Glossary from letters Q to Z
Any terms you are unsure about? Scroll down to a specific term to find a quick and simple definition to get you up to date with gender & climate policy language! Missing a term? Feel free to comment below to suggest terms we should add!
R
Racial Justice
May also be known as “racial equity” being the systemic fair treatment of peoples of all races, resulting in equal opportunities and outcomes for all. Racial justice is not only limited to the absence of discrimination, but to the presence of systems and supports that help achieve and sustain racial justice through protective and preventative measures. Governments and communities must work together to ensure just institutions, which accommodate for all peoples from diverse backgrounds.
S
Sea level change
The rise in sea levels is one of the most apparent consequences of current climate change and is directly linked to the increase in average global temperature. The thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of glaciers and ice caps cause sea levels to rise. This results in territorial losses, flooding, a greater potential to affect ecosystems, and even harm food security and biodiversity. These effects mainly impact coastal communities and island nations, which have to relocate during floods. In this context, women are more vulnerable to sea level rise. Health risks and food and nutritional insecurity are greater for women living in coastal regions due to greater exposure, difficulty accessing health resources and specific needs, less access to shelters, increased responsibility for the well-being of their families, and many other challenges arising from gender inequality.
Self-determination
Self-determination is a political principle describing the process by which a group of people sharing the same national consciousness come together to create their own state and choose their own government. It is a term that became popular at the end of World War I as U.S. President Woodrow Wilson listed it as a crucial element in his Fourteen Points for the postwar world. The term is included in the UN Charter, presenting two main meanings. First, the right of self-determination refers to the right of a group of people to choose its political, economic, social and cultural system. Second, the right to self-determination can also be defined as the right of a group of people to constitute itself in a state even if they already have an association with an existing state.
Small Island Developing States (SIDS)
According to the United Nations, SIDS are a group of 39 countries and 18 Associate Members of the UN, covering the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS). While they represent less than 1% of the world population and differ in development levels, geography and population size, they are the most vulnerable group of countries to the worsening impacts of climate change. As a result, these countries share challenges including high exposure to natural disasters and sea-level rise, a considerable set of threats given that many SIDS lie only five meters, or less, above the water. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), between 1970 and 2020, SIDS lost collectively USD 153 billion due to weather, climate and water-related hazards, which is quite alarming considering that their average GDP is USD 13.7 million.
T
Tipping point
According to the IPCC, a tipping point is a “critical threshold in a system that, when exceeded, can lead to a significant change in the state of the system, which is often irreversible.” Most changes, including heat waves and global temperature increases, are gradual and linear, and as a result, can be gradually reduced and even reversed. Peter Ditlevsen, Professor of the Physics of Ice, Climate and Earth, identified two universal signs that help predict tipping points: drastic swings to extremes, indicating instability, and a slower return to average recorded temperatures. Possible tipping points are expected to occur if the planet reaches or exceeds 1.5 ºC of warming, and they include: a sudden thaw of permafrost in the boreal forest, the collapse of Greenland’s and West Antarctica's ice sheets, and the die-off of low-latitude coral reefs, such as Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.
Tokenism
Encyclopaedia Britannica defines tokenism as the practice of doing something only to prevent criticism and give the appearance that people are being treated fairly, when in reality their treatment is far from equitable and their involvement is anything but meaningful.
U
UNFCCC
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international environmental treaty to reduce atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases with the goal of preventing “dangerous” human interference with the climate system. It was opened for signature in 1992 during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro and took effect in 1994. UNFCCC is also the name of the United Nations Secretariat charged with supporting the operation of the convention
V
Veganism
Veganism is the practice of only eating food not derived from animals and typically of avoiding the use of animal products such as leather. It is in itself a philosophy and way of living that seeks to exclude, as much as it is possible, any forms of exploitation and cruelty towards animals for food, clothes, or any other commercial uses. Veganism promoted the development and use of animal-free alternatives as a way to benefit animals, humans, and the environment as a whole as it requires fewer resources and land, which produces vastly fewer greenhouse gas emissions.