Lost in jargon?

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This concise glossary is your go-to resource for understanding key terms related to the protection and preservation of the Baltic Sea. Dive in for clear definitions and enhance your knowledge of this vital ecological mission. 

Management

The individuals, groups, and institutions responsible for deciding on and implementing actions for an area or network of areas needed to achieve the ultimate outcomes and goals established by the governing body (adapted from Franks et al. [2018]). 

Management is distinct from governance. Management is about what is done to achieve the goals and includes defining and allocating lower level objectives, responsibilities, and accountabilities. This term often refers to the managers of both individual areas as well as the overall network within a given jurisdiction. (IUCN lexicon) 

Management effectiveness (of protected area)

An assessment of how well a (protected area) is being managed in order to reach the defined goals. For marine protected areas, this means the evaluation of how efficiently the management addresses the threats to marine biodiversity with the aim to secure ecologically positive impacts and to reach the goal of healthy ecosystems.

The term is suggested to be a synonym to the term PACA (Protected and additional conservation area) effectiveness used in the IUCN lexicon.

Managed retreat

The strategic relocation of structures or abandonment of land to manage natural hazard risk. (Hino et al 2017)

Marine protected area (MPA)

An area of sea (or coast) especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means. (CBD)

An area with sustainable use consistent with conservation objectives.

Measure

Measures have a direct impact by reducing the pressures or improving the state of the Baltic Sea. (Additional-information-on-the-actions-in-the-updated-Baltic-Sea-Action-Plan.pdf (helcom.fi)), and is different from supporting actions, e.g. assessments or awareness raising. (IC EG MPA 5-2024)  

Mitigation

An intervention to reduce negative or unsustainable uses of biodiversity and ecosystems. (IPBES)

Mitigation of climate change

A human intervention to reduce emissions or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases. (IPCC AR6 WGII Full Report Annex II (Glossary))

(MPA) management plans

The management plans regulate or compensate harmful human activities through different actions, such as restricting activities during a certain time or in a certain area, prohibiting certain activities completely, restoring degraded areas, maintaining sustainable and traditional use when appropriate and substituting certain materials or substances with less harmful ones. (HELCOM)

Natural

Existing in or derived from nature; not made or caused by humankind. (Oxford Dictionary)

Nature-based solution

Nature-based solutions are interventions that use the natural functions of healthy ecosystems to protect the environment but also provide numerous economic and social benefits. (IC WG BIODIV 3-2024) 

Actions to protect, conserve, restore, sustainably use and manage natural or modified terrestrial, freshwater, coastal and marine ecosystems, which address social, economic and environmental challenges effectively and adaptively, while simultaneously providing human well-being, ecosystem services and resilience and biodiversity benefits. (UNEA 5 resolution) 

Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs)

A geographically defined area other than a protected area, which is governed and managed in ways that achieve positive and sustained long-term outcomes for the in situ conservation of biodiversity with associated ecosystem functions and services and where applicable, cultural, spiritual, socio–economic, and other locally relevant values. (CBD, 2018, this definition also used in the IUCN lexicon)

In the Baltic Sea, an area which is identified in accordance with regional common understanding of the CBD criteria for other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs).

Outcome

The desired outcome of the actions or activities within a protection strategy, i.e. the desired future state of a threat or opportunity factor, outcomes also represent necessary components to achieving the overall protection goal. (adapted from Conservation Standards)  

Protected area

A protected area is a clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values. (IPBES)  

An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means (IUCN, 1994) 

Protection  

Synonymous with conservation.

Quality (of habitats & biotopes)

The ability of the environment to provide conditions appropriate for individual and population persistence. (Hall et al. (1997:175))

Representativity

Representativity is captured by a network when the network consists of areas representing the different biogeographical subdivisions of the sea, which in turn reflect the full range of ecosystems, including the biotic and habitat diversity of those marine ecosystems. 

This also corresponds to the integrity, or the degree to which the area, either alone or in association with other protected areas, encompasses a complete ecosystem.

Restoration

Activities that initiate or accelerate the recovery of an ecosystem from a degraded state.

Passive / natural restoration: Ending degradation, e.g. removal of contamination source, restriction of water flow, modifying inappropriate grazing /fire regimes, cessation of logging, agricultural land retirement.

Active / assisted restoration: A combination of the above strategy with abiotic and biotic interventions, e.g. Abiotic; Active remediation of substrate conditions (physical or chemical), habitat creation, reshaping watercourses, reintroduction of environmental water flows, applying artificial disturbance to promote seed germination. And Biotic; Invasive species management, reintroduction of species, augmenting or reinforcing depleted populations of species.

Reconstructive restoration: A combination of the above strategies with the reintroduction of a major proportion of the desired biota. Possibly mimicking natural successional dynamics. (Atkinson & Bonser 2020, Restoration Ecology)

Risk assessment (ecological)

The process for evaluating how likely it is that the environment might be impacted as a result of exposure to one or more environmental stressors, such as chemicals, land-use change, disease, and invasive species. (EPA https://www.epa.gov/risk/ecological-risk-assessment )

Spatial protection network

A collection of individual MPAs operating cooperatively and synergistically at various spatial scales and with a range of protection levels that are designed to meet objectives that a single reserve cannot achieve.

Sustainability

A characteristic or state whereby the needs of the present and local population can be met without compromising the ability of future generations or populations in other locations to meet their needs. (IPBES, from: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, https://www.millenniumassessment.org/documents/document.59.aspx.pdf )

Sustainable development

Development that meets the needs and aspirations of the current generation without compromising the ability to meet those of future generations. (CBD)

Sustainable use (of biodiversity and its components)Risk assessment (ecological)

The use of components of biological diversity in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity, thereby maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations. (CBD, 1992, IPBES)

Target

The specific measurement that is desired to be achieved. Targets should ideally be quantifiable and measurable to provide direction for upcoming work as well as define when an Outcome has been reached. A good target meets the criteria of being: results oriented, measurable, time limited, specific, and practical. If the work is well conceptualized and designed, realization of an efforts targets should lead to the fulfilment of the associated outcomes, goals and ultimately the vision identified in a protection framework. (adapted and further developed from the IUCN lexicon)  

Target indicator

A measure of a given variable, or a measurable entity related to a specific information need used to assess progress toward the target under a goal. Indicators, using the agreed targets against which to measure progress as thresholds, should provide clear and real-world ways of repeatedly tracking progress and allow implementers to modify actions and improve efficiency where needed. Conservation Standards define indicators as a good indicator meets the criteria of being: measurable, precise, consistent, and sensitive. (adapted from Conservation Standards and IUCN)  

Threatened habitat

Area assigned on the basis of quantitative thresholds to one of the three following IUCN categories for ecosystem assessment: Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU). (IUCN)

Threatened species

Any species which is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. (IUCN, CBD) 

In the IUCN Red List terminology, a threatened species is any species listed in the Red List categories Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable. See https://portals.iucn.org/library/efiles/documents/RL-2001-001-2nd.pdf (IPBES)

Thrive

To grow or develop successfully: to flourish or succeed (The Britannica Dictionary)

Viable population

A population large enough for long-term survival. (IUCN)