A measure that combines the global warming effect of the 6 greenhouse gases listed in Annex A of the Kyoto Protocol – carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) – into a single meaningful number. Specifically, CO2-e represents the carbon dioxide emissions that would cause the same heating of the atmosphere as a particular mass of Annex A greenhouse gases.
Processes to remove carbon from the atmosphere, involving capturing and storing carbon in vegetation, soil, oceans or another storage facility.
(Indigenous); a process by which Indigenous people describe, connect, manage and perform their customary obligations to that Country, their kin and ancestors for present and future generations. It is also used to reference the Australian Indigenous movement of people asserting their rights and interests.
An area of land determined by topographic features within which rainfall will contribute to run-off at a particular point. The catchment for a major river and its tributaries is usually referred to as a river basin.
Whales, dolphins and porpoises.
The green pigment in plants that functions in photosynthesis by absorbing light from the sun.
Public participation and collaboration in scientific research with the aim to increase scientific knowledge.
A change of climate attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and is additional to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods (under the terms of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).
A naturally occurring group of species inhabiting a particular area and interacting with each other, especially through food relationships, relatively independently of other communities. Also, a group of people associated with a particular place.
In relation to environmental protection, refers to the aim of including, within protected areas, samples of the full range of regional ecosystems recognisable at an appropriate scale within and across each bioregion under the Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council 2010).
See also representativeness.
The ‘health’ of an aspect of the environment (e.g. species, community, heritage site), including factors such as the level of disturbance from a natural state and the level of resilience to pressures and disturbances.
Linkages between habitat areas; the extent to which particular ecosystems are joined with others; the ease with which organisms can move across the landscape.
Protection and management of living species, communities, ecosystems or heritage places; protection of a site to allow ongoing ecosystem function, or to retain natural or cultural significance (or both) and maximise resilience to threatening processes.
Dependent on conservation efforts to prevent it from becoming endangered.
See also Endangered.
The legal continental shelf is defined under Article 76 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: ‘where not limited by delimitation with another state (country), it will extend beyond the territorial sea to a minimum of 200 nautical miles from the territorial sea baseline. In some places where certain physical characteristics of the seabed are met it can extend further’. This differs from the geoscientific definition of a continental shelf: the seabed adjacent to a continent (or around an island) extending from the low water line to a depth at which there is usually a marked increase of slope towards oceanic depths. This increase of slope usually occurs at water depths of 200 metres around the Australian continent.
When the coral host expels its zooxanthellae (marine algae living in symbiosis with the coral) in response to increased water temperatures, often resulting in the death of the coral.
(Indigenous); an obligation or a commitment to achieve common outcomes shared among the Indigenous people living in their Country.
A linear landscape structure that links habitats and helps movement of, and genetic exchange among, organisms between these habitats.
(Indigenous); the Indigenous concept of everything within a cultural landscape, including the land or sea itself; the plants and animals within it; the history, culture and traditions associated with it; and the connections between people and the landscape. Country is a distinct geographic, cultural and ecological space that is common to a specific Indigenous people, group of peoples or local community. Tenure is held collectively – either legally or nonlegally – and resource definition and use, as well as cultural practice, is governed within a common property context.
At extreme risk of extinction in the wild; the highest category for listing of a threatened species or community under the criteria established by the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth).
Land owned by the Crown; nonfreehold land. Commonwealth Crown land is land vested to the Commonwealth; state and territory Crown land is vested to the specific state or territory.
A group of mainly aquatic arthropods, including prawns, lobsters and crabs.
(Indigenous); a dynamic process of upholding and reactivating relationships, values and spirituality over time and across generations. It is both the way and responsibility to receive, generate, process and transmit traditional knowledge, wisdom and practices from generation to generation through families, kinship structures, and connections to the place and ancestral memory. It is a determining factor of Indigenous identity and self-determination as a distinct people.
(Indigenous); water that is released from holdings for Indigenous cultural purposes. ‘Water entitlements that are legally and beneficially owned by the Nations of a sufficient and adequate quantity and quality to improve the spiritual, cultural, natural, environmental, social and economic conditions of those Nations. These are our inherent rights.’ (MLDRIN Echuca Declaration, 2007)
(Indigenous); landscapes that contain interrelated natural and cultural elements of heritage.
(Indigenous); the experiential and nonmaterial services related to the perceived or realised qualities of ecosystem assets whose existence and functioning contributes to a range of cultural benefits derived by individuals.
(Indigenous); the accepted ways of knowing and behaving, and a set of common understandings shared by members of a group or community. Includes land, language, ways of living, and working artistic expression, relationships and identity.
(Indigenous); a person charged with maintaining and passing on particular elements of cultural significance (e.g. knowledge, stories, songs, dances, language, ritual, imagery).
(Indigenous); laws based on traditions and customs of a particular Indigenous group in a specific region. Also referred to as ‘lore’.