IB DP Geography Key Terms

An aspect of cultural globalization, listed as one of its main characteristics, and refers to the reduction in cultural diversity through the popularization and diffusion of a wide array of cultural symbols - not only physical objects but customs, ideas and values.

Raw materials are materials or substances used in the primary production or manufacturing of goods. Examples of raw materials include steel, oil, corn, grain, gasoline, lumber, forest resources, plastic, natural gas, coal, and minerals.

The process by which a glacier loses mass or ice.

The scrapping, scouring, rubbing and grinding action of materials being carried along by moving natural features such as rivers, glaciers, waves and strong winds.

Measured by the percentage of the population having access to and using improved drinking water sources.

The percentage of the population which has access and are using improved sanitation facilities.

The process by which snow and ice accumulate and build up in a glacier or ice sheet over time.

Means anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and taking appropriate action to prevent or minimise the damage they can cause, or taking advantage of opportunities that may arise.

Refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking to include particular groups based on their gender, race, sexuality, creed or nationality in areas in which they are underrepresented such as education and employment.

The sum of the young population (under age 15) and elderly population (age 65 and over) relative to the working-age population (ages 15 to 64).

The business sector encompassing farming and farming-related commercial activities. It involves all the steps required to send an agricultural good to market, namely production, processing, and distribution.

A proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems, including, but not limited to, anthropogenic climate change.

A social movement critical of economic globalization.

A body of rock and/or sediment that holds groundwater.

The name given to a narrow, knife-edged ridge with steep sides found in glaciated upland regions. Results from the formation of cirques.

Usually expressed as a function of rainfall and temperature. A useful "representation" is p/ETP where: P = precipitation ETP = potential evapotranspiration taking into account atmospheric humidity, solar radiation, and wind.

The process by which rocks and sediment are worn down and smoothed by the constant rubbing and grinding against each other during transportation.

The maximum amount of data transmitted over an internet connection in a given amount of time.

A global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organizations. "Belt" is short for the "Silk Road Economic Belt," referring to the proposed overland routes for road and rail transportation through landlocked Central Asia; whereas "road" is short for the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", referring to the Indo-Pacific sea routes through Southeast Asia to South Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Drone activities that are beyond the visual line of sight of the operator.

A biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader term than habitat and can comprise a variety of habitats.

Fresh surface and groundwater, in other words, the water in freshwater lakes, rivers and aquifers.

Boserup is known for her theory of agricultural intensification, also known as Boserup's theory, which posits that population change drives the intensity of agricultural production. Her position countered the Malthusian theory that agricultural methods determine population via limits on food supply. A major point of her book is that "necessity is the mother of invention".

The acronym coined to associate five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

A tall, narrow hill with steep sides and a flat top, similar to a mesa but with a smaller area at the top. It is typically taller than it is wide and often rises abruptly from the surrounding landscape.

Refers to the financial resources that businesses can use to fund their operations like cash, machinery, equipment and other resources. These are the assets that allow the business to produce a product or service to sell to customers.

The series of processes by which carbon compounds are interconverted in the environment, involving the incorporation of carbon dioxide into living tissue by photosynthesis and its return to the atmosphere through respiration, the decay of dead organisms, and the burning of fossil fuels.

A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our actions.

The process of capturing and storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or other sources, preventing it from being released into the atmosphere.

The suppression of speech, public communication, or other information.

The roughness of the channel bed.

Alteration of a channel by changing the physical dimensions or materials of its bed or banks. Channel modification includes damming, rip-rapping (or other armoring), widening, deepening, straightening, relocating, lining and significant removal of native vegetation from the bottom or banks.

Involves the decay and decomposition of rocks in situ. It usually occurs in the presence of water, which acts as a dilute acid. The rate tends to increase with rising temperatures and humidity levels.

An ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore or Taiwan, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Australasia.

A model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible.

This is a semi-circular hollow high up at the head of a glacial valley on the flanks of a glacial mountain. It was formerly a massive collecting ground for ice that flowed into a glacial valley below. It has a steep headwall to the rear, a bowl-shaped rock basin in its centre and a rock lip at its lower end.

The aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that manifest interests and will of citizens.

The long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years.

In business, a competitive advantage is the attribute that allows an organization to outperform its competitors. A competitive advantage may include access to natural resources, such as high-grade ores or a low-cost power source, highly skilled labor, geographic location, high entry barriers, and access to new technology.

A mathematical combinations (or aggregations) of a set of indicators.

Consumer goods are products bought for consumption by the average consumer. Alternatively called final goods, consumer goods are the end result of production and manufacturing and are what a consumer will see stocked on the store shelf.

Infectious diseases are a prime example. A disease follows no rules, nor does it recognise borders as it spreads. A forest fire is another example that fits this category. A kind of expansion diffusion.

A system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers). The containers have standardized dimensions. They can be loaded and unloaded, stacked, transported efficiently over long distances, and transferred from one mode of transport to another without being opened.

Belonging to or occurring in the present.

A central region in an economy, with good communications and high population density, which conduce to its prosperity.

The concept of a developed core surrounded by an undeveloped periphery. The concept can be applied at various scales.

A self-regulatory business model practiced by large and small companies. The concept allows businesses to be socially accountable to their stakeholders and the public. By adopting clear CSR strategies, companies accept responsibility for their impact on society – including all economic, social, and environmental aspects.

A direct tax imposed on the net income or profit that enterprises make from their businesses.

An alternative name for abrasion.

Counterfeit goods contain a trademark or logo that is identical to or substantially indistinguishable from the trademark of another. They mimic the brand features of the product in an attempt to pass themselves off as a genuine product of the brand owner.

The slow downhill movement of soil and other material such as scree (talus). Can be caused by the expansion and contraction of the soil caused by either seasonal wetting and drying (especially clays) or seasonal and diurnal freezing and thawing of the soil surface.

A measurement of the amount of a crop grown, or product such as wool, meat or milk produced, per unit area of land.

Flows of products, services, capital, information and people across political (country) borders.

The area of a the cross-section of water flowing in a channel.

Involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services - including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances - for payment or as volunteers. Often involves digital platforms to attract and divide work between participants to achieve a cumulative result.

The quality of diverse or different cultures, as opposed to monoculture, the global monoculture, or a homogenization of cultures, akin to cultural evolution.

The practice of promoting the culture, values or language of one nation in another, less powerful one.

A single identifiable material or non-material element within a culture.

The art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.

The total calorie supply available for human consumption divided by the total number of actual population utilizing it.

The partial or total remission of debts, especially those owed by developing countries to external creditors.

A blend of "deep learning" and "fake" are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness. While the act of creating fake content is not new, deepfakes leverage powerful techniques from machine learning and artificial intelligence to manipulate or generate visual and audio content that can more easily deceive.

The removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use.

a landform created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river as the flow leaves its mouth and enters slower-moving or stagnant water.

The accelerated economic growth that may result from a decline in a country’s birth and death rates and the subsequent change in the age structure of the population. With fewer births each year, a country’s young dependent population declines in relation to the working-age population. With fewer people to support, a country has a window of opportunity for rapid economic growth if the right social and economic policies are developed and investments made.

The process by which sediment or other materials are deposited or settled in a new location, often as a result of the loss of energy by the agent of transportation.

A process that takes away mineral components from saline water. Saltwater (especially sea water) is desalinated to produce water suitable for human consumption or irrigation.

Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. This degradation includes the temporary or permanent decline in the quality of soil, vegetation, water resources or wildlife, for example. It also includes the deterioration of the economic productivity of the land – such as the ability to farm the land for commercial or subsistence purposes.

The widening difference in levels of development between the world's richest and poorest countries.

A scattered population whose origin lies in a separate geographic locale. Historically, the word diaspora was used to refer to the mass dispersion of a population from its indigenous territories. Whilst the word was originally used to describe the forced displacement of certain peoples, "diasporas" is now generally used to describe those who identify with a geographic location, but now reside elsewhere.

Erosion that occurs at irregular or varying rates, caused by the differences in the resistance and hardness of surface materials: softer and weaker rocks are rapidly worn away, whereas harder and more resistant rocks remain to form ridges, hills, or mountains.

The spread of a phenomenon, such as an idea, a technological innovation, or a disease, over space and time.

The leading theory in agricultural extension post World War II until the 1970s. It is still used today in agricultural extension, particularly when extension is concerned with an adoption of a particular technology. It is proposed that five main elements influence the spread of a new idea: the innovation itself, adopters, communication channels, time, and a social system. The categories of adopters are innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.

Can take many different forms, from occupying buildings or blocking roads, to more disruptive actions such as property damage or violence. It is often seen as a last resort by those taking part, when other methods of protest, such as petitions or letter-writing, have failed.

The volume of flow of water in a channel, measured in cubic metres per second (cumecs).

The impact of a health problem on a given population, and can be measured using a variety of indicators such as mortality, morbidity or financial cost. This allows the burden of disease to be compared between different areas, for example regions, towns or electoral wards.

The continuum from diseases of poverty to diseases of affluence.

Those so-called chronic "degenerative" diseases whose incidence has been rising conspicuously in industrialized societies as incomes have risen, as living standards have gone up and even as health indices have improved. Examples of diseases of affluence include mostly chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and other physical health conditions for which personal lifestyles and societal conditions associated with economic development are believed to be an important risk factor — such as type 2 diabetes, asthma, coronary heart disease etc.

Diseases that are more prevalent in low-income populations. They include infectious diseases, as well as diseases related to malnutrition and poor health behaviour. HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis (TB) also known as “the big three” have been acknowledged as infectious diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries.

Household disposable income measures the income of households (wages and salaries, self-employed income, social benefits, etc.), after taking into account the payment of taxes and social contributions.

A disruptive technology is one that displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry or a ground-breaking product that creates a completely new industry.

Spread over an area.

The process of creating multiple, unique ideas or solutions to a problem that you are trying to solve.

The area of land drained by a river.

Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment.

An unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond line of sight.

Goods, such as coal, metals, and grain, that are not liquid and are carried in large quantities by ship.

Sand formations found in desert regions that have been shaped by wind over time. They are typically composed of loose, dry sand and can range in size from small ripples to large hills that can be several hundred meters high. They are formed through a process called aeolian transport, in which wind moves sand particles across the surface of the desert. When the wind encounters an obstacle, such as a rock or vegetation, the sand is deposited, and over time, this accumulation can build up to form a dune. Can take on different shapes and forms depending on the direction and strength of the wind. Barchan dunes, for example, are crescent-shaped dunes that form when wind blows in a single direction, while longitudinal dunes form parallel to the prevailing wind direction.

A biometric passport is a traditional passport that has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip which contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of the passport holder.

The theoretical measurement of the amount of land and water a population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its waste under prevailing technology.

The process whereby simple, low-income national economies are transformed into modern industrial economies.

A person who leaves their country of origin purely for economic reasons that are not in any way related to the refugee definition, in order to seek material improvements in their livelihood.

Where water is available locally but not accessible for human, institutional or financial capital reasons.

Consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Ecosystems are controlled by external and internal factors. External factors such as climate, parent material which forms the soil and topography, control the overall structure of an ecosystem but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem.

The breadbasket of a country or of a region is an area which, because of the richness of the soil and/or advantageous climate, produces large quantities of wheat or other grain.

There is no official definition of an emerging market. The IMF World Economic Outlook classifies 39 economies as “advanced,” based on such factors as high per capita income, exports of diversified goods and services, and greater integration into the global financial system. The following countries are in the emerging market group, in alphabetical order: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

Emerging markets are typically countries with low to middle per capita income that have undertaken economic development and reform programs and have begun to 'emerge' as significant players in the global economy.

Make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights.

A property of agricultural systems. It is defined as the ratio of energy out to energy in. The energy out is the energy that the system outputs in the food we eat. The energy in is the energy that the system consumes in order to produce the food. Different types of agriculture systems vary widely in energy efficiency, a fact that has important implications.

An energy grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents.

The flows of energy from producer to consumer. Pathways can take the form of oil pipelines, gas pipelines, electricity power lines and sea routes of tankers.

A country's ability to secure all its energy needs.

“Within” the ice.

Environmental (relating to the natural world and the impact of human activity on its condition) factors which initiate and influence the decision to migrate by impelling or stimulating emigration

An unexpected increase in the number of disease cases in a specific geographical area.

The study (scientific, systematic, and data-driven) of the distribution (frequency, pattern) and determinants (causes, risk factors) of health-related states and events (not just diseases) in specified populations (neighborhood, school, city, state, country, global).

Involves the removal of weathered material by the action of gravity, water, wind or ice.

The name given to a rock which has been transported by a glacier and deposited in an area of different geology than that of its source.

The sum of evaporation from the land surface plus transpiration from plants.

When innovations spread to new places while staying strong in their original locations.

A system of certification that aims to ensure a set of standards are met in the production and supply of a product or ingredient. For farmers and workers, Fairtrade means workers’ rights, safer working conditions and fairer pay. For shoppers it means high quality, ethically produced products.

The period of time when the river’s discharge is falling after it has reached Peak Discharge.

It can be declared only when certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met. They are: at least 20 per cent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 per cent; and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.

Producing or bearing many crops in great quantities.

The total fertility rate in a specific year is defined as the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in alignment with the prevailing age-specific fertility rates. Assuming no net migration and unchanged mortality, a total fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman ensures a broadly stable population.

The technology used to transmit information as pulses of light through strands of fiber made of glass or plastic over long distances.

Flooding that begins within 6 hours, and often within 3 hours, of the heavy rainfall (or other cause). The intensity of the rainfall, the location and distribution of the rainfall, the land use and topography, vegetation types and growth/density, soil type, and soil water-content all determine just how quickly the Flash Flooding may occur, and influence where it may occur.

The measure of vulnerability to flood with consideration to the likelihood of flooding and the total value of the assets at risk.

A floodplain is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge. The soils usually consist of clays, silts, sands, and gravels deposited during floods.

Refers to the process of obtaining food, either through growing it, raising it, hunting it, or purchasing it from a market. It involves a combination of activities, including cultivation, harvesting, storage, transportation, and processing of food to make it safe and usable for consumption.

Food availability in the simplest term is the situation where food is made to exist for consumption at local levels where local individuals or households can locate their needed foods without striving. It depicts the production and supply of varieties of foods.

The amount and dietary composition of food consumed by an individual or population.

A lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life.

Exists for a population when all its people, at all times, have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and health life.

The index is based on a dynamic benchmarking model constructed from 68 qualitative and quantitative drivers of food security including Political stability risk, Sufficiency of supply, Proportion of population under the global poverty line and Food consumption as a share of household expenditure.

Food that is fit for consumption but consciously discarded at the retail or consumption phases.

A person subject to a migratory movement in which an element of coercion exists, including threats to life and livelihood, whether arising from natural or man-made causes (e.g. movements of refugees and internally displaced persons as well as people displaced by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine or development projects).

Investment by a company into the structures, equipment or organizations of a foreign country. It does not include investment in shares of companies of other countries.

Investment by a company into the structures, equipment or organizations of a foreign country.

Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons, primarily coal, fuel oil or natural gas, formed from the remains of dead plants and animals.

A type of license that grants a franchisee access to a franchisor's proprietary business knowledge, processes, and trademarks, thus allowing the franchisee to sell a product or service under the franchisor's business name. In exchange for acquiring a franchise, the franchisee usually pays the franchisor an initial start-up fee and annual licensing fees.

A mechanical weathering process caused by the alternative or repeated cycles of freezing and thawing of water in pores, cracks and other openings. The expansion of water upon freezing (approximately 9% by volume) forces materials apart.

The rate at which something occurs over a particular period of time.

The upfreezing of objects usually associated with the active layer. The predominantly upward movement of material during freezing caused by the migration of water to the freezing plane and it's subsequent expansion upon freezing.

A glacial process that occurs when water enters cracks in rocks and freezes. As the water freezes, it expands and puts pressure on the rock, causing it to break or shatter. Over time, this process can break down and erode large rock formations into smaller pieces, which the glacier can then transport.

The Group of Seven (G7) is an inter-governmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

When people of all genders have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities.

The role or behaviour considered appropriate to a particular gender as determined by prevailing cultural norms.

An animal, plant, or microbe whose DNA has been altered using genetic engineering techniques.

The deliberate large-scale intervention in the Earth’s natural systems to counteract climate change.

A concept is a classifier that helps to organise thinking. It is a generalised idea about a class of objects, situations, actions, processes, relationships, qualities or whatever.

Focuses on political power linked to geographic space. At the level of international relations, geopolitics is a method of studying foreign policy to understand, explain, and predict international political behaviour through geographical variables. These include area studies, climate, topography, demography and natural resources.

The struggle over the control of geographical entities with an international and global dimension, and the use of such geographical entities for political advantage.

A type of glacial erosion that occurs when rocks, sand, and other particles carried by a glacier act like sandpaper, grinding and scraping against the underlying rock and soil. This abrasive action wears away and erodes the surface, sculpting and shaping the landscape. Over time, the repeated grinding and scraping of the glacier can result in the formation of smooth, polished rock surfaces, and the creation of glacial landforms such as U-shaped valleys and cirques.

Areas with and influenced by glaciers.

The process by which glaciers drop, lay down or leave behind the sediment, rocks, and other material that they have transported. This occurs as the ice melts, slows down, or changes direction, causing the material to be deposited in a variety of landforms, including moraines and drumlins.

Involves the removal and transport of bedrock or sediment by three main processes: quarrying (also known as plucking), abrasion, and melt water erosion.

A body of water that is formed by the melting of a glacier. These can form in various ways, such as by the accumulation of meltwater in depression in the landscape created by glacial erosion or by the damming of a valley by a glacial moraine. Ribbon lakes are a type of glacial lake that are long and narrow in shape, and are formed when a glacier erodes a valley and then melts, leaving a lake in its place.

A type of sediment that is deposited directly by a glacier. It is a mixture of rock fragments, sand, gravel, and clay, that has been picked up and carried by the ice as it moves - often deposited in a random and unstratified manner, meaning that the different sizes and types of sediment are mixed and not sorted by size or type. This results in a heterogeneous mixture of sediment different from other sediment types, such as river deposits or beach sand.

R to the movement of ice and rock debris from one place to another by glaciers. The ice in a glacier acts as a conveyor belt, transporting and depositing sediment and rocks in various landforms and depositional environments.

This is a steep-sided, wide and flat-bottomed valley that was previously occupied by a glacier.

Sediment that has been transported and deposited by glacial meltwater. This material can include a range of sediment types, including rock fragments, sand, gravel, and clay, that have been carried by meltwater streams and deposited in areas such as outwash plains, river valleys, and deltas. Glacifluvial material is different from glacial till in that it is sorted by size and type, meaning that larger rock fragments are typically found at the bottom of the deposit and smaller, finer material is found at the top.

A term is used to describe sediment deposited or re-deposited by a glacier. This sediment can include a wide range of materials, including rock fragments, sand, gravel, and clay, as well as meltwater deposits like outwash plains. Can be deposited in a variety of environments, including on the surface of a glacier, at the base of a glacier, and in areas where glaciers have retreated or melted.

Refers to the depth and breadth of a country's integration with the rest of the world, as manifested by its participation in international flows of products and services, capital, information , and people.

A tool designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at global, regional, and national levels, reflecting multiple dimensions of hunger over time. Each country’s GHI score is calculated based on a formula that combines four indicators that together capture the multidimensional nature of hunger: Undernourishment, Child stunting, Child wasting and Child mortality.

A two-way and complex process whereby cultural traits and commodities may be adopted, adapted or resisted by societies. The process is neither inevitable nor universal.

Refers to the plans an organization has developed to target growth beyond its borders. Specifically, it aims to increase the sales of goods or services abroad.

The worldwide system that a business uses to produce products or services.

”the growing interdependence of countries worldwide through the increasing volume and variety of cross-border transactions in goods and services and of international capital flows, and through the more rapid and widespread diffusion of technology” [IMF]

The KOF Globalisation Index is one of several measures of globalization. It measures the economic, social and political dimensions of globalisation.

A term invented in order to emphasize that the globalization of a product is more likely to succeed when the product or service is adapted to the specific locality or culture in which it is marketed.

The slope of the river profile (slope angle).

The precipitation on land that does not run off or recharge the groundwater but is stored in the soil or temporarily stays on top of the soil or vegetation.

Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere are called greenhouse gases.

Refers to domestic wastewater generated in households or office buildings from streams without fecal contamination, i.e., all streams except for the wastewater from toilets. Sources of greywater include sinks, showers, baths, washing machines or dishwashers.

Summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ecological niche.

Refers to activities that seek to compromise digital devices, such as computers, smartphones and even entire networks. And while hacking might not always be for malicious purposes, nowadays most references to hacking, and hackers, characterize it/them as unlawful activity by cybercriminals—motivated by financial gain, protest and information gathering (spying).

Occur when colonies of algae - simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater - grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds. The human illnesses caused by HABs, though rare, can be debilitating or even fatal.

Average number of years that a person can expect to live in "full health" by taking into account years lived in less than full health due to disease and/or injury.

the political, economic, or military predominance of one state over other states

Follows a chain of command, something you see in business, government, and the military. The CEO of a company or the leader of a government body generally knows information before it is disseminated among a wider employee base or the general public. Fads and trends that start with one community before spreading to the wider public can also be hierarchical. A kind of expansion diffusion.

Areas are often considered "high-altitude" if they reach at least 2,400 meters (8,000 feet) into the atmosphere.

Have less than 250mm precipitation per year and daytime temperatures that may approach 50°C. Cover 14.2% of the Earth’s surface, their distribution largely determined by the global atmospheric circulation.

A group of persons who make common provision of food, shelter and other essentials for living, is a fundamental socioeconomic unit in human societies.

Family size refers to the number of persons in the family. Economic family refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law union, adoption or a foster relationship.

A port at mainly which concentration and distribution operations are carried out on cargo the origin and/or destination of which is outside the hinterland of the port. A Hub port concentrates its resources essentially on ship-to-ship transshipments; local cargo plays only a minor role. Hub ports are ports that are strategically located along the major shipping routes where these transshipment operations take place.

Humans generally feel comfortable between temperatures of 22 °C to 27 °C and a relative humidity of 40% to 60%.

The use of a structure for living for any period of time for activities such as sleeping, eating or cooking, or combinations thereof.

A chemical weathering process involving water being added to the chemical structure of a mineral. A consequence of hydration is that the resulting mineral has a greater volume than the original mineral. The increase in volume applies force to overlying layers, breaking them into pieces.

The ratio between the area of the cross-section of a river channel and the wetted perimeter.

A branch of foreign relations that involves the use of diplomatic instruments to make shared water sources a domain for peace and cooperation rather than for conflict.

A means of showing the discharge of a river at a given point over a short period of time.

The combined mass of water found on, under, and above the surface of a planet.

Occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.

a policy or ideology of extending the rule over peoples and other countries, for extending political and economic access, power and control, often through employing hard power, especially military force, but also soft power

Not permeable.

Involves injecting muscle tissue from an animal into a cell culture, allowing cells to “grow” outside the animal’s body. Sometimes referred to as cultured, synthetic, or cell-cultured meat.

Difficult to reach or get to.

Pollution caused by oil spills, by the accidental release of radioactive substances, by the immission in water bodies or in the atmosphere of chemical substances deriving from industrial activities.

Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups who are related to the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region. Peoples are usually described as "indigenous" when they maintain traditions or other aspects of an early culture that is associated with a given region. Not all indigenous peoples share this characteristic, as many have adopted substantial elements of a colonizing culture, such as dress, religion or language.

the unfair situation in society when some people have more opportunities, money, etc. than other people

The number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.

This implies a lack of the qualities which enable the soil to provide nutrient elements and compounds in adequate amounts and in proper balance for the growth of specified plants.

the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behaviour of someone or something, or the effect itself

Composed of public and private physical structures such as roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, water supply, sewers, electrical grids, and telecommunications (including Internet connectivity and broadband access) that support the sustainable functionality of households and firms.

Are the elements that go into a system.

A type of physical weathering which involves repeated heating and cooling of rock over daily cycles, progressively breaking apart the grains of rock. Also known as thermal stress weathering. It is an important mechanism in deserts, where there is a large diurnal temperature range, hot in the day and cold at night.

An integrated water resources perspective ensures that social, economic, environmental and technical dimensions are taken into account in the management and development of water resources.

A type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of agricultural land area. It is characterized by a low fallow ratio, higher use of inputs such as capital and labour, and higher crop yields per unit land area.

A person or groups of persons who has been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalised violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognised State border.

Any form of needed assistance by one country, or multilateral institution, to another.

A flow that crosses country borders.

A loan made by a country (or global group such as the IMF) to another country.

A monetary threshold under which an individual is considered to be living in poverty.

A view of the world in which people see themselves connected to the global community and assume a sense of responsibility to its members. It is an awareness of the inter-relatedness of all nations and peoples, and a recognition of the complexity of these relationships.

An umbrella term that encompasses digital rights, freedom of information, the right to Internet access, freedom from Internet censorship, and net neutrality.

Applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops. Irrigation water can come from groundwater (extracted from springs or by using wells), from surface water (withdrawn from rivers, lakes or reservoirs) or from non-conventional sources like treated wastewater, desalinated water, drainage water, or fog collection.

An irrigation canal is a hydraulic system whose main objective is to convey water from a source (dam and river) to different users.

The time between Peak Rainfall and Peak Discharge.

A horizontal movement of water.

A type of glacial moraine that is formed along the sides of a glacier. It is composed of rock fragments and other debris eroded and transported by the glacier as it moves. As the glacier moves it pushes the rock fragments and other debris to the sides, where they accumulate to form ridges of material that run parallel to the glacier.

Can be naturally occurring ridge structures that form next to the bank of a river, or be an artificially constructed fill or wall that regulates water levels. A structure that is usually earthen and that often runs parallel to the course of a river in its floodplain.

Indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.

The extent of the area that can be productively used for agriculture.

The average size of the sediment particles being transported by a river.

The quantity of sediment that can be transported by a stream/river.

A place where something happens or is set, or that has particular events associated with it.

Denotes a region (point, line, or area) on Earth’s surface.

Low-carbon power is electricity produced with substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fossil fuel power generation.

The great size or extent of something.

Refers to deficiencies or excesses in nutrient intake, imbalance of essential nutrients or impaired nutrient utilization. The double burden of malnutrition consists of both undernutrition and overweight and obesity, as well as diet-related noncommunicable diseases. Undernutrition manifests in four broad forms: wasting, stunting, underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies.

Malthusianism is the idea that population growth is potentially exponential while the growth of the food supply or other resources is linear, which eventually reduces living standards to the point of triggering a population die off.

A manufactured good is a good that is produced mainly by the application of labour and capital to raw materials and other intermediate inputs. As such, manufactured goods are the opposite of primary goods, but include intermediate goods as well as final goods. They include steel, chemicals, paper, textiles, machinery, clothing, vehicles, etc.

Industries transforming goods.

The number of women who die from pregnancy-related causes while pregnant or within 42 days of pregnancy termination per 100,000 live births.

A sinuous bend in a river.

One of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse.

A type of glacial moraine that is formed when two glaciers meet and merge together. When two glaciers merge, their lateral moraines are also combined, resulting in a strip of moraine material that runs down the centre of the combined glacier.

Median age is the age that divides a population into two numerically equally sized groups; that is, half the people are younger than this age and half are older. It is a single index that summarizes the age distribution of a population.

An urban area with a population of at least ten million people.

A flat-topped, elevated landform with steep sides that is found in arid or semi-arid regions. It is characterized by a horizontal or gently sloping top that is bounded on all sides by cliffs or steep slopes.

Microfinance is a type of banking that provides financial services to low income individuals or groups of people who would otherwise have no access to finance.

The middle class is a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy. Its usage has often been vague whether defined in terms of occupation, income, education or social status. One of the narrowest definitions limits it to those in the middle fifth of the nation's income ladder. A wider characterization includes everyone but the poorest 20% and the wealthiest 20%.

Generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of regular, full-time military personnel.

A minority group, by its original definition, refers to a group of people whose practices, race, religion, ethnicity, or other characteristics are fewer in numbers than the main groups of those classifications. However, in present-day sociology, a minority group refers to a category of people who experience relative disadvantage as compared to members of a dominant social group.

The action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something.

The definition of modern energy services includes both access to electricity and to clean cooking facilities (e.g., fuels and stoves that do not cause air pollution in houses).

Where a river ends, at a lake or the sea.

Organizations that are comprised of the governments of multiple countries - such as the United Nations or the European Union.

Having many different features.

Combines two or more functions of traditional single-purpose dams into one hydro infrastructure project. A multipurpose dam may combine storing and supplying water for irrigation, industry and human consumption with other uses such as flood control, power generation, navigation, run-off storage and water discharge regulation.

The term usually refers to opiates or opioids, which are called narcotic analgesics. In common parlance and legal usage, it is often used imprecisely to mean illicit drugs, irrespective of their pharmacology.

As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining the nation's sovereignty (self-governance) over its homeland to create a nation state.

Stocks of materials that exist in the natural environment that are both scarce and economically useful in production or consumption, either in their raw state or after a minimal amount of processing.

The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). According to the Agreement on the NDB, "the Bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments."

When a system acts by lessening the effect of the original change and ultimately reversing it.

The advocacy of human population planning to ensure resources and environmental integrities for current and future human populations as well as for other species.

The interrelationship, interdependence and interactions between water, food and energy.

Have high solubility, and the end-product nitrate ion is easily leached due to its high mobility with excess irrigation-water application.

An organization that generally is formed independently from government. They are typically nonprofit entities and many of them are active in humanitarianism or the social sciences; they can also include clubs and associations that provide services to their members and others.

Average level of discharge caused by water flowing from tributaries and groundwater.

The movement, transformation, and recycling of essential chemical elements and compounds (nutrients) within an ecosystem.

A model used to describe the shifts in diets, physical activity and causes of disease that accompany changes in economic development, lifestyle, urbanisation, and demography. It most commonly is used to refer to the change from traditional diets towards “Western” diets rich in fats, sugars, meat and highly processed foods and low in fibre, and accompanied by a rise in sedentary lifestyles.

The width of the water within the channel at right angles to the direction of flow.

The navigating lanes, both natural and man-made, in wide waterways used by large vessels to connect major ports and carry cargo. These routes allow efficient, safe and economic transportation of goods while offering the shortest sailing times.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is an intergovernmental economic organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.

A country that offers foreign businesses and individuals minimal or no tax liability for their bank deposits in a politically and economically stable environment. They have tax advantages for corporations and for the very wealthy, and obvious potential for misuse in illegal tax avoidance schemes.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is an intergovernmental organization or cartel of 13 countries.

Hopeful and confident about the future.

Whatever comes out of the system.

The process of subcontracting part of a firm's business to another company, in order to save money.

In international economics, overdevelopment refers to a way of seeing global inequality and pollution that focuses on the negative consequences of excessive consumption. It exists as the mutually constitutive counterpart to the more commonly known concept of 'underdevelopment'.

A kind of chemical weathering that occurs when oxygen combines with another substance and creates compounds called oxides. When rocks, particularly those with iron in them, are exposed to air and water, the iron undergoes oxidation, weakening the rocks and making them crumble.

An epidemic occurring worldwide or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people.

The term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen with the naked eye. Others are so small they can only be detected using an electron microscope.

Spatial. Pattern across geographical space.

The distinct and often symmetrical natural pattern of geometric shapes formed by the deformation of ground material due to intense frost action in periglacial regions.

The point (time) of maximum river discharge caused by the storm.

The hour of greatest rainfall during the storm.

Calculated by dividing the total quantity of material goods (water) consumed by the population.

The movement of water through the soil itself.

The effects of freezing and thawing drastically modify the ground surface. In a cold climate, typically near glacierised regions. Perennially frozen ground that seasonally-thaws (active layer). The ground is snow free for part of the year with frequent fluctuations of air temperature across 0°C.

Outlying regions with poor communications and sparse population.

Soil and rock where temperatures below O°C persist over at least two consecutive winters and the intervening summer.

A property of soils and rocks indicating their capacity for transmitting water.

Freedom of the person in going and coming, equality before the courts, security of private property, freedom of opinion and its expression, and freedom of conscience subject to the rights of others and of the public.

Tending to see the worst aspect of things or believe that the worst will happen.

Where water resource development is approaching or has exceeded unsustainable levels; it relates water availability to water demand and implies that arid areas are not necessarily water scarce.

Involves the breakdown of rocks into smaller fragments through mechanical processes. Otherwise known as mechanical weathering.

Ice-cored hills formed when water moves to the freezing plane under hydraulic or hydrostatic pressure.

Places can be identified at a variety of scales, from local territories or locations to the national or state level. Places can be compared according to their cultural or physical diversity, or disparities in wealth or resource endowment. The characteristics of a place may be real or perceived, and spatial interactions between places can be considered.

Also known as quarrying, is a type of glacial erosion that occurs when a glacier pulls or lifts pieces of rock out of the ground as it moves. This occurs when the glacier freezes onto the rock and, as it moves, the rock is pulled away from the surrounding soil and rock.

The regions of the planet that surround its geographical poles (the North and South Poles), lying within the polar circles. These high latitudes are dominated by floating sea ice covering much of the Arctic Ocean in the north, and by the Antarctic ice sheet on the continent of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the south. The Arctic has various definitions, including the region north of the Arctic Circle, or just the region north of 60° north latitude, or the region from the North Pole south to the timberline. The Antarctic is usually defined simply as south of 60° south latitude, or the continent of Antarctica.

Political (relating to the government or public affairs of a country) factors which initiate and influence the decision to migrate by impelling or stimulating emigration

Population ageing - the process by which older individuals become a proportionally larger share of the total population.

Refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against "the elite." Populist parties and social movements are often led by charismatic or dominant figures who present themselves as "the voice of the people." According to the ideational approach, populism is often combined with other ideologies, such as nationalism, liberalism, or socialism.

Occurs within a system where a change causes a snowball effect, continuing or even accelerating the original change.

The alternative events, futures and outcomes that geographers can model, project and predict with varying degrees of certainty.

the state of not having enough material possessions or income for a person's basic needs

The ability to influence and affect change or equilibrium at different scales. Power is vested in citizens, governments, institutions and other players, and in physical processes in the natural world.

Action taken to decrease the chance of getting a disease or condition.

The process where green plants called primary producers, make organic compounds like carbohydrates from things like carbon dioxide and water. They do this using sunlight energy in a process called photosynthesis.

A population policy which aims to encourage more births through the use of incentives.

In the probabilistic projection method, the uncertainty of future demographic outcomes is quantified by constructing a large sample of future trajectories for fertility and mortality outcomes for each country. For each year in the future, point projections are given by the median outcome of the sample of trajectories. The percentiles of the sample are used to construct prediction intervals.

Processes are human or physical mechanisms of change, such as migration or weathering. They operate on varying timescales. Linear systems, circular systems, and complex systems are all outcomes of the way in which processes operate and interact.

The ability of a firm to send foreign‐earned profits or financial assets back to the firm's home country in hard currency such as USD, EUR and others, after meeting the host nation's tax obligations.

Refers to government policies that restrict international trade to help domestic industries.

Government specific restrictions on international trade to benefit domestic firms in an economy.

Exchange rates that account for relative price differences across countries.

Formed when three or more adjacent cirques develop on the side of a mountain leaving a sharp mountain peak with steep sides and aretes radiating from a central peak.

A quota is a government-imposed trade restriction that limits the number or monetary value of goods that a country can import or export during a particular period. Countries use quotas in international trade to help regulate the volume of trade between them and other countries. Countries sometimes impose quotas on specific products to reduce imports and increase domestic production.

The birth rate minus the death rate, expressed as a percentage. This value represents the estimated rate of population growth without regard for migration.

Medical doctors per 10000

The process of returning the production and manufacturing of goods back to the company's original country. Also known as onshoring, inshoring, or backshoring.

The processing of waste so that materials can be reused.

In the global context , either a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group, is outside the country of nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country, or a stateless person, who, being outside of the country of former habitual residence for the same reasons as mentioned before, is unable or, owing to such fear, unwilling to return to it.

Larger than a country, smaller than a continent - such as Western Europe.

The ratio of how much water vapour is in the air and how much water vapour the air could potentially contain at a given temperature.

The term used for the differences in height from place to place on the land’s surface and it is greatly affected by the underlying geology. Relief relies on the hardness, permeability and structure of a rock.

Occurs when people move from their original location to another and bring their innovations (or disease) with them.

The transfer of money and/or goods by foreign workers to their home country.

Distant from main centres of population.

The sustained ability to use available resources (energy, communication, transportation, food, etc.) to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations.

The development of natural resources effectively and efficiently without harming the environment or human existence.

A government’s effort to gain greater control or value from its natural resources. This can range from outright expropriation – when a government takes away a private company’s assets – to more creeping forms of appropriation – such as higher taxation or tougher regulation.

An approach to resource management which views humans as ‘caretakers’ of the natural world.

The period of rising river discharge following a period of rainfall.

In its modern sense, the word risk has two distinct meanings: it can mean both the possibility of danger and simultaneously its potential consequences. The first definition emphasizes the source of the risk, while the second focuses on the target exposed to the risk.

Also known as mushroom rocks or pedestal rocks, are geological formations that consist of a column of rock that is wider at the top than at the base, giving the appearance of a pedestal.

Refers to the rotating action of a glacier as it moves over a steep rock face or cliff. As the glacier moves and rotates, it erodes the rock face through abrasion, plucking, and freeze-thaw weathering. The glacier's repeated rotation and erosional action can create a deep, steep-walled basin with a flat floor, known as a cirque basin or corrie, at the head of a glacial valley.

The process of increasing the salt content of soil or groundwater.

A type of physical weathering of rocks that is most common in arid climates involves the growth and expansion of salt crystals within rock cracks. No chemical alteration of rock constituents is involved.

The process by which particles are lifted upwards and forward before returning back to the surface from which they started. This occurs in desert areas and in rivers.

Receive 25 to 50 centimetres of rain per year.

The way we perceive places such as streets, communities, cities or ecoregions.

A service is a transaction in which no physical goods are transferred from the seller to the buyer.

The service sector consists of the production of services instead of end products. Services (also known as "intangible goods") include attention, advice, access and experience.

Number of males per 100 females in the population.

Granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz.

Occurs when a person or groups of people are less able to do things or access basic services or opportunities.

The practice of implementing strategies and techniques to protect and manage soil resources in order to prevent soil erosion, degradation, and loss.

A naturally occurring process. In agriculture, soil erosion refers to the wearing away of a field's topsoil by the natural physical forces of water and wind or through forces associated with farming activities such as tillage.

An agent of transport that can produce tongue-shaped lobes. The slow (0.5 to 5 cm a year) gravitational downslope movement of water-saturated, seasonally thawed materials. During the summer, the soil above the permafrost melts, but the water is unable to drain through the soil that is still frozen underneath.

The process by which certain minerals are dissolved by acidic solutions.

Where a river starts, usually in the mountains.

A measure of the variety of species (both plants and animals) present in a particular ecosystem.

Refers to the level of wealth, comfort, material goods, and necessities available to a certain socioeconomic class or geographic area.

The conducting, supervising, or managing of something, especially : the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.

The discharge of the river above Normal Flow, caused by the Storm Event.

A location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation ("stage") and/or volumetric discharge (flow) are generally taken and observations of biota and water quality may also be made.

The flow of water in streams, rivers, and other channels.

Defined as low height-for-age. It is the result of chronic or recurrent undernutrition, usually associated with poverty, poor maternal health and nutrition, frequent illness and/or inappropriate feeding and care in early life. Stunting prevents children from reaching their physical and cognitive potential.

Beneath the glacier. Includes basal sediments and the basal layers of ice.

a nation or group of nations with a leading position in international politics

A network between a company and its suppliers to produce and distribute a specific product to the final buyer. Companies develop supply chains so they can reduce their costs and remain competitive in the business landscape.

On the surface of the glacier.

The process by which small particles, such as sediment, are carried and transported within a fluid medium, such as water or air. The particles are suspended within the fluid and move along with it, often remaining in suspension for a considerable period of time.

Based on the generalization that everything is interrelated and inter­dependent.

A tariff is a tax imposed by a government of a country or of a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and policy that taxes foreign products to encourage or safeguard domestic industry. Tariffs are among the most widely used instruments of protectionism, along with import and export quotas.

Any legal method used by a taxpayer to minimize the amount of income tax owed. Individual taxpayers and corporations can use forms of tax avoidance to lower their tax bills.

A type of glacial moraine that is formed at the end of a glacier. When a glacier reaches its farthest point of advance, it drops its load of material, forming a ridge of debris that marks the furthest extent of the glacier.

The twenty-foot equivalent unit is an inexact unit of cargo capacity, often used for container ships and container ports. It is based on the volume of a 20-foot-long intermodal container, a standard-sized metal box which can be easily transferred between different modes of transportation, such as ships, trains, and trucks.

A landscape dominated by features resulting from the thawing of ground ice.

Represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with age-specific fertility rates of the specified year.

A type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where barriers to trade (tariffs and others) are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.

A type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where barriers to trade (tariffs and others) are reduced or eliminated among the participating states.

An artificial restriction on the trade of goods and/or services between two countries. It is the byproduct of protectionism. However, the term is controversial because what one part may see as a trade restriction another may see as a way to protect consumers from inferior, harmful or dangerous products.

A trade war happens when one country retaliates against another by raising import tariffs or placing other restrictions on the other country's imports.

The pollution that originates in one country but is able to cause damage in another country’s environment, by crossing borders through pathways like water or air.

A firm that owns or controls productive operations in more than one country through foreign direct investment.

The conversion of water from liquid to gas as it passes through plant stomata, small openings on the undersides of leaves of vascular plants.

The process by which sediment or other materials are moved from one location to another by the agents of transportation. This can occur through a variety of mechanisms, such as wind carrying sand or dust, water transporting sediment downstream, or ice moving rocks and debris across a landscape.

The edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snowpack, or associated lack of available moisture). The tree line is sometimes distinguished from a lower timberline or forest line, which is the line below which trees form a forest with a closed canopy.

Temporal. Change over time.

A smaller river that joins a larger one.

The region of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are delimited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at 23°26′11.2″ N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at 23°26′11.2″ S; these latitudes correspond to the axial tilt of the Earth.

Consists of a series of erratic eddies, both vertical and horizontal, in a downstream direction

A cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea.

The process by which an increasing percentage of a country’s population comes to live in towns and cities. It may involve both rural–urban migration and natural increase.

Vector-borne diseases are human illnesses caused by parasites, viruses and bacteria that are transmitted by vectors. Vectors are living organisms that can transmit infectious pathogens between humans, or from animals to humans. Many of these vectors are bloodsucking insects, which ingest disease-producing microorganisms during a blood meal from an infected host (human or animal) and later transmit it into a new host, after the pathogen has replicated.

The speed that water travels in the river channel.

Farming on vertical surfaces rather than traditional, horizontal agriculture. By using vertically stacked layers, farmers can produce much more food on the same amount of land (or even less). Often these layers are integrated into buildings such as skyscrapers, housed in warehouses or shipping containers, greenhouses, or placed in spaces that would otherwise be unfit for farming.

Virtual water, also called “embedded water” or “indirect water,” is the water “hidden” in the products, services and processes people buy and use every day. Although virtual water goes unseen by the end-user of a product or service, that water has been consumed throughout the value chain, which makes creation of that product or service possible.

The conditions determined by physical, social, economic and environmental factors or processes which increase the susceptibility of an individual, a community, assets or systems to the impacts of hazards.

Typically lacking a stream but occasionally experiencing a surge of water (flash flood) for a brief period following heavy rainfall, a steep-sided ravine is found in desert and semi-desert regions.

Defined as low weight-for-height. It often indicates recent and severe weight loss, although it can also persist for a long time. It usually occurs when a person has not had food of adequate quality and quantity and/or they have had frequent or prolonged illnesses. Wasting in children is associated with a higher risk of death if not treated properly.

The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business.

Water full of dirt and grime might work fine for a tomato plant but would you want to drink it? Water quality can be thought of as a measure of the suitability of water for a particular use based on selected physical, chemical, and biological characteristics.

The amount of available water.

Continuing access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

The upper surface of the zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with water. It can also be simply explained as the depth below which the ground is saturated.

Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio. Absent, inadequate, or inappropriately managed water and sanitation services expose individuals to preventable health risks.

The boundary of a drainage basin

The disintegration and decomposition of rocks in situ by the combined actions of the weather, plants and animals.

An infection by the West Nile virus, which is typically spread by mosquitoes. In about 80% of infections people have few or no symptoms. About 20% of people develop a fever, headache, vomiting, or a rash. In less than 1% of people, encephalitis or meningitis occurs, with associated neck stiffness, confusion, or seizures. Recovery may take weeks to months. The risk of death among those in whom the nervous system is affected is about 10 percent.

A process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, economics, lifestyle, law, norms, mores, customs, traditions, values, mentality, perceptions, diet, clothing, language, writing system, religion, and philosophy.

areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil all year or for varying periods of time during the year, including during the growing season. Water saturation largely determines how the soil develops and the types of plant and animal communities living in and on the soil.

The total length of the bed and bank sides in contact with the water in the channel.

Rocks containing clay minerals, such as clays and shales. When wet minerals expand in volume, when dry, the minerals shrink. Repeated cycles of expansion and contraction eventually cause the rock to fragment and crumble.