)

dose-effect relationship - The relation between the quantity of a given substance and a measurable or observable effect. (Source: KOREN)

draft legislation - An initial unsigned agreement, treaty, or piece of legislation which is not yet in force. (Source: DICLAW)

dragonfly - Any of the insects composing six families of the suborder Anisoptera and having four large, membranous wings and compound eyes that provide keen vision. (Source: MGH)

drainage - 1) Removal of groundwater or surface water, or of water from structures, by gravity or pumping. 2) The discharge of water from a soil by percolation (the process by which surface water moves downwards through cracks, joints and pores in soil and rocks). (Source: MGH / WHIT)

drainage system - A surface stream, or a body of impounded surface water, together with all other such streams and water bodies that are tributary to it and by which a region is drained. An artificial drainage system includes also surface and subsurface conduits. (Source: BJGEO)

drainage water - Incidental surface waters from diverse sources such as rainfall, snow melt or permafrost melt. (Source: JJK)

draining - The removal of water from a marshy area by artificial means, e.g. the introduction of drains. (Source: WHIT)

draught animal

drawing - To cause to discharge from an abscess or wound or to obtain a sample of tissue or organic liquid for examination. (Source: CEDa)

dredged material - Unconsolidated material removed from rivers, streams, and shallow seas with machines such as the bucket-ladder dredge, dragline dredge, or suction dredge.

dredging - Removing solid matter from the bottom of a water area. (Source: MGH)

drift net fishing - The use of fishing nets of great length and depth, aptly described as "walls of death" because of the huge numbers of marine mammals, birds, and turtles that became ensnared in them. The Tarawa Declaration of 1989 formulated at the 20th South Pacific Forum, aimed at banning drift netting in the South Pacific. In June 1992 the UN banned drift netting in all the world's oceans. (Source: GILP96)

drilling - The act of boring holes in the earth for finding water or oil, for geologic surveys, etc. (Source: ZINZAN)

drilling for oil - Boring a hole for extracting oil. (Source: PHC)

drilling installation - The structural base upon which the drill rig and associated equipment is mounted during the drilling operation. (Source: MGH)

drinking water - Water that is agreeable to drink, does not present health hazards and whose quality is normally regulated by legislation. (Source: GUNN)

drinking water protection area - Area surrounding a water recovery plant in which certain forms of soil utilization are restricted or prohibited in order to protect the groundwater. (Source: AZENP)

drinking water supply - The provision and storage of potable water, or the amount of potable water stored, for the use of a municipality, or other potable water user. (Source: ISEP)

drinking water treatment - The Directive on the Quality of Surface Water Intended for Drinking Water defines three categories of water treatment (A1, A2, A3) from simple physical treatment and disinfection to intensive physical and chemical treatment. The treatment to be used depends on the quality of the water abstracted. The Directive uses imperative values for parameters known to have an adverse effect on health and also guide values for those which are less adverse. There is also a directive which complements the "surface water abstraction" Directive by indicating the methods of measurement and the frequency of sampling and analysis required. (Source: PORT)

drought - A period of abnormally dry weather sufficiently prolonged so that the lack of water causes a serious hydrologic imbalance (such as crop damage, water supply shortage) in the affected area. (Source: MGH)

drought control - Measures taken to prevent, mitigate or eliminate damage caused to the ecosystem, especially crops, by a sustained period of dry weather. (Source: ISEP)

drug (medicine) - A chemical substance used internally or externally as a medicine for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment or cure of disease, for the relief of pain or to control or enhance physical or mental well-being. (Source: RHW, APD)

drug abuse

dry cleaning - To clean fabrics etc. with a solvent other than water. (Source: CED)

dry deposition - The accumulation of both particles and gases as they come into contact with soil, water or vegetation on the earth's surfaces. (Source: DES)

dry farming - A system of extensive agriculture allowing the production of crops without irrigation in areas of limited rainfall. Dry farming involves conserving soil moisture through mulching, frequent fallowing, maintenance of a fine tilth by cross-ploughing, repeated working of the soil after rainfall and removal of any weeds that would take up some of the moisture. (Source: GOOD)

dry lawn - No definition needed.

drying - The process of partially or totally removing water or other liquids from a solid. (Source: ZINZAN)

drying out - Removal of water from any substance. (Source: MGH)

dual economy - An economy based upon two separate/distinct economic systems which co-exist in the same geographical space. Dualism is characteristic of many developing countries in which some parts of a country resemble advanced economies while other parts resemble traditional economies, i.e. there are circuits of production and exchange. (Source: GOOD)

dual waste management - To reduce the quantity of packaging waste, and thereby of overall MSW, Germany introduced a far-reaching legislation to reduce waste, based on the producer's responsibility principle. Industry was given the option to set up a third party organization which would carry out the collection and sorting of sales packaging for care of manufacturers and retailers. Thus, Some 600 companies created "Duales System Deutschland" in 1990 ("Dual" because it meant creating a second collection system in parallel to the existing waste collection system of the local authorities). Duales System Deutschland (DSD), now has overall responsibility for the separate collection and recycling of packaging. At present, the Dual System is the only nationwide system for the collection and sorting of sales packaging. Packaging participating in this collection system is marked with the Green Dot. (Source: EPEBE)

dumping - The discarding of waste in any manner, often without regard to environmental control. (Source: RHW / ERG)

dune - A low mound, ridge, bank, or hill of loose, windblown granular material (generally sand, sometimes volcanic ash), either bare or covered with vegetation, capable of movement from place but always retaining its characteristic shape. (Source: BJGEO)

durable goods - Goods which have a reasonably long life and which are not generally consumed in use: e.g. refrigerator. (Source: WESTS)

duration of sunshine - Period of the day during which the sun is shining. (Source: RAMADE)

dust - Any kind of solid material divided in particles of very small size. (Source: ZINZAN)

dust immission

dust removal - The removal of dust from air by ventilation or exhaust systems. (Source: KOREN)

dwelling - Any enclosed space wholly or partially used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking, and eating. (Source: KOREN)

dye - A coloring material. (Source: LEE)

dyke - An artificial wall, embankment, ridge, or mound, usually of earth or rock fill, built around a relatively flat, low-lying area to protect it from flooding; a levee. A dyke may be also be constructed on the shore or border of a lake to prevent inflow of undesirable water. (Source: BJGEO)

dyke reinforcement - The addition of material to strengthen the structure of the dykes. (Source: HARRIS)

EC Council of Ministers - The organ of the EU that is primarily concerned with the formulation of policy and the adoption of Community legislation. The Council consists of one member of government of each of the member states of the Community, and its presidency is held by each state in turn for periods of six months. (Source: DICLAW)

EC Treaty

EC directive - A type of legislation issued by the European Union which is binding on Member States in terms of the results to be achieved but which leaves to Member States the choice of methods. (Source: BUSIN)

EC directive on biocides - Directive regulating the placing of biocidal products on the market. (Source: GRAHAW)

EC directive on packaging - EC Directive proposed on 15 July 1992 aiming at harmonizing national measures concerning the management of packaging and packaging waste; the directive covers all packaging placed on the market. (Source: PORT)

EC directive on waste disposal - EC Directive whose main object concerns waste prevention, recycling and transformation into alternative energy sources. (Source: DIRAMB)

EC directive on water protection - Directive concerning the use and management of water resources for a rational economical and social development and the protection of the related environmental features. (Source: DIRAMB)

EC ecolabel - The European Community (EC) initiative to encourage the promotion of environmentally friendly products. The scheme came into operation in late 1992 and was designed to identify products which are less harmful to the environment than equivalent brands. For example, eco-labels will be awarded to products that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which damage ozone layer, to those products that can be, or are, recycled, and to those that are energy efficient. The labels are awarded on environmental criteria set by the EC. These cover the whole life cycle of a product, from the extraction of raw materials, through manufacture, distribution, use and disposal of the product. The first products to carry the EC eco-labels were washing machines, paper towels, writing paper, light bulbs and hairsprays. (Source: WRIGHT)

EC policy

EC regulation

EC regulation on eco-management and audit

EC regulation on existing chemicals - Regulation designed to identify and control of risks deriving from existing chemicals. According to this program the main goal is the collection of basic information about existing chemicals including their uses and characteristics, environmental fate and pathways, toxicity and ecotoxicity. (Source: DOBRIS)

EIA (local) - The identification, evaluation and appraisal of the ecological consequences of a proposed project or development in a city, town or region, and the measures needed to minimize adverse effects. (Source: ALL)

EIA directive - Council Directive of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment (85/337/EEC). The Directive applies to projects which are likely to have significant effects on the environment by virtue of their nature, size or location. (Source: PENEL)

EIA law - Law concerning the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment, based on the EC Directive n. 85/337. (Source: PENELa)

EU Council - The Council of the European Union is an institution which exercises legislative and decision-making powers. At the same time, it is the forum in which the representatives of the Governments of the 15 Member States can assert their interests and try to reach compromises. The Council ensures general coordination of the activities of the European Community, the main objective of which is the establishment of an internal market, i.e. an area without internal frontiers guaranteeing four freedoms of movement - for goods, persons, services and capital - to which should soon be added a single currency. In addition, the Council is responsible for intergovernmental cooperation, in common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and in the areas of justice and home affairs (JHA), including for example matters of immigration and asylum, combating terrorism and drugs and judicial cooperation. (Source: UEEU)

Earth-Sun relationship - The Earth depends on the sun for its existence as a planet hospitable to life, and solar energy is the major factor determining the climate. Hence, conditions on the sun and conditions on Earth are inextricably linked. Although the sun's rays may appear unchanging, its radiation does vary. Many scientists suspect that sunspot activity has a greater influence on climatic change than variations attributed to the greenhouse effect. (Source: WRIGHT)

East Africa - A geographic region of the African continent that includes Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Somalia, and also Mt. Kilimanjaro and Lake Victoria. (Source: ENA / CIA)

East-West relations

East-West trade - Trade between countries and companies of the Western hemisphere with those of the Eastern hemisphere (usually referring to former Communist countries of Eastern Europe).

Eastern Asia - A geographic region of the Asian continent bordered by the Pacific Ocean in the east that includes China, Japan, Korea, Macao, Taiwan and Siberia. (Source: RHW)

Eastern Europe - A geographic region of the European continent west of Asia and east of Germany and the Adriatic Sea, traditionally consisting of countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria. (Source: INP / CIA)

English garden - A plot of ground consisting of an orderly and balanced arrangement of masses of flowers, shrubs and trees, following British traditions or style. (Source: CBO)

Euratom - A precursor to the European Community, the European Atomic Energy Community was founded in 1958 by the European Common Market to conduct research, develop nuclear energy, create a common market for nuclear fuels and supervise the nuclear industry so as to prevent abuse and protect health. (Source: ERD)

Europe - The second smallest continent, forming the W extension of Eurasia: the border with Asia runs from the Urals to the Caspian and the Black Sea. The coastline is generally extremely indented and there are several peninsulas (notably Scandinavia, Italy and Iberia) and offshore islands (including the British Isles and Iceland). It contains a series of great mountain systems in the south (Pyrenees, Alps, Apennines, Carpathians, Caucasus), a large central plain, and a N region of lakes and mountains in Scandinavia. (Source: CED)

European Commission - The European Union's administrative body, composed of twenty independent members appointed by the Member States for five-year terms and vested with powers of initiative, implementation, management and control according to the mandates established in EU Treaties or handed down by the EU Council. (Source: EUR)

European Communities - The collective body that resulted in 1967 from the merger of the administrative networks of the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM), the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the European Economic Community (EEC). The singular term has also been widely used. (Source: ABDN)

European Court of Justice - The supreme court of The European Union which oversees the application of the EU treaties, decides upon the validity and the meaning of Community legislation and determines whether any act or omission by the European Commission, the Council of Minister or any member state constitutes a breach of Community law. (Source: EUEN / DICLAW)

European Environment Agency - The EEA is being set up to provide the European Community and its member states with objective, reliable and standardized information on the environment. It will assess the success of existing environmental policies and the data will be used to develop new policies for environmental protection measures. It will gather information covering the present, and foreseeable, state of the environment. The priority area are: air quality and emissions; water quality, pollutants and resources; soil quality, flora and fauna, and biotopes; land use and natural resources; waste management; noise pollution; chemicals; and protection of coastal areas. The Agency will also take into account the socio-economics dimension, cover transboundary and international matters, and avoid the duplication of the activities of other bodies. (Source: WRIGHT)

European Environmental Council

European Monetary Fund - Fund organized by the European Monetary System in which members of the European Community deposit reserves to provide a pool of resources to stabilize exchange rates and to finance balance of payments in support of the pending full European Monetary Union.

European Monetary System - An organization established in Europe in 1979 to coordinate financial policy and exchange rates for the continent by running the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) and assisting movement toward a common European currency and a central European bank. (Source: ODE)

European Parliament - Formerly the "Assembly" of EEC. Comprises some 520 "representatives of the peoples" of European Community states, directly elected, and based in Strasbourg. Exercises advisory and supervisory powers; debates and passes resolutions and may veto admission of new member states. (Source: CURZON)

European Union - The 15 nations (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the UK, Austria, Finland and Sweden) that have joined together to form an economic community with common monetary, political and social aspirations. The EU came into being on 1 November 1993 according to the terms of the Maastricht Treaty; it comprises the three European Communities, extended by the adoption of a common foreign and security policy which requires cooperation between member states in foreign policy and security and cooperation in justice and home affairs. (Source: DICLAW)

European nature reserve - No definition needed.

European standard - A standard which has been approved pursuant to the statutes of the standards bodies with which the Community has concluded agreements. (Source: ECHO2)

early warning system - Any series of procedures and devices designed to detect sudden or potential threats to persons, property or the environment at the first sign of danger; especially a system utilizing radar technology. (Source: RHW)

earth science - The science that deals with the earth or any part thereof; includes the disciplines of geology, geography, oceanography and meteorology, among others. (Source: MGH)

earth's crust - The outer layers of the Earth's structure, varying between 6 and 48 km in thickness, and comprising all the material above the Mohorovicic Discontinuity (a seismic discontinuity occurring between the crust of the earth and the underlying mantle; the discontinuity occurs at an average depth of 35 km below the continents and at about 10 km below the oceans). The earlier idea of a cool solid skin overlaying a hot molten interior has now been replaced by a concept of a crust composed of two shells: an inner basic unit composed of sima (oceanic crust) and an outer granitic unit composed of sial (continental crust). (Source: WHIT)

earthquake - The violent shaking of the ground produced by deep seismic waves, beneath the epicentre, generated by a sudden decrease or release in a volume of rock of elastic strain accumulated over a long time in regions of seismic activity (tectonic earthquake). The magnitude of an earthquake is represented by the Richter scale; the intensity by the Mercalli scale. (Source: GUNN)

earthworm - Any of numerous oligochaete worms of the genera Lumbricus, Allolobophora, Eisenia, etc., which burrow in the soil and help aerate and break up the ground. (Source: CED)

earwig - Any of various insects of the order Dermaptera, especially Forficula auricularia, which typically have an elongated body with small leathery forewings, semicircular membranous hindwings, and curved forceps at the tip of the abdomen. (Source: CED)

easement - The rights of use over the property of another; a burden on a piece of land causing the owner to suffer access by another. (Source: DUHA)

echinoderm - Marine coelomate animals distinguished from all others by an internal skeleton composed of calcite plates, and a water-vascular system to serve the needs of locomotion, respiration, nutrition or perception. (Source: MGH)

eco-balance - An eco-balance refers to the consumption of energy and resources and the pollution caused by the production cycle of a given product. The product is followed throughout its entire life cycle, from the extraction of the raw materials, manufacturing and use, right through to recycling and final handling of waste. (Source: DUNI)

eco-paediatrics - Branch of medical science concerning the study and the therapy of children diseases caused by environmental factors. (Source: CEDa / RRDA)

ecocatastrophe - A sudden, widespread disaster or calamity causing extensive damage to the environment that threatens the quality of life for people living in the affected area or region, potentially leading to many deaths. (Source: ALL)

ecodevelopment - 1) Conservative development based on long term optimization of biosphere resources. 2)An approach to development through rational use of natural resources by means of appropriate technology and system of production which take into account and provide for the conservation of nature. (Source: GREMES / UNUN)

ecolabel - A mark, seal or written identification attached or affixed to products that provides specific ecological information allowing consumers to make comparisons with other similar products, or instructions on how to safely use or properly recycle or dispose of both products and packaging. (Source: OPP)

ecolabelling - The European Community's initiative to encourage the promotion of environmentally friendly products. The scheme came into operation in late 1992 and was designed to identify products which are less harmful to the environment than equivalent brands. It was hoped that by buying labelled goods, consumers would be able to put pressure on manufacturers and retailers both to make and to stock "greener" products. This includes the effects they have on the environment at all stages. The labels are awarded on environmental criteria set by the EC. (Source: WRIGHT)

ecological abundance - Number of individual specimens of an animal or plant seen over a certain period of time in a certain place. (Source: PHC)

ecological adaptation - Change in an organism so that it is better able to survive or reproduce, thereby contributing to its fitness. (Source: PHC)

ecological assessment - Ecological assessment consists in monitoring the current and changing conditions of ecological resources from which success or failure of the ecosystem can be judged without bias; understanding more fully the structure and function of ecosystems in order to develop improved management options; developing models to predict the response of ecosystems to changes resulting from human-induced stress from which possible ecosystem management strategies can be assessed and assessing the ecological consequences of management actions so that decisionmakers can best understand the outcomes of choosing a particular management strategy. (Source: ESEPA)

ecological balance - The condition of equilibrium among the components of a natural community such that their relative numbers remain fairly constant and their ecosystem is stable. Gradual readjustments to the composition of a balanced community take place continually in response to natural ecological succession and to alterations in climatic and other influences. (Source: ALL)

ecological bookkeeping - The systematic accounting or recordkeeping of a company's impact on the environment or its progress towards environmentally sound business practices. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

ecological carrying capacity - 1) The maximum number of species an area can support during the harshest part of the year, or the maximum biomass it can support indefinitely. 2) The maximum number of grazing animals an area can support without deterioration. (Source: ALL)

ecological community - 1) All of the plants and animals in an area or volume; a complex association usually containing both animals and plants. 2) Any naturally occurring group of organisms that occupy a common environment. (Source: LANDY / ALL)

ecological factor - An environmental factor that, under some definite conditions, can exert appreciable influence on organisms or their communities, causing the increase or decrease in the number of organisms and/or changes in the communities. (Source: UNUN)

ecological inequality - Any imbalance or disparity among inhabitants of the same living environment deemed inappropriate, unjust or detrimental to that environment's integrity. (Source: TOE / RHW)

ecological niche - 1) The space occupied by a species, which includes both the physical space as well as the functional role of the species. 2) Ecological niche refers to the characteristics of an environment that provides all the essential food and protection for the continued survival of a particular species of flora or fauna. In addition to food and shelter, there is no long-term threat to existence in that place from potential predators, parasites and competitors. The concept of the ecological niche goes a long way beyond the idea of the species habitat. (Source: LBC / WRIGHT)

ecological parameter - A variable, measurable property whose value is a determinant of the characteristics of an ecosystem. (Source: EPAGLOa)

ecological stocktaking - Taking stock of, evaluating, or inventorying a company's impact on the environment or its progress towards environmentally sound business practices. (Source: RHW)

ecologically sensitive area - Area where it is likely that a change in some parts of the system will produce a recognizable response. (Source: ALL2a)

ecologist movement - Grouping of individuals and organizations dedicated to the protection of the environment. (Source: PHC)

ecology - The study of the interrelationships between living organisms and their environment. (Source: LBC)

ecomarketing - The buying, selling, advertising, shipping, and storing of goods in compliance with ecological principles. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

ecomuseum - A private, non-profit facility where plants and animals can be viewed in a natural outdoor setting. (Source: AGRENV)

economic activity - Any effort, work, function or sphere of action pertaining to the production of goods, services or any other resource with exchange value. (Source: RHW / NDECON)

economic analysis - The quantitative and qualitative identification, study, and evaluation of the nature of an economy or a system of organization or operation. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

economic competition - The market condition where an individual or firm that wants to buy or sell a commodity or service has a choice of possible suppliers or customers. (Source: ODE)

economic concentration - The extent to which a market is taken up by producers within a given industry. (Source: ODE)

economic data - No definition needed.

economic development - The state of nations and the historical processes of change experienced by them, the extent to which the resources of a nation are brought into productive use; the concept of development subsumes associated social, cultural and political changes as well as welfare measures. (Source: GOOD)

economic forecasting - The production of estimates of future financial and commercial trends, based on econometric models or surveys. (Source: ODE)

economic geography - The geography of people making a living, dealing with the spatial patterns of production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. The development of economic geography over the past three decades has witnessed the substitution of analysis for description, leading to an identification of the factors and an understanding of the processes affecting the spatial differentiation of economic activities over the earth's surface. (Source: GOOD)

economic growth - An increase over successive periods in the productivity and wealth of a household, country or region, as measured by one of several possible variables, such as the gross domestic product. (Source: ODE)

economic incentive - Rewards or penalties offered by government or management to induce an economic sector, company or group of workers to act in such a way as to produce results that plan objectives or policy goals. (Source: ODE)

economic instrument - Any tool or method used by an organization to achieve general developmental goals in the production of, or in the regulation of, material resources. (Source: OED)

economic management instrument - A tool or method used by any organization in the management of developmental processes used in the production of, or in the regulation of, material resources. (Source: OED)

economic plan - A design, scheme or project pertaining to the production, distribution and use of income, wealth and commodities. (Source: RHW)

economic planning - An economy in which prices, incomes etc. are determined centrally by government rather than through the operation of the free market, and in which industrial production is governed by an overall national plan.

economic policy - A definite course of action adopted and pursued by a government, political party or enterprise pertaining to the production, distribution and use of income, wealth and commodities. (Source: RHW)

economic region - A district or an administrative division of a city or territory that is designed according to some material, distributive or productive criteria. (Source: RHW)

economic rights - The just claims and legal guarantees to access, participate in and profit from the production, distribution and use of property, intellectual property, income and wealth. (Source: RHW)

economic sector - A part of a country's or region's commercial, industrial and financial activity, delimited either by public, corporate and private organization of expenditures or by agriculture, manufacturing and service product types. (Source: ODE)

economic situation - The complex of elements which, in a given period, characterize the condition or state of a country or region's ability to produce goods, services and other resources with exchange value. (Source: trZ / RHW)

economic structure - The underlying framework, including transportation and communications systems, industrial facilities, education and technology, that enables a country or region to produce goods, services and other resources with exchange value. (Source: MGHME / RHW)

economic support - Any form of financial assistance or inducement for persons or institutions. (Source: ISEP)

economic system - Organized sets of procedures used within or between communities to govern the production and distribution of goods and services. (Source: TEA)

economic theory - The study of relationships in the economy. Its purpose is to analyze and explain the behaviour of the various economic elements. The body of economic theory can be divided into two broad categories, positive theory and welfare theory. Positive theory is an attempt to analyze the operation of the economy without considering the desirability of its results in terms of ultimate goals. Welfare theory is concerned primarily with an evaluation of the economic system in terms of ethical goals which are not themselves derived from economic analysis. (Source: GREENW)

economic trend - Changes of variables and parameters of an economic system, analysed in statistical calculations.

economic viability - Capability of developing and surviving as a relatively independent social, economic or political unit. (Source: WEBSTEa)

economic zoning - A land-use planning design or control where specific types of businesses or private sector investment are encouraged within designated boundaries. (Source: ALL / EEN)

economical-ecological efficiency - The competency in performance in business matters involving the relation between financial and environmental principles. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

economics - The social study of the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. (Source: GREENW)

economy - The system of activities and administration through which a society uses its resources to produce wealth. (Source: GOOD)

ecophysiology - The study of biophysical, biochemical and physiological processes used by animals to cope with factors of their physical environment, or employed during ecological interactions with other organisms. (Source: PARCOR)

ecosystem - A community of organisms and their physical environment interacting as an ecological unit. (Source: LBC)

ecosystem analysis - Detailed study of an ecosystem carried out to ascertain its features from the point of view of its soil composition, energy flux, biogeochemical cycles, biomass, organisms and their relationship with the environment. (Source: RRDA)

ecosystem degradation - Degradation or destruction of large natural environments. When one ecosystem is under attack as a result of natural or man-made disaster it is extremely difficult to calculate the ripple effects throughout nature. When two or more ecosystems are being degraded the probabilities of synergistic destructiveness multiply. Ecosystems in many regions are threatened, despite their biological richness and their promise of material benefits. (Source: WPR)

ecosystem research - Study of the ways in which plants, animals, and microbes interact with each other and with their physical environment and of the processes involving the circulation, transformation and accumulation of both matter, especially nutrient materials, and energy. (Source: CULTER / PARCORa)

ecosystem type - Ecosystems can be classified according to various criteria: from the point of view of energy source, two major types of ecosystems can be distinguished. Autotrophic ecosystems have primary producers as a principal component and sunlight has the major initial energy source; etherotrophic ecosystems depend upon preformed organic matter that is imported from autotrophic ecosystems elsewhere. Ecosystems can also be classified in terrestrial, marine and freshwater. (Source: PARCOR)

ecotourism - Excursions to relatively untouched lands, which for the tourist promise the chance to observe unusual wildlife and indigenous inhabitants. The travel industry, in an attempt to market adventure and authenticity to those travellers weary of "civilisation" promote travel to environments free of modern technology. Ecotourism's inherent contradiction is the promotion of untouched lands, which immediately become touched by the hands of tourism. (Source: WPR)

ecotoxicity - Quality of some substances or preparations which present or may present immediate or delayed risks for one or more sectors of the environment. (Source: GRAHAW)

ecotoxicological evaluation - Evaluation of the adverse effects of chemicals, physical agents, and natural products on population and communities and plants, animals and human beings. (Source: GILP96)

ecotoxicology - The science dealing with the adverse effects of chemical, physical agents, and natural products on populations and communities of plants, animals and human beings. (Source: GILP96)

ecotype - Species that has special characteristics which allow it to live in a certain habitat. (Source: PHC)

ecozone - A broad geographic area in which there are distinctive climate patterns, ocean conditions, types of landscapes and species of plants and animals. (Source: SCHNET)

edaphology - The study of the relationships between soil and organisms, including the use made of land by mankind. (Source: WHIT)

edible fat - An oil that can be eaten as a food or food accessory. (Source: MGH)

education - The act or process of imparting or acquiring knowledge or skills. (Source: RHW)

education policy - A course of action adopted and pursued by government or some other organization, which promotes or determines the goals, methods and programs to be used for training, instruction or study that leads to the acquisition of skills or knowledge, or the development of reasoning and judgment. (Source: RHW)

educational institution - An organization or establishment devoted to the act or process of imparting or acquiring knowledge or skills. (Source: RHW)

educational path - A guided trail, designed to explain to children a piece of countryside, the type of soil, flora, fauna, etc. Such trails may be self-guiding, using either explanatory notices set up at intervals or numbered boards referring to a printed leaflet: in other cases parties may be led by a demonstrator or warden. (Source: GOOD)

educational planning - The process of making arrangements or preparations to facilitate the training, instruction or study that leads to the acquisition of skills or knowledge, or the development of reasoning and judgment. (Source: RHW)

educational system - Any formulated, regular or special organization of instruction, training or knowledge disclosure, especially the institutional structures supporting that endeavor. (Source: ISEP / OED)

effect - Effects include: a) direct effects, which are caused by the action and occur at the same time and place, b) indirect effects, which are caused by the action and are later in time or farther removed in distance, that are still reasonably foreseeable. (Source: LANDY)

effect on health

effect on man - No definition needed.

effect on the environment - Resultant of natural or manmade perturbations of the physical, chemical or biological components making up the environment. (Source: LANDY)

efficiency criterion - Parameter or rule for assessing the competency in performance of production relative to the input of resources. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

efficiency level - The ratio of output to input, usually given as a percentage. (Source: ECHO2)

effluent - The waste liquid from domestic sewage, industrial sites or from agricultural processes. Effluents are harmful when they enter the environment, especially in freshwater, because of their polluting chemical composition. (Source: WRIGHT)

egg - A large, female sex cell enclosed in a porous, calcareous or leathery shell, produced by birds and reptiles. (Source: MGH)

elasticity - Ability of a material to return to original dimensions after deformation. (Source: LEE)

elderly person - Someone who has reached the later stage of life or who has attained a specified age within that stage. (Source: RHW)

electric battery - A direct-current voltage source made up of one or more units that convert chemical, thermal, nuclear, or solar energy into electrical energy. (Source: MGH)

electric line - Wires conducting electric power from one location to another; also known as electric power line. (Source: MGH)

electric power - The rate at which electric energy is converted to other forms of energy, equal to the product of the current and the voltage drop. (Source: MGH)

electric power plant - A stationary plant containing apparatus for large-scale conversion of some form of energy (such as hydraulic, steam, chemical, or nuclear energy) into electrical energy. (Source: MGH)

electric power supply

electric vehicle - Vehicle driven by an electric motor and characterized by being silent and less polluting. (Source: RRDA)

electrical engineering - Engineering that deals with practical applications of electricity; generally restricted to applications involving current flow through conductors, as in motors and generators. (Source: MGH)

electrical goods industry - Economic activity for manufacturing electric material and devices. (Source: RRDA)

electrical industry - Industry for the production of electric energy. (Source: CED)

electrical storage device - No definition needed.

electricity - A general term used for all phenomena caused by electric charge whether static or in motion. (Source: UVAROV)

electricity company - Company which is responsible for the supply and distribution of electric energy to a given area. (Source: RRDA)

electricity consumption - Amount of electricity consumed by an apparatus. (Source: PHC)

electricity generation - The act or process of transforming other forms of energy into electric energy. (Source: LEE)

electricity generation cost - The value or amount of money exchanged for the production and sustained supply of charged ion current used as a power source. (Source: EFP / OED)

electricity supply industry - Industry for the supply and distribution of electric power. (Source: RRDA)

electrokinetics - The study of the motion of electric charges, especially of steady currents in electric circuits, and of the motion of electrified particles in electric or magnetic fields. (Source: MGH)

electrolysis - The production of a chemical reaction by passing an electric current through an electrolyte. In electrolysis, positive ions migrate to the cathode and negative ions to the anode. (Source: DICCHE)

electronic information network - A system of interrelated computer and telecommunications devices linked to permit the exchange of data in digital or analog signals. (Source: WIC)

electronic mail - Information or computer stored messages that are transmitted or exchanged from one computer terminal to another, through telecommunication. (Source: CED / WIC)

electronic material - No definition needed.

electronic scrap - Any material from electronic devices and systems, generated as a waste stream in a processing operation or discarded after service. (Source: APD / RHW)

electronic scrap regulation - Government or management prescribed rule for the disposal and recycling of electric parts, circuits and systems, especially computer devices. (Source: BLD / RHW)

electronics - Study, control, and application of the conduction of electricity through gases or vacuum or through semiconducting or conducting materials. (Source: MGH)

electrosmog - Pollution caused by electric and magnetic fields generated by power lines, electrical equipment, mobile and cordless phones, radar, electrical household appliances, microwave ovens, radios, computers, electric clocks, etc. (Source: NPLa)

electrotechnical equipment - All the equipment connected with the technological use of electric power. (Source: CEDa)

electrotechnical industry - A sector of the economy in which an aggregate of commercial enterprises is engaged in the design, manufacture and marketing of machinery, apparatus and supplies for the generation, storage and utilization of electrical energy, such as household appliances, radio and television receiving equipment, and lighting and wiring equipment. (Source: SIC)

element of group 0 - A group of monatomic gaseous elements forming group 18 (formerly group 0) of the periodic table: helium (He), neon (Ne), argon (Ar), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe), and radon (Rn). (Source: DICCHE)

element of group I (alkaline) - Any of the monovalent metals lithium, sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, and francium, belonging to group 1A of the periodic table. They are all very reactive and electropositive. (Source: CED)

element of group II (alkaline earth metals) - Any of the divalent electropositive metals beryllium, magnesium, calcium, strontium, barium, and radium, belonging to group 2A of the periodic table. (Source: CED)

element of group III - Group III consists of two subgroups: group IIIb and group IIIa. Group IIIa consists of scandium, yttrium, and lanthanium, which is generally considered with the lanthanoids, and actinium, which is classified with the actinoids. Group IIIb, the main group, comprises boron, aluminium, gallium, indium, and thallium. (Source: CHSK)

element of group IV - Group IV consists of two subgroups: group IVb, main group, and group IVa. Group IVa consists of titanium, zirconium, and hafnium which are generally classified as transition metals. The main group consists of carbonium, silicium, germanium, tin, and lead. The main valency of the elements is IV, and the members of the group show a variation from nonmetallic to metallic behaviour in moving down the group. The reactivity of the elements increases down the group from carbon to lead. All react with oxygen on heating. (Source: CHSK)

element of group V - Group V consists of two subgroups: group Vb, the main group, and group Va. Group Va consists of vanadium, niobium, and tantalum, which are generally considered with the transition elements. The main group consists of nitrogen, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, and bismuth.

element of group VI - Group VI consists of two subgroups: group VIb, the main group, and group VIa. Group VIa consists of chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten. The main group consists of oxygen, sulphur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium. (Source: CHSK)

element of group VII - Any of the elements of the halogen family, consisting of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, and astatine. (Source: MGH)

emancipation - The state of being free from social or political restraint or from the inhibition of moral or social conventions.

embryo - An early stage of development in multicellular organisms. (Source: MGH)

embryogenesis - The formation and development of an embryo from an egg. (Source: MGH)

emergency law

emergency lodging - Housing or dwelling space provided for victims of a sudden, urgent and usually unexpected occurrence, especially when harm has been done to human life, property or the environment. (Source: RHW)

emergency plan - Program of procedures to be undertaken in the event of a sudden, urgent and usually unexpected occurrence requiring immediate action, especially an incident of potential harm to human life, property or the environment. (Source: RHW)

emergency relief - Money, food or other assistance provided for those surviving a sudden and usually unexpected occurrence requiring immediate action, especially an incident of potential harm to human life, property or the environment. (Source: RHW)

emergency relief measure

emergency shelter - Shelter given to persons who are deprived of the essential needs of life following a disaster. (Source: GUNNa)

emission - A discharge of particulate gaseous, or soluble waste material/pollution into the air from a polluting source. (Source: UNUN)

emission control - Procedures aiming at reducing or preventing the harm caused by atmospheric emissions. (Source: RRDA)

emission data - Data concerning pollutants released into the environment from a permanent or mobile installation or from products. (Source: AZENP)

emission factor - The relationship between the amount of pollutants produced to the amount of raw materials processed, or fuel consumed, in any polluting process. (Source: TOE)

emission forecast - The final step in a clean air plan is to predict future air quality to demonstrate that we can (if we can) meet the health standards by implementing the measures proposed in the plan. This is done by first projecting the emission inventory into the future, taking into account changes in population, housing, employment in specific business sectors, and vehicle miles traveled. These data are obtained from various sources and the resulting emissions are adjusted to account for regulations and control measures scheduled for implementation during the same time period. Additional adjustments are made to reflect large facilities that are expected to start up, modify, or shut down. The resulting inventory is an emission forecast, and is usually expressed in tons per day of particular pollutants for a given year. Additional steps may be required to determine how the forecasted quantities of air pollution will affect the overall air quality. One way to accomplish this is through computer modeling. A computer model simulates how pollutants disperse, react, and move in the air. The inputs to such a computer model are complex. They include weather patterns, terrain, and the chemical nature of air pollutants. (Source: APCD)

emission reduction - The act or process of limiting or restricting the discharge of pollutants or contaminants, such as by setting emission limits or by modifying the emission source. (Source: EEN)

emission reduction banking - A system for recording qualified air emission reductions for later use in bubble, offset, or netting transactions. Plant complexes that reduce emissions substantially may "bank" their "credits" or sell them to other industries. (Source: EPAGLO)

emission register - A listing, by source, of the amounts of air pollutants discharged in the atmosphere of a community daily. (Source: LANDY)

emission situation

emission source - A chemical process, building, furnace, plant or other entity responsible for the discharge of pollutants or contaminants into the environment. (Source: DES / DEP)

emission standard - The maximum amount of discharge legally allowed from a single source, mobile or stationary. (Source: LANDY)

emission to water - The discharge of solid, liquid or gaseous pollutants or contaminants into a body of water. (Source: WWC)

employment - The work or occupation in which a person is employed. (Source: CED)

employment and environment - Issues or initiatives pertaining to the inter-relationship between ecological concerns and the economics of employment, including sustained, environmentally safe development; the effect of environmental activism on jobs; and the creation of environmental occupations. (Source: WAE)

employment level effect - The result or impact of a specific policy, action or event upon the number of working-age persons holding jobs in a specific region, nation or sector of the economy. (Source: ODE / RHW)

employment structure - The organization and proportions of the various job types and skill levels in an enterprise or economy. (Source: LAB)

emulsification - The process of dispersing one liquid in a second immiscible liquid. (Source: MGH)

emulsion - A stable dispersion of one liquid in a second immiscible liquid, such as milk (oil dispersed in water). (Source: MGH)

encapsulation - The enclosure of any polluting product with a material that prevents its release in the environment. (Source: RRDA)

encyclopaedia - A comprehensive, often multivolume, reference work containing articles on a wide rage of subjects or on various aspects of a particular field, usually, alphabetically arranged. (Source: AMHER)

end-of-pipe technology - An approach to pollution control which concentrates upon effluent treatment or filtration prior to discharge into the environment, as opposed to making changes in the process giving rise to the wastes. (Source: GRAHAW)

endangered animal species - Animals, birds, fish or other living organisms threatened with extinction by natural or human-induced changes in their environment. (Source: TOE)

endangered plant species - The plants threatened with extinction by human or natural changes in the environment. (Source: KOREN)

endangered species (IUCN) - One of the three degrees of "rarity" drawn up by the International Union for the Conservation of Natural Resources. All plants and animals in these categories need special protection. Endangered species are those species in danger of extinction unless steps are taken to change the cause of threat and decline. (Source: BRACK)

endemic species - Species native to, and restricted to, a particular geographical region. (Source: LBC)

endocrine system - The chemical coordinating system in animals, that is, the endocrine glands that produce hormones. (Source: MGH)

endocrinology - The study of the endocrine glands and the hormones that they synthesize and secrete. (Source: MGH)

energy - The capacity to do work; involving thermal energy (heat), radiant energy (light), kinetic energy (motion) or chemical energy; measured in joules. (Source: LBC)

energy balance - The energetic state of a system at any given time. (Source: WRIGHT)

energy conservation - The strategy for reducing energy requirements per unit of industrial output or individual well-being without affecting the progress of socio-economic development or causing disruption in life style. In temperate developed countries most energy is used in heating and lighting industrial and domestic buildings. Industrial processes, transport and agriculture are the other main users. During the 1970s it was demonstrated that substantial savings could be achieved through appropriate building technologies and the use of energy-efficient equipment for heating, air-conditioning and lighting. Most goods could and should be both manufactured and made to work more efficiently. (Source: WRIGHT)

energy consumption - Amount of energy consumed by a person or an apparatus shown as a unit. (Source: PHC)

energy conversion - The process of changing energy from one form to another. (Source: MGH)

energy demand

energy dissipation - Any loss of energy, generally by conversion into heat. (Source: MGH)

energy distribution system - Any publicly or privately organized setup in which usable power such as electricity is delivered to homes and businesses. (Source: RHW)

energy economics - The production, distribution, and consumption of usable power such as fossil fuel, electricity, or solar radiation. (Source: RHW)

energy efficiency - Refers to actions to save fuels by better building design, the modification of production processes, better selection of road vehicles and transport policies, the adoption of district heating schemes in conjunction with electrical power generation, and the use of domestic insulation and double glazing in homes. (Source: WRIGHT)

energy industry - Industry which converts various types of fuels as well as solar, water, tidal, and geothermal energy into other energy forms for a variety of household, commercial, transportation, and industrial application. (Source: PZ)

energy legislation

energy management - The administration or handling of power derived from sources such as fossil fuel, electricity and solar radiation. (Source: RHW / FFD)

energy market - The trade or traffic of energy sources treated as a commodity (such as fossil fuel, electricity, or solar radiation). (Source: RHW)

energy policy - A statement of a country's intentions in the energy sector. (Source: BRACK)

energy process - Any natural phenomenon or series of actions by which energy is converted or made more usable. (Source: MES)

energy production - Generation of energy in a coal fired power station, in an oil fired power station, in a nuclear power station, etc. (Source: RRDA)

energy recovery - A form of resource recovery in which the organic fraction of waste is converted to some form of usable energy. Recovery may be achieved through the combustion of processed or raw refuse to produce steam through the pyrolysis of refuse to produce oil or gas; and through the anaerobic digestion of organic wastes to produce methane gas. (Source: LANDY)

energy resource - Potential supplies of energy which have not yet been used (such as coal lying in the ground, solar heat, wind power, geothermal power, etc.). (Source: PHC)

energy saving - Avoiding wasting energy. (Source: PHC)

energy source - Potential supplies of energy including fossil and nuclear fuels as well as solar, water, wind, tidal and geothermal power. (Source: PHC)

energy source material - Sources from which energy can be obtained to provide heat, light, and power. Energy resources, including fossil and nuclear fuels as well as solar, water, tidal and geothermal energy, may be captured or recovered and converted into other energy forms for a variety of household, commercial, transportation, and industrial applications. (Source: PARCOR)

energy storage - Amount of energy reserves; often refers to the stocks of non-renewable fuel, such as oil, which a nation, for example, possesses. (Source: PHC)

energy supply - The provision and storage of energy (the capacity to do work or produce a change), or the amount of energy stored, for the use of a municipality, or other energy user. (Source: ISEP / FFD)

energy technology

energy type - According to the source, energy can be classified as hydroenergy, solar energy, tidal energy, wind energy, waves energy, geothermal energy, etc.. According to the type of fuel used for its production, energy can be classified as nuclear energy, coal derived energy, petroleum derived energy, biomass derived energy, etc. (Source: RRDA)

energy utilisation - No definition needed.

energy utilisation pattern

enforcement - The execution, carrying out or putting into effect an order, regulation, law or official decree. (Source: BLD)

engine - A machine in which power is applied to do work by the conversion of various forms of energy into mechanical force and motion. (Source: MGH)

engineering - The science by which the properties of matter and the sources of power in nature are made useful to humans in structures, machines, and products. (Source: MGH)

engineering work - No definition needed.

enlargement policy

enlargement programme

enriched uranium - Uranium whose concentration of uranium-235, which is able to sustain a nuclear chain reaction, is increased by removing uranium-238. (Source: ALL)

enrichment - The process of increasing the abundance of a specified isotope in a mixture of isotopes. It is usually applied to an increase in the proportion of U-235, or the addition of Pu-239 to natural uranium for use in a nuclear reactor or weapon. (Source: DICCHE)

enterovirus - Any of a subgroup of the picornaviruses infecting the gastrointestinal tract and discharged in feces, including coxsackieviruses, echoviruses, and polioviruses; may be involved in respiratory disease, meningitis, and neurological disease. (Source: KOREN)

environment - A concept which includes all aspects of the surroundings of humanity, affecting individuals and social groupings. The European Union has defined the environment as "the combination of elements whose complex interrelationships make up the settings, the surroundings and the conditions of life of the individual and of society, as they are or as they are felt". The environment thus includes the built environment, the natural environment and all natural resources, including air, land and water. It also includes the surroundings of the workplace. (Source: GILP96)

environment friendly - Human activities, enterprises or products that reinforce rather than undermine the integrity of the ecosystem. (Source: FLG)

environment market

environmental accident - An unexpected occurrence, failure or loss, with the potential for harming the ecosystem or natural resources. (Source: TOE / HMD)

environmental accounting

environmental administration institution - A central government organization that has authority or oversight over government activity relating to the preservation and safeguarding of ecological or natural resources. (Source: BLD / TOE)

environmental analysis - No definition needed.

environmental anxiety

environmental aspect of human settlements - Human settlements have an adverse impact on many ecosystems and on themselves by the addition of toxic or harmful substances to the outer lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere. The major types of environmental pollutants are sewage, trace metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, synthetic organic compounds, and gaseous emissions. Most, if not all, of the additions of potentially harmful substances to the environment are result of the population growth and the technological advances of industrial societies. (Source: PARCORa)

environmental assessment - The evaluation or appraisal of ecological or natural resources. (Source: RHW)

environmental assessment criterion - Principle or standard for the evaluation or appraisal of ecological or natural resources. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

environmental auditing - An assessment of the nature and extent of any harm or detriment, or any possible harm or detriment, that may be inflicted on any aspect of the environment by any activity process, development programme, or any product, chemical, or waste substance. Audits may be designed to: verify or otherwise comply with environmental requirements; evaluate the effectiveness of existing environmental management systems; assess risks generally; or assist in planning for future improvements in environment protection and pollution control (Source: GILP96)

environmental awareness - The growth and development of awareness, understanding and consciousness toward the biophysical environment and its problems, including human interactions and effects. Thinking "ecologically" or in terms of an ecological consciousness. (Source: UNUN)

environmental balance - Final part of the environmental impact study and assessment which compares environmental costs and benefits on the basis of homogeneous criteria. (Source: AMBPIAa)

environmental change - Changes that may take place in ecosystems, climate, soil, habitats, etc. due to pressures of various origin. (Source: RRDA)

environmental chemicals legislation

environmental chemistry - Science dealing with the physical, chemical and biochemical processes that polluting substances undergo when introduced in the environment. (Source: DIZAMB)

environmental citizenship - The state, character or behavior of a person viewed as a member of the ecosystem with attendant rights and responsibilities, especially the responsibility to maintain ecological integrity and the right to exist in a healthy environment. (Source: TOE / RHW)

environmental compatibility - Condition of products or projects of having a reduced impact or burden on the natural environment. (Source: RRDA)

environmental consequence - Resultant of natural or man-made perturbations of the physical, chemical or biological components making up the environment. (Source: LANDY)

environmental conservation - Efforts and activities to maintain and sustain those attributes in natural and urban environments which are essential both to human physical and mental health and to enjoyment of life. (Source: UNUN)

environmental contingency planning - The production of an organized, programmatic and coordinated course of action to be followed in the case of some accident, disaster or occurrence threatening an ecosystem and the human health or natural resources within it. (Source: TOE)

environmental control - Protection of the environment through policies concerning the control of wastes, the improvement of the human-made environment, the protection of heritage values, the institution of national parks and reserves, the protection of fauna and flora, the conservation of forests and landscapes, etc. (Source: GILP96a)

environmental cost - Expenses incurred as a result of some violation of ecological integrity either by an enterprise that implements a program to rectify the situation, or by society or the ecosystem as a whole when no person or enterprise is held liable. (Source: IEC / ECH)

environmental crime - Unlawful acts against the environment, such as water contamination, hazardous waste disposal, air contamination, unpermitted installation of plants, oil spills, etc. (Source: AZENPa)

environmental criminal law - The aggregate of statutory enactments pertaining to actions or instances of ecological negligence deemed injurious to public welfare or government interests and legally prohibited. (Source: RHW)

environmental criminality - Unlawful acts against the environment, such as water contamination, hazardous waste disposal, air contamination, unpermitted installation of plants, oil spills, etc. (Source: AZENPa)

environmental criterion - Standards of physical, chemical or biological (but sometimes including social, aesthetic, etc.) components that define a given quality of an environment. (Source: LANDY)

environmental culture - The total of learned behavior, attitudes, practices and knowledge that a society has with respect to maintaining or protecting its natural resources, the ecosystem and all other external conditions affecting human life. (Source: ANT / TOE)

environmental damage - Harm done to the environment, e.g. loss of wetlands, pollution of rivers, etc. (Source: PHC)

environmental data - Information concerning the state or condition of the environment. (Source: RRDA)

environmental development - The growth, progress or advancement in matters of ecological concern. (Source: ISEP)

environmental economic valuation - The assessment, evaluation, or appraisal of business performance in matters involving ecology and finances. (Source: OED)

environmental economics - A recognized field of specialization in the discipline of Economics that embraces the issues of pollution control and environment protection, in which costs and benefits are difficult or impossible to estimate, much of the subject matter falling outside the competitive market system. Yet, it is an area in which immense common property resources need to be allocated sensibly to the overall public good. The subject is also very much concerned with ways and means to achieve this sensible allocation such as emission and effluent charges, user charges for the treatment or disposal of waste, environmental taxes, product charges, deposit refunds, tradeable pollution rights, performance bonds, natural resource accounting, and the economic implications of sustainable development. (Source: GILP96)

environmental economics of firms - The use of financial resources for the purpose of incorporating ecological principles in the operations of businesses and companies. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

environmental economy issue - A matter of public importance involving both a community's or a country's management of financial resources and its protection of natural resources. (Source: RHW / OED)

environmental education - The educational process that deals with the human interrelationships with the environment and that utilizes an interdisciplinary problem-solving approach with value clarification. Concerned with education progress of knowledge, understanding, attitudes, skills, and commitment for environmental problems and considerations. The need for environmental education is continuous, because each new generation needs to learn conservation for itself. (Source: UNUN)

environmental engineering - Branch of engineering concerned with the environment and its proper management. The major environmental engineering disciplines regard water supply, wastewater, stormwater, solid waste, hazardous waste, noise radiology, industrial hygiene, oceanography and the like. (Source: PORT)

environmental enterprise - Organisations that are specialized in providing advice on environmental matters, for example investigation and remediation of potentially polluted land, water and air, and in the evaluation of environmental impacts; they employ professionals with the qualifications of engineering, geology, chemistry, hydrogeology, landscaping, environmental economics, etc. (Source: GRAHAWa)

environmental ethics - An ecological conscience or moral that reflects a commitment and responsibility toward the environment, including plants and animals as well as present and future generations of people. Oriented toward human societies living in harmony with the natural world on which they depend for survival and well being. (Source: UNUN)

environmental friendly procurement - The process of obtaining products and services which are favorably disposed toward the environment. (Source: RHW)

environmental fund - Financial resources set aside for measures involving ecological maintenance or the protection, defense, or shelter of natural resources. (Source: ISEP / OED)

environmental hazard - A physical or chemical agent capable of causing harm to the ecosystem or natural resources. (Source: FFD)

environmental health - The art and science of the protection of good health, the prevention of disease and injury through the control of positive environmental factors, and the reduction of potential physical, biological, chemical and radiological hazards. (Source: KOREN)

environmental health hazard - Any physical, chemical or other agent capable of causing harm to the interrelationship between humans and the surrounding external conditions, threatening both human well-being and ecological integrity. (Source: TOE)

environmental health impact assessment - Assessment of impacts caused by an action on the health conditions of a population. (Source: RRDA)

environmental health protection - Measures or devices designed to reduce the risk of harm to human health posed by pollutants or other threatening conditions in the ecosystem. (Source: TOE)

environmental history - A systematic and chronological account of past events and conditions relating to the ecosystem, its natural resources or, more generally, the external factors surrounding and affecting human life. (Source: TOE)

environmental impact - Any alteration of environmental conditions or creation of a new set of environmental conditions, adverse or beneficial, caused or induced by the action or set of actions under consideration. (Source: LANDY)

environmental impact assessment - Analysis and judgement of the effects upon the environment, both temporary and permanent, of a significant development or project. It must also consider the social consequences and alternative actions. (Source: BRACK)

environmental impact of agriculture - Agricultural activities have significant impacts on water quality, including increases in stream sedimentation from erosion, and increases in nutrients, pesticides, and salt concentrations in runoff. In certain regions, the misuse of pesticides has led to the development of pesticide-resistant strains of pests, destroyed natural predators, killed local wildlife, and contaminated human water supplies. Improper application of fertilizers has changed the types of vegetation and fish types inhabiting nearby waterways and rivers. (Source: RAU / WPR)

environmental impact of aquaculture - Fish farming pollutes the water with nutrients, methane and hydrogen sulphide which threaten both farmed fish and other marine life. Dangerous pesticides have been used to treat infestations of sea lice. (Source: WPR)

environmental impact of energy - Energy and environmental problems are closely related, since it is nearly impossible to produce, transport, or consume energy without significant environmental impact. The environmental problems directly related to energy production and consumption include air pollution, water pollution, thermal pollution, and solid waste disposal. The emission of air pollutants from fossil fuel combustion is the major cause of urban air pollution. Diverse water pollution problems are associated with energy usage. One major problem is oil spills. In all petroleum-handling operations, there is a finite probability of spilling oil either on the earth or in a body of water. Coal mining can also pollute water. Changes in groundwater flow produced by mining operations often bring otherwise unpolluted waters into contact with certain mineral materials which are leached from the soil and produce an acid mine drainage. Solid waste is also a by-product of some forms of energy usage. Coal mining requires the removal of large quantities of earth as well as coal. In general, environmental problems increase with energy use and this combined with the limited energy resource base is the crux of the energy crisis. An energy impact assessment should compare these costs with the benefits to be derived from energy use. (Source: RAU)

environmental impact of fishing - Fishing may have various negative effects on the environment: effluent and waste from fish farms may damage wild fish, seals, and shellfish. Fish farmers use tiny quantities of highly toxic chemicals to kill lice: one overdose could be devastating. So-called by-catches, or the incidental taking of non-commercial species in drift nets, trawling operations and long line fishing is responsible for the death of large marine animals and one factor in the threatened extinction of some species. Some fishing techniques, like the drift nets, yield not only tons of fish but kill millions of birds, whales and seals and catch millions of fish not intended. Small net holes often capture juvenile fish who never have a chance to reproduce. Some forms of equipment destroy natural habitats, for example bottom trawling may destroy natural reefs. Other destructive techniques are illegal dynamite and cyanide fishing. (Source: WPR)

environmental impact of forestry - The world's forestry resources are shrinking at an alarming rate. The need for foreign exchange encourages many developing countries to cut timber faster than forests can be regenerated. This overcutting not only depletes the resource that underpins the world timber trade, it causes loss of forest-based livelihoods, increases soil erosion and downstream flooding, and accelerates the loss of species and genetic resources. (Source: WPR)

environmental impact of households - Household impacts on the environment include domestic heating emissions (hot air, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water vapour and oxide of nitrogen, sulphur and other trace gases); domestic sewage consisting of human bodily discharges, water from kitchens, bathrooms and laundries; the dumping of bulky wastes such as old washing machines, refrigerators, cars and other objects that will not fit into the standard dustbin and which are often dumped about the countryside, etc. (Source: WPR / GILP96)

environmental impact of industry - The effects on the environment connected with industrial activities are mainly related to the production of industrial wastes that can be divided into various types: solid waste, such as dust particles or slag from coal; liquid wastes from various processes, including radioactive coolants from power stations; and gas wastes, largely produced by the chemical industry. (Source: RRDA)

environmental impact of recreation - Recreation and tourism are often accompanied by extensive damage to the environment. Aquatic ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to the effects of an increased tourist trade and the resultant building of hotel accommodations, sewage disposal works, roads, car parks and landing jetties on banks and coastlines; and the increased angling, swimming, water skiing, shooting or use of motor-boats in the water body. These all produce direct deleterious effects when conducted on a massive scale, including shore damage, chemical changes in the water, and sediments and biological changes in the plant and animal communities. (Source: WPR)

environmental impact of tourism - Extensive damage to the environment caused by recreation and tourism, including despoiling of coastlines by construction of tourist facilities; pollution of the sea; loss of historic buildings to make way for tourist facilities; loss of agricultural land for airport development, etc. (Source: WPR)

environmental impact of transport - Impact of transportation-related activities on the environment, in particular, those impacts dealing with air pollution, noise, displacement of people and businesses, disruption of wildlife habitats, and overall growth-inducing effects. (Source: RAU)

environmental impact statement - A detailed statement which, to the fullest extent possible, identifies and analyses, among other things, the anticipated environmental impact of a proposed action and discusses how the adverse effects will be mitigated. (Source: LANDY)

environmental impact study - Survey conducted to ascertain the conditions of a site prior to the realization of a project, to analyze its possible impacts and compensative measures. (Source: RRDA)

environmental incentive

environmental index - An index of available environmental articles from 1972 to present; also known as Environmental Abstract Annual. (Source: KOREN)

environmental indicator - A measurement, statistic or value that provides a proximate gauge or evidence of the effects of environmental management programs or of the state or condition of the environment. (Source: EPAGLO)

environmental industry - Industries involved in the development of cleaner technologies, waste and wastewater treatment, recycling processes, biotechnology processes, catalysts, membranes, desulphurisation plants, noise reduction, and the manufacture of other products having an environment protection purpose. (Source: DOBRIS)

environmental informatics - Science and techniques of data elaboration and of computer processing of information concerning ecosystems and ecology. (Source: ISEP / TOE)

environmental information - Knowledge communicated or received concerning any aspect of the ecosystem, the natural resources within it or, more generally, the external factors surrounding and affecting human life. (Source: TOE)

environmental information network - A system of interrelated persons and devices linked to permit the exchange of data or knowledge concerning natural resources, human health and other ecological matters. (Source: ISEP / TOE)

environmental information system - A coordinated assemblage of people, devices or other resources designed to exchange data or knowledge concerning any aspect of the ecosystem, the natural resources within or, more generally, the external factors surrounding and affecting human life. (Source: TOE / RHW)

environmental investment - Securities held for the production of income in the form of interest and dividends with the aim of benefitting the environment. (Source: ISEP / EFP)

environmental law - A wide spectrum of options from binding "hard" laws, such as international treaties and national legislation, to "soft" laws, covering guiding principles, recommended practices and procedures, and standards. Environmental law also attempts to reconcile international considerations with concerns that focus on very specific problems such as soil degradation, marine pollution or the depletion of non-renewable resources. (Source: WRIGHT)

environmental law enforcement - Any variety of activities associated with promoting compliance and obedience to those binding rules of a state that have been promulgated to safeguard ecological integrity, preserve natural resources and protect human health. (Source: BLD / TOE)

environmental legislation - Branch of law relating to pollution control; national parks, wildlife, fauna and flora, wilderness and biodiversity; environmental and occupational health; environmental planning; heritage conservation and a large number of international conventions relating to the environment. (Source: GILP96)

environmental legislation on agriculture - A binding rule or body of rules prescribed by a government to regulate any aspect of farm and livestock production that poses a threat to ecological integrity and human health, especially the use of pesticides, fertilizers and land. (Source: TOE / BLD)

environmental legislative process - The systematic course of proceedings in which a bill that would preserve or protect ecological resources may be enacted as a law. (Source: ODE)

environmental liability - The penalty to be paid by an organization for the damage caused by pollution and restoration necessary as a result of that damage, whether by accidental spillages from tankers, industrial waste discharges into waterways or land, or deliberate or accidental release of radioactive materials. (Source: WRIGHT)

environmental licence - A governmental license or grant that allows and regulates an enterprise's discharge of air pollutants, typically from a commercial or industrial plant. (Source: BLD / TOE)

environmental management - Measures and controls which are directed at environmental conservation, the rational and sustainable allocation and utilization of natural resources, the optimization of interrelations between society and the environment, and the improvement of human welfare for present and future generations. (Source: UNUN)

environmental medicine - The art and science of the protection of good health, the promotion of aesthetic values, the prevention of disease and injury through the control of positive environmental factors, and the reduction of potential physical, biological, chemical, and radiological hazards. (Source: KOREN)

environmental misconduct

environmental monitoring - Periodic and/or continued measuring, evaluating, and determining environmental parameters and/or pollution levels in order to prevent negative and damaging effects to the environment. Also include the forecasting of possible changes in ecosystem and/or the biosphere as a whole. (Source: UNUN)

environmental noise - The sound and the characteristics of sounds from all sources in the surrounding environment. (Source: CONFER)

environmental occupation - Gainful employment or job-related activity pertaining to ecological concerns, including the preservation of natural resources and the integrity of the ecosystem. (Source: TOE)

environmental perception - An intuitive recognition or understanding of the ecosystem and its natural resources, often based on human experiences or cultural attitudes or beliefs. (Source: RHW / HMO)

environmental performance

environmental plan - A formulated or systematic method for the protection of natural or ecological resources. (Source: OED)

environmental planning - The identification of desirable objectives for the physical environment, including social and economic objectives, and the creation of administrative procedures and programmes to meet those objectives. (Source: GILP96)

environmental policy - Official statements of principles, intentions, values, and objective which are based on legislation and the governing authority of a state and which serve as a guide for the operations of governmental and private activities in environmental affairs. (Source: UNUN)

environmental policy instrument - Technological, economical and legislative measures employed to prevent or control pollution or damage of the environment. (Source: DIZAMB)

environmental pollution - The introduction by man into the environment of substances or energy liable to cause hazards to human health, harm to living resources and ecological systems, damage to structure or amenity, or interference with legitimate uses of the environment. (Source: GRAHAW)

environmental priority

environmental problem solving - The activity of finding solutions for troublesome or perplexing situations involving ecological or natural resources. (Source: OED)

environmental programme - An organized group of activities and procedures, often run by a government agency or a nonprofit organization, to protect natural or ecological resources and advocate for ecological progress. (Source: RHW)

environmental protection - Measures and controls to prevent damage and degradation of the environment, including the sustainability of its living resources. (Source: UNUN)

environmental protection advice - Consultations or recommendations given as a guide of action regarding the preservation of ecological integrity and the defense or shelter of natural resources. (Source: RHW)

environmental protection agency - EPA is the US Government's watchdog agency responsible for controlling the pollution of air and water, pesticides, radiation hazards and noise pollution. The agency is also involved in research to examine the effects of pollution. (Source: WRIGHT)

environmental protection association - Associations whose object resides in the protection of natural environment. (Source: RRDA)

environmental protection cost - The amount of money incurred in the preservation, defense, or shelter of natural resources. (Source: EFP / OED)

environmental protection in the enterprise - Precautionary actions, procedures or installations undertaken by non-governmental, business or industrial entities to prevent or reduce harm to the ecosystem and human health. (Source: TOE / RHW)

environmental protection order

environmental protection organisation - A government agency, committee or group that is responsible for preserving and safeguarding ecological or natural resources. (Source: TOE)

environmental protection regulation - A government or management prescribed rule for the preservation of natural resources and the prevention of damage or degradation of the ecosystem. (Source: BLD / ISEP)

environmental protection technology - Technologies that meet environmental objectives by incorporating pollution prevention concepts in their design. Environmental control strategies introduced in the early design stages of a process, rather than an end-of-pipe control option introduced in the later stages, improve the technical and economic performance of a process. (Source: ENVAR)

environmental psychology - A branch of experimental psychology which studies the relationships between behavior and the environmental context in which it occurs. Environmental psychology's primary focus is the influence of the physical environment and, therefore, much of the research in this area deals with the influences of noise, air pollution, climatic changes, etc. (Source: JMU)

environmental quality - Properties and characteristics of the environment, either generalized or local, as they impinge on human beings and other organisms. Environmental quality is a general term which can refer to: varied characteristics such as air and water purity or pollution, noise, access to open space, and the visual effects of buildings, and the potential effects which such characteristics may have on physical and mental health. (Source: LANDY)

environmental quality criterion - Criteria followed in establishing standards for exposure to pollutants and noise, in respect of pesticides, detergents, composition of effluents, discharge of trade wastes, etc. (Source: GILP96a)

environmental quality objective

environmental quality standard - Normative documents and guidelines for determining the degree of environmental conditions and requirements to avoid negative and damaging effects, influences, and consequences. (Source: UNUN)

environmental report - An account or statement, usually in writing, describing in detail events, situations or conditions pertaining to the ecosystem, its natural resources or any of the external factors surrounding and affecting human life. (Source: TOE)

environmental research - The study of the environment and its modifications caused by human activities. (Source: DIFID)

environmental risk - Likelihood, or probability, of injury, disease, or death resulting from exposure to a potential environmental hazard. (Source: RRDA)

environmental risk assessment - Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the risk posed to the environment by the actual or potential presence and/or use of specific pollutants. (Source: OPPTIN)

environmental sanitation

environmental science - The interdisciplinary study of environmental problems, within the framework of established physical and biological principles, i.e. oriented toward a scientific approach. (Source: UNUN)

environmental security - Measures taken or policies instituted to protect and promote the safety of external conditions affecting the life, development and survival of an organism. (Source: TOE)

environmental specimen bank - Places in which selected specimens (fish, mussels, milk, soil sample and human tissue, etc.) are stored without being allowed to decompose. (Source: AZENP)

environmental statement (eco-audit) - Assessment made by a company or organization of the financial benefits and disadvantages to be derived from adopting a more environmentally sound policy. (Source: PHC)

environmental statistics - No definition needed.

environmental stock exchange - The buying, selling, or exchanging of ecological commodities. (Source: OED)

environmental study - A document submitted by an applicant in support of an undertaking which identifies the environmental impacts of the proposed undertaking and its alternatives. (Source: LANDY)

environmental subsidy - Payment by a government to assist or improve performance regarding ecological maintenance or the protection, defense, or shelter of natural resources. (Source: ODE)

environmental sustainable architecture - Environmentally friendly architecture is based on the following five principles: 1) healthful interior environment; 2) energy efficiency; 3) ecologically benign materials; 4) environmental form; 5) good design. (Source: ARCH)

environmental target - Environmental elements of recognized importance which can be modified by the completion of a project. (Source: RRDA)

environmental tax - An amount of money demanded by a government to finance clean-up, prevention, reduction, enforcement or educational efforts intended to promote ecological integrity and the conservation of natural resources. (Source: ODE / TOE)

environmental teaching - Instruction, training or the imparting of knowledge about the external conditions affecting the life, development and survival of organisms, including potential dangers to the ecosystem and the means to maintain its integrity. (Source: TOE / RHW)

environmental technology

environmental terminology - The vocabulary of technical terms and usage appropriate to community, corporate, governmental and other groups concerned with protecting natural resources, preserving the integrity of the ecosystem and safeguarding human health. (Source: ISEP / TOE)

environmental training - Teaching of specialists and qualified workers who acquire knowledge and skills necessary to solve environmental problems. (Source: UNUN)

environmental vandalism

environmental warfare - The direct manipulation or destruction of ecological resources as either a political threat or for actual military advantage. (Source: BAS)

environmentalism - 1) Concern for the environment and its protection. 2) Theory emphasizing the primary influence of the environment on the development of groups or individuals. It stresses the importance of the physical, biological, psychological, or cultural environment as a factor influencing the structure or behaviour of animals, including humans. In politics, this has given rise in many countries to Green Parties, which aim to " Preserve the planet and its people".

environmentally dangerous substance - Substance that causes undesirable change in the physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of the air, water, or land that can harmfully affect the health, survival, or activities of human or other living organisms. (Source: VIRPURa)

environmentally friendly management - Adoption of integrated and preventative management practices aiming at reducing the impacts of industrial and trade activities on the environment; these practices include, among others, life-cycle analysis in the product development cycle, the introduction of clean process technology and measures of waste minimisation. (Source: DOBRIS)

environmentally friendly product - Product that is not harmful to the environment. (Source: PHC)

environmentally related disease

environmentally responsible behaviour

environmentally unfriendly firm - Firms that do not comply with environmental regulations for the disposal of noxious wastes generated during the production cycle. (Source: RRDA)

enzyme - Any of a group of catalytic proteins that are produced by living cells and that mediate and promote the chemical processes of life without themselves being altered or destroyed. (Source: MGH)

epidemic - A sudden increase in the incidence rate of a disease to a value above normal, affecting large numbers of people and spread over a wide area. (Source: MGH)

epidemiology - 1) The study of the mass aspects of disease. 2) The study of the occurrence and distribution of disease and injury specified by person, place, and time. (Source: MGH / KOREN)

equatorial climate - Climate characterized by constant temperatures, abundant rainfall and a very short dry season. (Source: RAMADE)

equine - Animals belonging to the family of Equidae. (Source: ZINZAN)

equipment - Any collection of materials, supplies or apparatuses stored, furnished or provided for an undertaking or activity. (Source: RHW)

equipment plan - A formulated or systematic method for the supply of material necessities such as tools, gear, provisions or furnishings. (Source: OED / ISEP)

equivalent dose - A quantity used in radiation protection, expressing all radiation on a common scale for calculating the effective absorbed dose. The unit of dose equivalent is the rem. which is numerically equal to the absorbed dose in rads multiplied by certain modifying factors such as the quality factor, the distribution factor, etc. (Source: KOREN)

ergonomics - The study of human capability and psychology in relation to the working environment and the equipment operated by the worker. (Source: MGH)

erosion - The general process or the group of processes whereby the materials of Earth's crust are loosened , dissolved, or worn away and simultaneously moved from one place to another, by natural agencies, which include weathering, solution, corrosion, and transportation, but usually exclude mass wasting. (Source: BJGEO)

erosion control - Practices used during construction or other land disturbing activities to reduce or prevent soil erosion. Typical practices include planting of trees and quick growing grass on disturbed areas and other means to slow the movement of water across a disturbed site and trap the soil that does get transported by runoff. (Source: YORK)

estate rental - The service provided by an owner agreeing to grant the temporary possession of specific housing in return for the payment of rent from the tenant. (Source: RHW)

estuarine biology - The scientific study or the characteristic life processes of living organisms found in a semi-enclosed coastal body of water which has a free connection with the open sea and within which sea water is measurably diluted with freshwater. (Source: WOR / MHE / APD)

estuarine conservation area - Estuarine area which has been reserved by legislation to protect part or all of the enclosed environment for conservation, scientific, educational and/or recreational purposes. (Source: ENVAUa)

estuarine ecosystem

estuarine oceanography - The study of the physical, chemical, biological and geological characteristics of a semi-enclosed coastal body of water which has a free connection with the open sea and within which sea water is measurably diluted with fresh water. (Source: MHE / APD)

estuary - Area at the mouth of a river where it broadens into the sea, and where fresh and sea water intermingle to produce brackish water. The estuarine environment is very rich in wildlife, particularly aquatic, but it is very vulnerable to damage as a result of the actions of humans. (Source: WRIGHT)

estuary pollution - Contamination of the generally broad portion of a stream near its outlet which is influenced by the tide of the water body into which it flows. Many estuaries have become badly contaminated by wastes that have been generated from heavily populated areas.

etching - The incision of lines on a plate of metal, glass, or other material by covering it with an acid-resistant coating, scratching through the coating, and then permitting an acid bath to erode exposed parts of the plate. (Source: MGH)

etching substance - Substance capable of wearing away the surface of a metal, glass, etc. by chemical action. (Source: CEDa)

ethanol - A colorless liquid, miscible with water, used as a reagent and solvent. Also known as alcohol; ethyl alcohol; grain alcohol. (Source: MGH)

ether - A colorless liquid, slightly soluble in water; used as a reagent, intermediate, anesthetic, and solvent. (Source: MGH)

ethics - The philosophical study of the moral value of human conduct and of the rules and principles that ought to govern it. (Source: AMHER)

ethnology - The science that deals with the study of the origin, distribution, and relations of races or ethnic groups of mankind. (Source: MGH)

ethology - The study of animal behaviour in a natural context. (Source: MGH)

eutrophication - A process of pollution that occurs when a lake or stream becomes over-rich in plant nutrient; as a consequence it becomes overgrown in algae and other aquatic plants. The plants die and decompose. In decomposing the plants rob the water of oxygen and the lake, river or stream becomes lifeless. Nitrate fertilizers which drain from the fields, nutrients from animal wastes and human sewage are the primary causes of eutrophication. They have high biological oxygen demand (BOD). (Source: WRIGHT)

evaluation - No definition needed.

evaluation criterion - A standard, norm, value or measurement by which the quantity or quality of a process, object or person's work performance is ascertained through an analysis and judgment of the relevant information in context and in view of established goals, objectives and standards. (Source: DAM)

evaluation method - No definition needed.

evaluation of technology - No definition needed.

evaporation - Conversion from a liquid or solid state to a vapour. (Source: CED)

evapotranspiration - Discharge of water from the earth's surface to the atmosphere by evaporation from lakes, streams and soil surfaces and by transpiration from plants. Also known as fly-off. (Source: MGH)

evolution - The biological theory or process whereby species of plants and animals change with the passage of time so that their descendants differ from their ancestors, i.e. development from earlier forms by hereditary transmission of slight variations in successive generations. (Source: UNUN)

exact science - Mathematics and other sciences based on calculation. (Source: CED)

excavated hole - A pit, cavity, or other uncovered cutting produced by excavation. (Source: BJGEOa)

excavation (process) - The removal of earth from its natural position. (Source: HARRIS)

excavation heap - Residue in form of a heap, consisting of earth or other material, produced by excavation.

excavation side - Sloping surface of an excavation. (Source: RRDA)

excavation site - The location chosen for an excavation, meaning the act or process of removing soil and/or rock materials by digging, blasting, breaking, loading either at the surface or underground. (Source: BJGEOa)

exceptional tax - Compulsory charges levied by a government unit in special or unique instances for the purpose of raising revenue to pay for services or improvements for the general public benefit. (Source: EFP / RHW)

excessive height of chimney stacks

exchange policy - Course of action or procedure by government, business, or an individual concerning trade activities. (Source: ISEP / RHW)

excise

executive order - An order or regulation issued by the president or some administrative authority under his direction for the purpose of interpreting, implementing or giving administrative effect to a provision of the constitution or of some law or treaty.

exhaust device - 1) A duct or pipe through which waste material is emitted. 2) A combination of components which provides for enclosed flow of exhaust gas from engine parts to the atmosphere. (Source: AMHER / LEE)

exhaust gas - Offgas produced during combustion processes discharged directly or ultimately to the atmosphere. (Source: LEEa)

exhibit - A display of an object or collection of objects for general dissemination of information, aesthetic value or entertainment. (Source: RHW)

existing chemical - Chemical products existing before 18-09-1981. (Source: RRDA)

exotic species - Plants, animals or microorganisms which are introduced by humans into areas where they are not native. Exotics are often associated with negative ecological consequences for native species and the ecosystems. (Source: UNUN)

expenditure - Spending by consumers, investors, or government for goods or services. (Source: ISEP / ODE)

experiment - A test under controlled conditions that is made to demonstrate a known truth, examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy of something previously untried. (Source: MGH)

experimental study - Study based on experimentation. (Source: CED)

expert system - A computer configuration of hardware and software that simulates the judgment and behavior of a human or an organization with extensive knowledge in a particular field, often by giving answers, solutions or diagnoses. (Source: RHW / WIC)

exploitation of underground water - The process of extracting underground water from a source. (Source: BJGEO)

exploration - The search for economic deposits of minerals, ore, gas, oil, or coal by geological surveys, geophysical prospecting, boreholes and trial pits, or surface or underground headings, drifts, or tunnels. (Source: MGH)

explosion - A violent, sudden release of energy resulting from powders or gases undergoing instantaneous ignition or from some other means of detonation, often accompanied by a force producing great amounts of heat, major structural damages, shock waves and flying shrapnel. (Source: HMD)

explosive - A substance, such as trinitrotoluene, or a mixture, such as gunpowder, that is characterized by chemical stability but may be made to undergo rapid chemical change without an outside source of oxygen, whereupon it produces a large quantity of energy generally accompanied by the evolution of hot gases. (Source: MGH)

export - To send, take or carry an article of trade or commerce out of the country. To transport merchandise from one country to another in the course of trade. (Source: WESTS)

export licence - Permission from a government to carry or send abroad and sell a product manufactured within its borders. (Source: BLD)

export of hazardous wastes - Transporting by-products of society that possesses at least one of four characteristics (ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity) to other countries or areas for the conduct of foreign trade. (Source: TOE / MGHME)

exposure - The time for which a material is illuminated or irradiated. (Source: PITT)

expropriation - To deprive an owner of property, especially by taking it for public use. (Source: CED)

extensive cattle farming - Farming system practiced in very large farms, characterized by low levels of inputs per unit area of land; in such situations the stocking rate, the number of livestock units per area , is low. (Source: GOODa)

externality - Discrepancies between private costs and social costs or private advantages and social advantages; the basic concept of externality is interdependence without compensation. (Source: PHC / GILP96 / GREENW)

extinct species (IUCN) - Animal or plant species which have completely disappeared from the planet. (Source: WRIGHT)

extinction (ecological) - 1) The complete disappearance of a species of plant or animal from the planet. 2) Disappearing of animals and plants from the biota. (Source: WRIGHT / GREMES)

extraction - Any process by which a pure metal is obtained from its ore. (Source: UVAROV)

extractive industry - Primary activities involved in the extraction of non-renewable resources. (Source: GOOD)

French formal garden - No definition needed.

fabric - Any cloth made from yarn or fibres by weaving, knitting, felting, etc. (Source: CED)

factor market - Significant elements or reasons for an outcome in the buying, selling, and trading of particular goods or services. (Source: OED)

factory farming - The technique of capital intensive animal-raising in an artificial environment, used for chicken, egg, turkey, beef, veal and pork production. Animals are restrained in a controlled indoor environment and their food is brought to them. The building take on the appearance of industrial units. (Source: GOOD)

faecal bacterium - Bacteria contained in human and animal faeces. (Source: RRDA)

fallout - The descent of airborne solid or liquid particles to the ground, which occurs when the speed at which they fall due to gravity exceeds that of any upward motion of the air surrounding them. (Source: ALL)

fallow area - Land area normally used for crop production but left unsown for one or more growing seasons. (Source: MGH)

fallow land - Arable land not under rotation that is set at rest for a period of time ranging from one to five years before it is cultivated again, or land usually under permanent crops, meadows or pastures, which is not being used for that purpose for a period of at least one year. Arable land which is normally used for the cultivation of temporary crops but which is temporarily used for grazing is included. (Source: ECEST)

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