but also society at large. Governments can reduce nega-
tive externalities by regulating and taxing goods with
negative externalities. Governments can increase positive
externalities by subsidizing goods with positive externali-
ties or by directly providing those goods.
Fallow Cropland left idle from harvest to planting or during
the growing season.
Farmer-led Participatory Plant Breeding Researchers and/
or development workers interact with farmer-controlled,
managed and executed PPB activities, and build on farm-
ers' own varietal development and seed systems.
Feminization The increase in the share of women in an activ-
ity, sector or process.
Fishery Generally, a fishery is an activity leading to harvesting
of fish. It may involve capture of wild fish or the raising
of fish through aquaculture.
Food Security Food security exists when all people of a given
spatial unit, at all times, have physical and economic ac-
cess to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their
dietary needs and food preferences for an active and
healthy life, and that is obtained in a socially acceptable
and ecologically sustainable manner.
Food Sovereignty The right of peoples and sovereign states
to democratically determine their own agricultural and
food policies.
Food System A food system encompasses the whole range of
food production and consumption activities. The food
system includes farm input supply, farm production, food
processing, wholesale and retail distribution, marketing,
and consumption.
Forestry The human utilization of a piece of forest for a cer-
tain purpose, such as timber or recreation.
Forest Systems Forest systems are lands dominated by trees;
they are often used for timber, fuelwood, and non-wood
forest products.
Gender Refers to the socially constructed roles and behaviors
of, and relations between, men and women, as opposed
to sex, which refers to biological differences. Societies
assign specific entitlements, responsibilities and values
to men and women of different social strata and sub-
groups.
Worldwide,  systems  of relation  between men  and
women tend to disadvantage women, within the family
as well as in public life. Like the hierarchical framework
of a society, gender roles and relations vary according to
context and are constantly subject to changes.
Genetic Engineering Modifying genotype, and hence pheno-
type, by transgenesis.
Genetic Material Any material of plant, animal, microbial or
other origin containing functional units of heredity.
Genomics The research strategy that uses molecular charac-
terization and cloning of whole genomes to understand
the structure, function and evolution of genes and to an-
swer fundamental biological questions.
Globalization Increasing interlinking of political, economic,
institutional, social, cultural, technical, and ecological is-
sues at the global level.
GMO  (Genetically Modified Organism) An organism in
which the genetic material has been altered anthropo-
genically by means of gene or cell technologies.
Governance The framework of social and economic systems

and legal and political structures through which human-
ity manages itself.  In general, governance comprises the
traditions, institutions and processes that determine how
power is exercised, how citizens are given a voice, and
how decisions are made on issues of public concern.
Global Environmental Governance The global biosphere
behaves as a single system, where the environmental im-
pacts of each nation ultimately affect the whole. That
makes a coordinated response from the community of
nations a necessity for reversing today's environmental
decline.
Global Warming Refers to an increase in the globally-aver-
aged surface temperature in response to the increase of
well-mixed greenhouse gases, particularly CO2.
Global Warming Potential An index, describing the radiative
characteristics of well-mixed greenhouse gases, that rep-
resents the combined effect of the differing times these
gases remain in the atmosphere and their relative effec-
tiveness in absorbing outgoing infrared radiation. This
index approximates the time-integrated warming effect
of a unit mass of a given greenhouse gas in today's atmo-
sphere, relative to that of carbon dioxide.
Green Revolution An aggressive effort since 1950 in which
agricultural researchers applied scientific principles of
genetics and breeding to improve crops grown primar-
ily in less-developed countries. The effort typically was
accompanied  by collateral investments to  develop  or
strengthen the delivery of extension services, production
inputs and markets and develop physical infrastructures
such as roads and irrigation.
Green Water Green water refers to the water that comes from
precipitation and is stored in unsaturated soil. Green wa-
ter is typically taken up by plants as evapotranspiration.
Ground Water Water stored underground in rock crevices
and in the pores of geologic materials that make up the
Earth's crust. The upper surface of the saturate zone is
called the water table.
Growth Rate The change (increase, decrease, or no change) in
an indicator over a period of time, expressed as a percent-
age of the indicator at the start of the period. Growth rates
contain several sets of information. The first is whether
there is any change at all; the second is what direction
the change is going in (increasing or decreasing); and the
third is how rapidly that change is occurring.
Habitat Area occupied by and supporting living organisms.
It is also used to mean the environmental attributes re-
quired by a particular species or its ecological niche.
Hazard A potentially damaging physical event, phenomenon
and/or human activity, which my cause injury, property
damage, social and economic disruption or environmen-
tal degradation.
Hazards can include latent conditions that may repre-
sent future threats and can have different origins.
Household All the persons, kin and non-kin, who live in the
same or in a series of related dwellings and who share in-
come, expenses and daily subsistence tasks. A basic unit
for socio-cultural and economic analysis, a household
may consist of persons (sometimes one but generally two
or more) living together and jointly making provision for
food or other essential elements of the livelihood.
Industrial Agriculture Form of agriculture that is capital-