Average Rate of Return Average rate of return takes the
whole expenditure as given and calculates the rate of re-
turn to the global set of expenditures. It indicates whether
or not the entire investment package was successful, but
it does not indicate whether the allocation of resources
between investment components was optimal.
Biodiversity The  variability  among  living  organisms  from
all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and
other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes
of which they are part; including diversity within species
and gene diversity among species, between species and
of ecosystems.
Bioelectricity Electricity   derived   from  the  combustion   of
biomass, either directly or co-fired with fossil fuels such
as coal and natural gas. Higher levels of conversion ef-
ficiency can be attained when biomass is gasified before
combustion.
Bioenergy (biomass energy) Bioenergy is comprised of bio-
electricity, bioheat and biofuels. Such energy carriers can
be produced from energy crops (e.g., sugar cane, maize,
oil palm), natural vegetation (e.g., woods, grasses) and
organic wastes and residues (e.g., from forestry and agri-
culture). Bioenergy refers also to the direct combustion of
biomass, mostly for heating and cooking purposes.
Biofuel Liquid fuels derived from biomass and predominantly
used in transportation. The dominant biofuels are eth-
anol and biodiesel. Ethanol is produced by fermenting
starch contained in plants such as sugar cane, sugar beet,
maize, cassava, sweet sorghum or beetroot. Biodiesel is
typically produced through a chemical process called
trans-esterification, whereby oily biomass such as rape-
seed, soybeans, palm oil, jatropha seeds, waste cooking
oils or vegetable oils is combined with methanol to form
methyl esters (sometimes called "fatty acid methyl ester"
or FAME).
Bioheat Heat produced from the combustion  of biomass,
mostly   as   industrial   process   heat   and   heating   for
buildings.
Biological Control The use of living organisms as control
agents   for  pests,   (arthropods,   nematodes   mammals,
weeds and pathogens) in agriculture. There are three
types of biological control:
Conservation biocontrol: The protection and encourage-
ment of local natural enemy populations by crop and
habitat management measures that enhance their sur-
vival, efficiency and growth.
Augmentative biocontrol: The release of natural enemies
into crops to suppress specific populations of pests over
one or a few generations, often involving the mass pro-
duction and regular release of natural enemies.
Classical biocontrol: The local introduction of new species
of natural enemies with the intention that they establish
and build populations that suppress particular pests, of-
ten introduced alien pests to which they are specific.
Biological Resources Include genetic resources, organisms
or parts thereof, populations, or any other biotic compo-
nent of ecosystems with actual or potential use or value
for humanity.
Biotechnology The IAASTD definition of biotechnology is
based on that in the Convention on Biological Diversity
and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. It is a broad

term embracing the manipulation of living organisms
and spans the large range of activities from conventional
techniques for fermentation and plant and animal breed-
ing to recent innovations in tissue culture, irradiation,
genomics and marker-assisted breeding (MAB) or marker
assisted selection (MAS) to augment natural breeding.
Some of the latest biotechnologies, called "modern bio-
technology",   include the use of in vitro modified DNA
or RNA and the fusion of cells from different taxonomic
families, techniques that overcome natural physiological
reproductive or recombination barriers.
Biosafety Referring to the avoidance of risk to human health
and safety, and to the conservation of the environment,
as a result of the use for research and commerce of infec-
tious or genetically modified organisms.
Blue Water The water in rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds and
aquifers.  Dryland  production  only  uses  green  water,
while irrigated production uses blue water in addition
to green water.
BLCAs Brokered     Long-term     Contractual     Arrangements
(BLCAs) are institutional arrangements often involving
a farmer cooperative, or a private commercial, parastatal
or a state trading enterprise and a package (inputs, serv-
ices, credit, knowledge) that allows small-scale farmers
to engage in the production of a marketable commodity,
such as cocoa or other product that farmers cannot easily
sell elsewhere.
Catchment An area that collects and drains rainwater.
Capacity Development Any action or process which assists
individuals, groups, organizations and communities in
strengthening or developing their resources.
Capture Fisheries The sum (or range) of all activities to har-
vest a given fish resource from the "wild". It may refer
to the location (e.g., Morocco, Gearges Bank), the target
resource (e.g., hake), the technology used (e.g., trawl or
beach seine), the social characteristics (e.g., artisanal, in-
dustrial), the purpose (e.g., commercial, subsistence, or
recreational) as well as the season (e.g., winter).
Carbon Sequestration The process that removes carbon di-
oxide from the atmosphere.
Cellulosic Ethanol Next generation biofuel that allows con-
verting not only glucose but also cellulose and hemicel-
lulose—the main building blocks of most biomass—into
ethanol, usually using acid-based catalysis or enzyme-
based reactions to break down plant fibers into sugar,
which is then fermented into ethanol.
Climate Change Refers to a statistically significant variation
in either the mean state of the climate or in its variability,
persisting for an extended period (typically decades or
longer). Climate change may be due to natural internal
processes or external forcing, or to persistent anthropo-
genic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or
in land use.
Clone A group of genetically identical cells or individuals that
are all derived from one selected individual by vegeta-
tive propagation or by asexual reproduction, breeding
of completely inbred organisms, or forming genetically
identical organisms by nuclear transplantation.
Commercialization The process of increasing the share of in-
come that is earned in cash (e.g., wage income, surplus
production for marketing) and reducing the share that is