Definitions 

ATP (ability to pay)

The amount a consumer is capable of paying for a product or service (see WTP).

Aerobic

In the presence of atmospheric oxygen.

Agro biodiversity

The part of biodiversity that is managed for human uses. It encompasses genetic variability within and among species and the diversity of ecosystems, such as wetlands, grasslands, cleared forests and aquatic ecosystems. 

Agro forestry system

A dynamic natural resource management system that combines agriculture and forestry production to create more integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems.

Anaerobic

In the absence of atmospheric oxygen.

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Backyard composting

Process of home composting using kitchen and other domestic waste, including garden waste.

Biodegradable

Having a physical structure that can be broken down by microorganisms or through other biological means.

Biodynamic farming

Farming that identifies and works with multiple energies (Greek dynamics energy) that create and maintain life. Developed by the late anthroposophist, Rudolf Steiner, in the early 20th century, and has grown and developed in popularity since 1922.

Bio-intensive gardening

A form of organic farming based on the principles of intensive planting, use of organic fertilizer and double digging of growing beds (for better aeration, drainage and root growth).

Biomass

The total weight of living matter/material in a given unit area. An energy resource derived from organic matter that can be burned to produce heat energy. 

Blackwater

Wastewater from household toilets, usually having faecal contamination.

Botanical garden

A facility for the conservation and scientific study of plant biodiversity.

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Closed questions

Questions with a limited number of predetermined replies. 

Coagulation

The process that causes fine particles to clump together into larger particles. Contributes to the separation of solids by settling, skimming, draining or filtering. See also “Flocculate”

C/N ratio

The ratio of carbon to nitrogen (total content) in organic material.  It is used to describe nutrient release or decomposing ability of organic materials. Bacteria, the agents of decomposition, require carbon and nitrogen in particular proportions for efficient nutrient release. C/N ratios of 20-35/1 are beneficial for composting. The C/N ratio of organic waste normally lies between 15 to 30/1.

Compost (product)         

A product of decomposition of organic materials (those with plant and animal origins) through microbial activity. Compost used in gardening and agriculture, mixed in with the soil, improves soil structure, increases the amount of organic matter, and provides nutrients.

Composting (process)

This is the process in which solid organic materials, such as sewage sludge, animal manures, or crop residues, are decomposed in the presence of oxygen through the action of bacteria and other microorganisms.  Controlled methods of composting include mechanical mixing and aerating, ventilating the materials by dropping them through a vertical series of aerated chambers, or placing the compost in piles out in the open air and mixing it or turning it periodically.

Contaminants / pollutants

An introduced substance that has a negative effect on organisms or limits a resource use for a specific purpose

Coping mechanism

Means to withstand stresses and shocks deriving from human or natural causes. These include droughts, floods, market price fluctuations and environmental degradation.

Crop nutrition

The sum of the processes through which cultivated plants take in and utilize food substances.   These substances are divided into two groups: Macronutrients, mainly potassium, nitrogen and phosphate, are the principle components of plant food contributing to growth. Micronutrients or trace elements such as magnesium, zinc, iron and boron can affect plant growth and quality. Nutrient requirements and the ability to take up  nutrients from the soil varies greatly among crops.  For example, iron and zinc deficiency often occurs in fruit trees while boron deficiency has been reported as particularly affecting brassicas growing in light soils. .

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Decant

The act of pouring off the upper layer of liquid (water) after the heavier material (a solid or another liquid) has settled.  

Dose-response data/information 

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Ecosystem

A system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their physical environment, functioning as a unit.

Eco health

Improving human health through better management of the ecosystem. An eco-health approach takes into account multiple determinants of health including considerations of environmental, social and economic factors.

Ecological footprint of cities

A concept developed by William E. Rees to make evident the extent of land area on whose production the urbanites and businesses of any city depend for food, other renewable resources and the absorption of carbon to compensate for the carbon dioxide emitted from fossil fuel use. In short cities have greater environmental impact than the land they occupy extending not just across their boundaries but also internationally and globally.

Ecological footprint

An ecological footprint is a model and teaching tool that approximates the amount of arable and agriculturally or ecologically productive land area it takes to sustain one human or group of humans, say in a family or city, based on their use of energy, food, water, building material and other consumables. It is an educational tool to characterize total resource use and to trigger enhanced resource conservation.

Ecological sanitation (Ecosan)

Sanitation systems structured on recycling principles, by keeping the eco-cycle in the sanitation process closed. In this system, excreta are processed on site until they are free of pathogenic (disease-causing) organisms. Thereafter the sanitized excreta can be recycled and used for agricultural purposes. Key features of Ecosan are therefore:

• Prevention of pollution and disease caused by human excreta,

• Treatment of human excreta as a resource rather than as a waste product, and

• Recovery and recycling of the nutrients.

Effluent

Waste, usually liquid, released or discharged to the environment. Generally the term refers to point-source discharges of sewage or contaminated wastewaters into surface waters.

Epidemiology

The study of the distribution and determinants of diseases and injuries in populations and factors that influence this distribution. Epidemiology involves the measurement of disease outcomes in relation to a ‘population at risk’; this is a group of people, who are healthy or sick, who would be counted as cases if they had the disease being studied.  

Exposure assessment  

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FAITH garden

Abbreviation for “Food Always In The House”. Refers to small-scale, intensive food production around the house (growing in baskets or containers for example) through recycling of kitchen and garden waste.

Farmer Field School

An intensive participatory training program based on principles of adult education, and social learning emphasizing integrated crop management and building on local farming techniques, knowledge and experiences.  It enables farmers to develop critical thinking and knowledge sharing.

Fate and transport model 

A way of estimating for a particular environmental pollutant, the media through which it travels, the movements between media (for example, between water and soil) and transformations in the pollutants and its availability to human or other species.

Flocculation  

The gathering together of fine particles after coagulation (see ref) to form larger particles by a process of gentle mixing.

FFS – (see Farmer Field School)

Food security  

A community enjoys food security when all people, at all times, have access to nutritious, safe, personally acceptable and culturally appropriate foods, produced in ways that are environmentally sound and socially just.

Forest garden

A system of farming developed in response to increased population pressure in which intensive management is combined with extensive integration of perennials (trees and shrubs) and livestock into the system. It emphasizes the spreading of food and income production over the year, reduction of soil erosion, conservation of moisture and employ’s the family year round.

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Gender

The socio-cultural defined relations, roles, rights and obligations of women and men that vary between and within cultures (according to class, ethnicity, age and marital status) as well as over time. Gender is different from sex, which concerns biological differences between women and men.

Gender mainstreaming

The inclusion of gender issues in all aspect of programming, not as a separate add-on activity. It involves integrating gender concerns into the analysis, formulation and monitoring of policy, programs and projects, in order to reduce inequities between women and men.

Green manure

The incorporation of crop biomass, preferably of nitrogen-fixing crops, that enriches soil quality and nutrient content.

Grey water

Domestic wastewater from household functions such as washing dishes, laundry or bath water. (See Blackwater)

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HAI 

(See Health Impact Assessment)

Health 

A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Health hazards

Environmental pollutants, disease vectors or lifestyle choices that can undermine health.  A hazard may be an agent or substance in the environment that has potential to cause an ill health event to persons exposed to it.

Health Impact Assessment

A tool for estimating the effect of a particular event, practice, hazard, intervention etc. on health.

Health risks

The probability of morbidity (illness or injury) or mortality (death) from a particular exposure.

Helminth

A parasitic intestinal worm (Eg, roundworm or hookworm).

Humus

Decomposed organic matter. Organic substances that provide nutrients, improves soil structure and increase soil moisture retention capacity. The end product of aerobic biological decomposition processes such as composting. See composting.

Hydroponics

Method of growing plants in water that contains dissolved nutrients (instead of in soil)

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ICM

See Integrated Crop Management

Integrated Crop Management

An approach to agricultural production that integrates a number of ways to manage plant and soil health to sustainably increase productivity. 

Inorganic waste

Materials that are not based on organic (plant and animal) compounds e.g. sand, metal and glass.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

A pest control strategy based on the determination of an economic threshold that indicates when a pest population is approaching the level at which control measures are necessary to prevent a decline in net returns. In principle, IPM is an ecologically based strategy that relies on natural mortality factors, such as natural enemies, weather, and crop management, and seeks control tactics that disrupt these factors as little as possible.

Intra-urban agriculture

Agriculture that takes place within the built up city. Most cities and towns have vacant and under-utilised land areas that are or can be used for urban agriculture, including areas not suited for building, idle public or private lands that can have an interim use, community lands and household areas.  Areas cultivated tend to be very small and farming systems mainly have a subsistence or recreational nature, or are highly specialised. The economic effect of intra-urban agriculture is difficult to measure but appears minor, while the effect on food security is significant.

IPM – see Integrated Pest Management

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Land tenure

The system of rights and institutions that governs access to and use of land and other resources on that land.

Land accessibility

The opportunity for the actual utilization of available land by households or groups, taking into account administrative procedures and conflicts that may arise.

Legumes

Nitrogen-fixing plants that have their seeds in a pod, like beans and peas.

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Macro-nutrient

(See Crop Nutrition)

Market Chain

The actors or activities and their linkages involved in the sequence of production, transformation, distribution and consumption of a product.

Micro-nutrient

(See Crop Nutrition)

Mulch

A layer of organic and or inorganic material covering the soil and used to conserve moisture, manage soil temperature, reduce soil erosion and suppress weeds. Mulch is not initially mixed into the soil and is not primarily a fertilizer or soil amendment. There are many types of mulch, including partially decomposed organic residues, bark, wood chips, hay, nut shells, pine needles, and others. Organic mulch will also supply nutrients to the earth as it decomposes.

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Nematode (of plants)

Microscopic parasitic soil worm, which may attack roots or other structures of plants and cause extensive damage (specifically known to be a threat to crops like potato or tomato).

NGO (Non-governmental organization)

Organizations that are not associated with government or with commercial objectives.  Ranging from football clubs to non-profit humanitarian organizations.

Nutrient

A chemical element or compound that is essential for the metabolism and growth of an organism. An element is not essential unless:

• Its deficiency prevents a plant from completing the vegetative or reproductive stages of its life cycle.
• This shortage is specific for a given element, being only corrected when the same is applied.
• The element has to be directly involved in the nutrition of the plant, it’s effect is not a result of unfavorable physical, chemical or microbiological conditions in the soil.

Nutrient recycling loop

Concept tool used to assess all the processes involved in turning organic waste into compost at municipal, community and/or household level for use as an agriculture fertilizer in urban and peri-urban agriculture. It involves the supply of organic waste, the demand for waste compost and the process of waste collection and composting.

Nutrients from soil reserves

(See Crop Nutrition)

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Off-plot agriculture

Agriculture practiced on plots away from the homestead, like open areas in the city that are leased or illegally occupied.

Opportunity costs

Costs that result from not taking up the alternate use of a good, service or asset. For example, the opportunity cost of a car park is the value of the land on which the car park is located if it were used for another purpose for which it is suitable

Open-ended questions

Survey questions that do not have a limited number of predetermined answers.

On-plot agriculture

Agriculture practiced in and around the homestead (backyard, front garden, roof-tops, verandas, growing walls etc).

Organic

Related to or derived from plants or animals.

Organic farming

Organic farming is a way of farming that avoids the use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. Its theoretical basis puts an emphasis on soil health. Its proponents believe that healthy soil, maintained without the use of man-made fertilisers and pesticides, and livestock raised without drugs, yields higher quality food than conventional, chemical based, agriculture.

Organic waste

(See Compost)

OWTS – (Onsite Wastewater Treatment System) 

A natural system or mechanical device used to collect, treat, and discharge or reclaim wastewater from an individual dwelling without the use of community-wide sewers or a centralized treatment facility. A conventional onsite system includes a septic tank and a leach (drain) field.  Other alternative types of onsite systems include at-grade systems, mound systems, sand filters and small aerobic units.

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Pathogen

Infectious or toxic forms of microorganisms causing disease. A food-borne pathogen is a microorganism that causes illness through being ingested in food.

Peri-urban agriculture

Agriculture that takes place in the periphery of built-up urban centers. Peri-urban agriculture tends to be very intensive and commercially oriented, with frequent products of more high value, perishable crops and animal products.

pH value

Describes the acidic or alkaline state of a substance on a scale from 1 to 14 which expresses the relative acidity or alkalinity of the water in soil. A pH of 7 is neutral, i.e., neither more alkaline or more acidic. Values below 7 are acidic, increasingly acidic toward 1. Values above 7 are alkaline, increasingly alkaline as the values increase toward 14. pH is the standard abbreviation for "potential hydrogen" which denotes the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution.

Plant nutrients

(See Crop Nutrition)

Policy

A policy can be defined as a course of action or inaction chosen by public authorities to address a given issue, problem or interrelated set of problems. A policy consists of a union of laws, regulations, implementation procedures and enforcement actions that lead towards a goal. Public policies are solutions to public issues.

Policy could be regarded as the overall framework, philosophy or broad structure by which a government (or an establishment) intends to or does influence socio-economic activities or human behavior to bring desired change.

Policy analysis

The process of reviewing and analyzing existing policies so that an enabling policy framework can be identified and developed.

Potable water

Water of a quality suitable for human consumption. 

Public interest

In the urban planning sense of the term  "maintenance and enhancement of the conditions necessary for an urban system to function adequately as a context for modern civilized urban society." 

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Recycle / reuse 

Minimizing waste generation by recovering and reprocessing usable discarded material that otherwise would become waste (i.e., recycling of aluminum cans, paper, and bottles, etc.).

Recycled water

Water that is used more than one time before it passes back into the natural hydrologic system.

Resource conserving technologies

Technologies that conserve and protect natural resources by being environmentally friendly, affordable and local resource based. They include bio-intensive gardening, biodynamic farming, forest gardens, small-scale water harvesting and use of drought and disease resistant crop varieties.

Risk-benefit analysis

Calculation of whether an intervention is justified, considering the risks involved. 

Risk characterization (models) 

A way of estimating the probability of a potential adverse human health impact e.g., nervous system impairment, poisoning, illness, for a particular population e.g., small children, adults of reproductive age,  associated with a specified likely exposure.

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Saline water

Water that contains significant amounts of dissolved salts.

Sampling

Techniques to obtain reliable information about a large population by examining a smaller, sub-set of the population (the sample).

Septic system

An on-site system designed to treat and dispose of domestic sewage from a residence or business not connected to a sewer line. A typical septic system consists of a septic tank that receives waste and holds it while bacteria decompose solids, and a system of tile lines or a pit for disposal of the liquid effluent. The sludge that remains in the tank after decomposition of the solids must be pumped out periodically. By using the assimilative capacity of the land, a properly operating septic system has minimal impact, but an improperly functioning system can be a source of nitrogen pollution and of groundwater contamination.

Solid waste 

Source separation       

Separate collection systems for different streams of waste  at the source of production (for example  separating newspapers, glass, yard wastes, plastic bottles, etc. into separate containers or piles for waste processing)

Stakeholders

People who have an interest in a particular decision, either as individuals or representatives of a group. They include people who influence a decision, or can influence it, as well as those affected by it.  

Sustainable agriculture

Agricultural systems that integrate plant and animal production practices that will over a long term satisfy human food feed and other needs, while maintaining existing natural resources for use by future generations.

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Trade-off

A trade off is a balance between a negative and positive impact resulting from the same activity (eg. food security improvements from vegetable production, against increased negative health impact for pesticide use).  Also see cross benefit.

Triangulation

The combination of methodologies in the study of the same phenomenon or construct; a method of establishing the accuracy of information by comparing three or more types of independent points of view on data sources (for example, interviews, observation, and documentation) bearing on the same findings.

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UPA    

Urban (ref) and peri-urban agriculture (ref.).

Urban agriculture

The growing of plants and the raising of animals for food and other uses within urban and peri-urban areas, and related activities such as the production and delivery of inputs, and the processing and marketing of products in an urban setting.

Urban agriculture is an industry located within (intra-urban) or on the fringe (peri-urban) of a town, a city or a metropolis, which grows or raises, processes and distributes a diversity of food and non-food products, (re)using largely human and material resources, products and services found in and around that urban area, and in turn supplying human and material resources, products and services largely to that urban area. (Luc J. A. Mougeot 2000)

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Vermiculture

Composting using red earthworms.

Viscosity

The measure of resistance in the flow of fluid under sheer stress. It is commonly perceived as “thickness”, or resistance to pouring.

Waste utilization

Recovery and production of materials or energy from waste.

Wastewater

Polluted water with different degrees of dilution from residencies, farms, institutions, commercial and industrial establishments, which is usually mixed with rainwater, urban run-off or water from connected streams/rivers.

 (See also grey water, black water)

WRUA

Waste reuse in urban agriculture

WTP (willing to pay)

Amount a consumer is “willing-to-pay” for a product or service.

Zoonosis

Transmission of disease from animals to humans.

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