OpenNESS Glossary beginning with S

S

Scenario search for term

Plausible, but simplified descriptions of how the future may develop, based on a coherent and internally consistent set of assumptions about key driving forces and relationships. Scenarios are no predictions of what will happen, but ore projections on what might happen or could happen given certain assumptions about which there might be great uncertainty.

Security search for term

Access to resources, safety, and the ability to live in a predictable and controllable environment.

Service search for term

See 'Ecosystem service'

Service-Providing Unit search for term

*The collection of individuals from a given species and the metrics of trait attributes (e.g., abundance, phenology, distribution) that are necessary for delivery of an ecosystem service at a desired level. The SPU must be quantified in terms of metrics such as abundance, phenology and distribution.

Shared Social Value search for term

The fulfilment, meaning or significance of the collective needs of society in relation to social, health and cultural services.

Social-Ecological System search for term

Interwoven and interdependent ecological and social structures and their associated relationships.

Societal Choice search for term

Collective decisions based on a decision-making process that identifies preferences or processes arguments.

Socio-Economic System search for term

A system consisting of individuals, groups and organizations and their economic and social interactions.

Species search for term

(taxonomic rank only) A taxon of the rank of species; in the hierarchy of biological classification the category below genus; the basic unit of biological classification

Species Diversity search for term

Biodiversity at the species level, often combining aspects of species richness, their relative abundance, and their dissimilarity.

Species Richness search for term

The number of species within a given sample, community, or area.

Stability search for term

“[A] kind of overarching meta-concept, comprising very different and more specific concepts such as persistence, resilience, constancy, elasticity [also robustness], etc., each of which also has several different meanings.” (Jax 2010: 168). Precise meaning should be specified for each use. 

Stakeholder search for term

Any group, organisation or individual who can affect or is affected by the ecosystem’s services.

Stakeholder Analysis search for term

Stakeholder analysis can be defined as a process that:

i) defines aspects of a social and natural phenomenon affected by a decision or action;

ii) identifies individuals, groups and organisations who are affected by or can affect those parts of the phenomenon (this may include nonhuman and non-living entities and future generations); and

iii) prioritises these individuals and groups for involvement in the decision-making process.

Stakeholder Typology search for term

Classification of stakeholders according to the attributes: power, legitimacy, and urgency.

State (of a social-ecological system) search for term

Collection of variables that describe the overall physical condition of a social ecological system, including attributes of both ecosystem service providers and ecosystem service beneficiaries.

Story Boarding search for term

A verbal description of a problem or situation or system usually developed though qualitative, deliberative methods. 

Storyline search for term

A narrative description of a scenario, which highlights its main features and the relationships between the scenario’s driving forces and its main features.

Structure (of an Ecosystem, Habitat, Community) search for term

The aggregate of elements of an entity in their relationships to each other. The component parts of an ecosystem; see 'natural capital asset' or 'natural capital stock'.

Supporting Services search for term

Ecological processes and functions that are necessary for the production of final ecosystem services. See also 'intermediate services'. 

Sustainability search for term

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. Weak sustainability assumes that needs can be met by the substitution of different forms of capital (i.e. through trade-offs); strong sustainability posits that substitution of different forms of capital is seriously limited.

Sustainable Use of ES search for term

Human use of an ecosystem so that it may yield a continuous benefit to present generations while maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of future generations.

System search for term

A construct for a reporting unit at a level of aggregation generally above that which is applied to an ecosystem. Systems may include many ecosystems with varying degrees of interaction and spatial connectivity, in addition to their associated social and economic components. Systems are not mutually exclusive and can overlap both spatially and conceptually.

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