environmental education – set of educational actions aimed at understanding the dynamics of ecosystems, considering effects of man's relationship with the environment, social determination and historical variation/evolution of this relationship. It aims to prepare the individual to critically integrate into the environment, questioning society with its technology, values and even their daily consumption, in order to broaden their vision of the world in a perspective of integration between man and nature.
Greenhouse effect - phenomenon that occurs when gases, such as carbon dioxide and others, acting as glass walls from a greenhouse, trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, preventing its passage back into the stratosphere. The greenhouse effect works on a planetary scale and the phenomenon can be observed, for example, in a car exposed to the sun and with the windows closed. The sun's rays pass through the car's glass, causing its interior to heat up, which ends up "stored" inside the vehicle, because the glass retains infrared rays. In the specific case of the terrestrial atmosphere, gases such as CFC, methane and carbon dioxide work as if they were the glass of a car. Sunlight passes through them, heats the planet's surface, but part of the heat that should be returned to the atmosphere is trapped, causing the environment to increase thermic. Happening across the planet, it would be capable of promoting the partial melting of the polar ice caps, with the consequent rise in sea levels and the flooding of coastlines.
Erosion – process by which the topsoil or parts of the soil are removed by the impact of raindrops, winds and waves and are transported and deposited elsewhere. It starts as laminar erosion and can even reach the degree of gully.
ecological station – representative areas of ecosystems destined to carry out basic and applied ecology research, production of the natural environment and the development of conservation education. In areas surrounding the ecological stations, within a radius of 10 kilometers, any activity that may affect the biota will be subject to the rules issued by CONAMA. They have the objective of protecting samples of the main ecosystems, equipping these units with infrastructure that allows the research institutions carry out comparative ecological studies between protected areas and those that have undergone alteration anthropic.
Environmental Impact Study (EIA) – Acronym for the term Enviromment Impact Assessment, which means Environmental Impact Assessment, also called Environmental Impact Studies.
Ethology – science that studies the behavior of living beings, aiming to establish the effects and causes, as well as the mechanisms responsible for different forms of conduct.
Extractivism – the act of extracting wood or other products from forests or minerals.
Limiting factor – one that sets the limits for the development of a population within the ecosystem, due to the absence, reduction or excess of this environmental factor.
Fauna – set of animals that inhabit a certain region.
Flora – all the plant species comprising the vegetation of a given region, without any expression of individual importance.
National, State or Municipal Forest – extensive area, generally well forested and containing considerable surfaces of marketable wood in combination with the resource water, conditions for survival of wild animals and where there is opportunity for outdoor recreation and education environmental. The management objectives are to reproduce, under the concept of multiple use, a yield of wood and water, protect the values of recreation and aesthetics, providing opportunities for environmental education and outdoor recreation and, whenever possible, managing the fauna. Parts of this category of conservation units may have been altered by man, but generally the national forests do not have any unique or exceptional characteristics, nor are they intended only for an end.
Hydrosphere – part of the biosphere represented by the entire body of water (oceans, lakes, rivers, water vapor, ground water, etc.).
Environmental impact - any change in the physical-chemical and biological properties of the environment, caused by any form of matter or energy resulting from human activities that, directly or indirectly, affect the health, safety and well-being of the population, social and economic activities, the biota, the aesthetic and sanitary conditions of the environment, in short, the quality of environmental resources.
ecological impact – refers to the total effect that an environmental variation, whether natural or man-made, produces on the ecology of a region, such as the construction of a dam.
Ecological indicators - refer to certain species that, due to their well-defined environmental requirements and their presence in a certain area or place, can become an indication or sign that the ecological conditions exist for them needed.
leaching – vertical drag, by water infiltration, of particles from the soil surface to deeper layers.
Nuclear waste – reject from nuclear reactions, which can emit radiation in harmful doses for hundreds of years.
Toxic trash – consists of poisonous waste, such as solvents, paint, car batteries, cell phone batteries, pesticides, batteries, products to unclog sinks and toilets, among others.
fountainhead – all water bodies used for the public supply of drinking water.
Management – application of programs for the use of ecosystems, natural or artificial, based on solid ecological theories, in order to maintain, in the best possible way, in the communities, useful sources of biological products for man, and also as a source of scientific knowledge and pleasure.
Environment – Everything that surrounds the living being, that influences it and that is indispensable to its sustenance. These conditions include soil, climate, water resources, air, nutrients and other organisms. The environment is not only constituted by the physical and biological environment, but also by the socio-cultural environment and its relationship with the development models adopted by man.
Heavy metals – metals such as copper, zinc, cadmium, nickel and lead, which are commonly used in industry and can, if present in high concentrations, delay or inhibit the aerobic or anaerobic biological process and be toxic to organisms alive.
Microclimate – set of atmospheric conditions of a limited place in relation to those of the general climate.
Migration – moving individuals or groups of individuals from one region to another. It can be regular or periodic, and it can also coincide with seasonal changes.
Environmental monitoring – repetitive, described or continuous measurement, or systematic observation of environmental quality.
NGOs – acronym for non-governmental organizations. They are independent civil society movements that work in the areas of ecology, social, cultural, among others.
National, State or Municipal Parks - are relatively large areas, which represent one or more ecosystems, little or not altered by human occupation, where animal species, vegetation, geomorphological sites and habitats offer special interests from a scientific, educational, recreational and conservationist. They are considerable surfaces that contain unique or spectacular natural features, of national, state or municipal importance.
environmental heritage – set of natural assets of humanity.
Piracema – migratory movement of fish towards the sources of rivers, with the purpose of reproduction. It occurs in times of heavy rains, during the spawning period.
management plan – plan for the rational use of the environment, aimed at preserving the ecosystem in association with its use for other purposes (social, economic, etc.).
Pollution – effect that a pollutant has on the ecosystem. Any alteration of the environment harmful to living beings, particularly to man. It occurs when the waste produced by living beings increases and cannot be reused.
environmental preservation – actions that guarantee the maintenance of the characteristics of an environment and the interactions between its components.
Radioactivity – characteristics of some unstable atoms such as uranium and cesium, to transform into other elements through the expulsion of particles or ray from the nucleus, with the release of energy. Radiation can cause mutations and other damage, such as cancer and death, to the organisms that are exposed to it. However, radioactivity can be beneficial in some situations where it is controlled, such as mutations for genetic improvement of some plants, in material sterilization, in insect sterilization and in medicine, to eliminate some forms of tumors carcinogens.
Reforestation – a process that consists of replanting trees in areas that were previously occupied by forests.
Biological reserve – conservation unit aimed at protecting natural resources for scientific and educational purposes. It has ecosystems or species of flora and fauna of scientific importance. In general, they do not allow access to the public, and do not normally have significant scenic beauty or recreational values. Its size is determined by the area required for the scientific objectives it proposes, ensuring its protection.
ecological reserve – conservation unit whose purpose is to preserve natural ecosystems of fundamental importance for ecological balance.
Extractive reserve –This type of conservation unit emerged from the proposal of rubber tapper and union leader Chico Mendes, who was murdered in December 1989. Extractive reserves are spaces intended for self-sustainable exploration and conservation of renewable natural resources for a population with extractive tradition, such as rubber tappers for example, based on the experience of latex extraction in the Xapuri region, Acre.. The extractive settlement project is materialized by granting the use of areas with potential to populations who engage or will engage in extractivism in an economically viable and ecologically sustainable.
Indigenous Reserve – area characterized by having indigenous societies. Indigenous reserves are often isolated and remote and may remain inaccessible for a long period of time. The management objectives are to provide a way of life for societies that live in harmony and depend on the environment, avoiding a disturbance by modern technology and, in the background, conducting research on the evolution of man and his interaction with the Earth.
Biosphere Reserve – the United Nations Man and Biosphere program initiated a project to establish biosphere reserves in 1970. These reserves must include: samples of natural biomes; unique communities or natural areas of exceptional interest; examples of harmonious land use; examples of modified or degraded ecosystems, where restoration to more natural conditions is possible. A biosphere reserve can include conservation units such as national parks or biological reserves.
World Heritage Reserve – Conservation International for the Protection of Cultural Heritage (Unesco-1972) provides for the designation of areas of universal value as a World Heritage Reserve. These reserves must meet one or more of the following criteria: contain significant examples of major stages of Earth's evolution; contain significant examples of geological processes, biological evolution and human interaction with the natural environment; contain unique, rare or superlative natural phenomena, formations of exceptional beauty; contain habitats where populations of rare or endangered species can still survive.
Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) – private domain area where, in perpetuity, primitive, semi-primitive, recovered natural conditions or whose value justifies recovery actions are identified intended for the maintenance, in part or in full, of the landscape, the biological cycle of native or migratory species of fauna and flora and physical natural resources, duly registered. Areas considered of remarkable scenic, scenic and ecological value that deserve to be preserved and conserved to future generations, sheltered from the greed and uncontrollable predatory rage of the destroyers of the environment environment. This category of conservation unit was created by Decree no. 98,914, of January 31, 1990. It is, however, IBAMA's responsibility to recognize and register the private natural heritage reserve, after analyzing the application and the documents presented by the interested party. The owner will enjoy benefits, such as exemption from the Rural Land Tax on the preserved area, in addition to support and guidance of IBAMA and other governmental or private entities for the exercise of inspection and monitoring of the activities developed in the reservation.
RIME – acronym for the Environmental Impact Report. It is based on information from the EIA (EIA) and is mandatory for the licensing of activities that modify the environment, such as such as construction of roads, subways, railways, airports, ports, urban settlements, mining, construction of generation plants of electricity and its transmission lines, landfills, industrial and agricultural complexes, economic exploitation of wood, etc.
China Syndrome – name that designates an imaginary nuclear accident, with the uncontrolled meltdown of an atomic reactor. According to the fiction, the amount of heat was so great that it would cause the ground to melt from the United States to China.
Overfishing – occurs when the specimens of a population are captured in greater numbers than what will be born to take their place. It also occurs when stocks of the main species are under exploitation by a number of vessels that exceed the maximum technically recommended effort for sustainable fishing.
Tolerance – ability to withstand environmental variations to a greater or lesser degree. To identify the tolerance levels of an organism, the prefixes euri, which means broad, or steno, which means limited, are used. Thus, an animal that supports a wide range of environmental temperature is called a eurytherm, while an organism that has a small tolerance capacity for this same factor is called short term.
Conservation units – areas created with the objective of harmonizing, protecting natural resources and improving the population's quality of life.
gully – last stage of erosion. A regional term of Tupi-Guarani origin, to call large furrows, especially those with large dimensions and rapid evolution. Its mechanism is complex and normally includes groundwater as an erosive agent, in addition to the action of runoff water.
agroecological zoning – is the ordering, in the form of maps, of information relating to the type of vegetation, geology, soil, climate, water resources, climate and preservation areas in a given region.
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/geografia/glossario-ambiental2.htm