Terms and Definitions Flashcards by Jacquelin Locon-Allende

biological diversity refers to the variety of life on Earth at all its levels, from
genes to ecosystems, and can encompass the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural processes that
sustain life.

BIODIVERSITY

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a practice and discipline which protects plants, animals, and natural places.

CONSERVATION

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he Order (group) of mammals containing lemurs, lorises, monkeys, apes and
humans.

PRIMATES

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Created in 1948 with members from
governmental agencies, non-governmental agencies and private sector to communicate to the
world the endangerment of Nature. Determines the status of endangerment of all taxa including
plants, insects, birds, carnivores, and primates. Organizes these data into the Red Data Books.
The IUCN Congress meets every four years. The IUCN headquarters are in Gland Switzerland
and Cambridge, UK. IUCN works in 210 countries with over 1,000 staff and has 1,400 members,

International Union for the Conservation of Nature. (IUCN)

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The barometer of life. A critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity by
the IUCN. It is a powerful tool to inform conservation action and policy. It provides information
about species’ range, population size, habitats and ecology, use and trade, threats, and
conservation actions that help inform conservation decisions. Within the Red List each species is
classified as Critically Endangered, Endangered, Threatened, Low Risk, or Data Deficient.

Red List

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CRITICALLY ENDANGERED, ENDANGERED, THREATENED, LOW RISK, DATA
DEFICIENT Classifications of the threat to species of extinction set up by

IUCN

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An IUCN list that assesses species on the way to Recovery. Assesses the
recovery of species’ populations and measures their conservation success. There are eight _______ Categories: Extinct in the Wild, Critically Depleted, Largely Depleted, Moderately
Depleted, Slightly Depleted, Fully Recovered, Non-Depleted and Indeterminate. A __________
assessment looks at how conservation actions have affected the current Red List status

Green List

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by the IUCN a group of scientists, experts and
specialists who assess the endangerment of different taxa, such as carnivore specialist group
(tigers), or plant specialist group (orchids) or primate specialist groups (lemurs, great apes)

Species Survival Commission Organized (SSC)

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provide information about current conservation actions, necessary future
conservation actions, and priority level. Lemur Action Plan drafted in 2014.

Species Action Plans

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Chaired by Russ Mittermeier since its inception, this group
produces the documents Primate Conservation, Lemur News, Gorilla News and has access to
funds to promote primate conservation called the PAF, Primate Action Fund

The Primate Specialist group

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a law passed by the US Congress in 1973
that classified animals as endangered and protected them

he United States Endangered Species Act (USESA)

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n 1973 the Convention for the Trade of Endangered Species, an international treaty
preventing the trade of endangered species across borders was signed. CITES APPENDIX I
includes critically endangered and endangered species and APPENDIX II includes threatened
species

Cites

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The law enforcement arm of CITES, based in Italy. Illegal wildlife trade is the
number two (illegal drugs is #1).

Traffic

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In 1986 the US Congress passed this law that provided for the
well-being of all captive and laboratory animals.

Animal Welfare Act

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a central computerized database cataloging
information on over 10,000 wild species held worldwide in zoological institutions. A major
focus of this system has been to coordinate the efforts of zoos and other captive management
facilities in the interest of both enhancing and improving their roles in furthering the
conservation of threatened and endangered animal species worldwide

International Species Information System (ISIS)

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is the United Nations global
development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience
and resources to help people build a better life. ______ operates in 177 countries, working with
nations on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop
local capacity, they draw on the people of _______ and its wide range of partners.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

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a place (such as a forest, mountain, lake, building, complex, or
city) that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance. The list is
maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO
World Heritage Committee composed of 21 state parties which are elected by their General
Assembly

UNESCO World Heritage Site

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s a United Nations Programme
headquartered in New York City that provides long-term humanitarian and developmental
assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. ______ was created by United
Nations General Assembly on December 11, 1946, to provide emergency food and healthcare to
children in countries that had been devastated by World War II.

UNICEF

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In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1993 this international treaty set out
the world priorities for saving tropical Nature.

Biodiversity Treaty

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ange from halving extreme poverty rates to
halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the
target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the
world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to
meet the needs of the world’s poorest.

UNITED NATIONS MILLENIUM SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS or the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

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is a funding source provided by all countries who signed the
Biodiversity Treaty to provide developing countries with money for projects that would improve
the protection of biodiversity and prevent biodiversity loss. The request for funds must come
from the government of the developing country.

Global Environmental Fund (GEF)

a survey of a remote area to find out which species of
biodiversity exist in that area.
are used to prioritize sites for protection.

Rapid Assessment Program (RAP)

Putting a species from captivity back into its original habitat where that species
has become very rare, and in danger of being inbred.

Reintroduction

Removing an individual from one place and moving it to another. Usually
individuals who are in danger of being killed from the building of a dam, or a mining operation
are captured and transferred to another forest to save them

Translocation

A charismatic species that is used to raise awareness and raise funds to protect it, but as a result protects other less charismatic species in the habitat saved. For example, the panda and most primates

Flagship species

Developing countries and residents of those countries have a legal right to ownership of their biodiversity. For example, the country where the plant exists should receive compensation for drugs developed from those medicinal plants

Intellectual Property rites

he process of developing and strengthening the skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt, and thrive in a fast-changing world. Training conservationists in a third world country.

Capacity building

include biodiversity protection and human needs together to create National Parks and protected areas. Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar is an example

ntegrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDP)

an agency under the US State Department that provides economic development funds for foreign countries in the developing world. A US governmental agency.

United States Aid to International Development (USAID)

such as WWF (World Wildlife Fund), WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), CI (Conservation International). These large conservation organizations are sometimes referred to as BINGOs (Big _____). Small _____ have become an important component of conservation in the last decade

A non-governmental agency (NGO)

An NGO based in Washington and Switzerland to protect wildlife.

Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF)

an NGO based in Washington DC

Conservation International (CI)

an NGO based in the Bronx Zoo. NY which believes in science-based conservation.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

an NGO based in Washington that believes in buying up land to preserve nature in a trust.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC)

a media based private organization that has disseminated information about wildlife for over 100 years, and recently has focused on preserving our natural world and conservation of wildlife.

National Geographic Society (NGS)

an NGO that gives small grants to study the least known and most endangered primates.

Primate Conservation, Inc (PCI)

an NGO based in Washington, DC that works to protect land containing endangered or critically endangered species through community ownership

Rainforest Trust

Country that contains high primate diversity, especially a high number of endemic species. For Primates BRAZIL, MADAGASCAR, INDONESIA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO are the top countries.

Megadiversity Country

Area where there the most species occur, for example Madagascar is a hot spot for primates, orchids, chameleons and frogs. Since we cannot save all of nature, we prioritize, and protect the primates in megadiversity countries and hot spots first. Seventy percent of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity is contained in 17 countries. US, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Madagascar, Ecuador, Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia.

Biodiversity Hot Spot

Biological carbon sequestration is the storage of carbon dioxide in vegetation such as forests to mitigate climate change. It is possible to preserve carbon by reforestation.

Carbon Sequestration

a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP (Committee of Partners) 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. President Obama signed the Paris Treaty, but President Trump pulled the US out of the Climate Treaty. President Biden has rejoined the USA to the Paris Treaty. President Trump pulled us out of this treaty in January, 2025.

Paris Treaty on Climate Change

A funding mechanism for developing countries to preserve their forests to provide ecosystem services. Pays these countries NOT to deforest.

Reduction of Environmental Degradation and Deforestation (REDD)

adds a reforestation component to REDD

REDD plus

a fund founded in 2010 as a mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change. The GCF is based in South Korea and Sweden. Requesting of funds by the country government is required.

Green Climate Fund (GCF)

established in 2001, aims to conserve the non- human great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos and orangutans) and their habitats — primarily forested tropical. GRASP is a UNEP and UNESCO led summit bringing together all the principal institutional actors in great ape conservation —UN agencies biodiversity related multilateral environmental agreements, great ape range states and donor governments, non- governmental organizations, scientists, local communities and the private sector

Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP)

is a scientific, educational, and charitable organization focused on non-human primates. It encourages scientific research in all areas of study, facilitates international cooperation among researchers, and promotes primate conservation. Together with the IUCN Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group (IUCN/SSC PSG) and Conservation International (CI), it jointly publishes a biannual report entitled Primates in Peril: The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates.

International Primate Society (IPS)

National Parks (managed by national government, USA established the first national park in the world), State parks, (managed by region or state), community managed park (forest managed by the communities). Areas of habitat that are set aside, usually without human use, such as hunting, cutting down trees, burning, to be used by wildlife

Protected Areas

efers to efforts by the global community to conserve 30% of terrestrial and marine habitat by 2030. The movement started with international calls for setting aside portions of the globe as protected and became US policy in 2021. At its heart, the 30×30 initiative is about protecting biodiversity, which is under threat from habitat loss, habitat ragmentation, climate change, and other factors. This protection can be achieved by creating a network of protected areas, which provide the critical component of connectivity.

Thirty by thirty

goes into effect 2024 and guarantees that products sold in EU do not contribute to deforestation and forest degradation.

European Union Regulation of Deforestation Free Products

An international agreement, building on the Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims at sharing the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources in a fair and equitable way. This agreement controls access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their utilization. It entered into force on 12 October 2014

The Nagoya Protocol

The COP is the supreme decision-making body of the Biodiversity Convention. All States that are Parties to the Convention are represented at the COP, at which they review the implementation of the Convention and any other legal instruments that the COP adopts and take decisions necessary to promote the effective implementation of the Convention, including institutional and administrative arrangements. COP 16 was held in 2024 in Cali Colombia.

Conference of the Parties (COP 16)