| Term | Definition | Last updated |
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| Sulphur dioxide (SO2) | A gas released from volcanoes and certain fossil fuel combustion. Sulphur dioxide combines with… |
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| Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) | Seventeen themed goals adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as the 2030 Agenda… |
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| Tipping points | A critical threshold in the climate system which when crossed results in a catastrophic change… |
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| Triple planetary crisis | The three major interlinked challenges of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. |
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| Urbanisation | The increasing proportion of people living in cities and towns, and the related growth of urban… |
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| Vectors | Living organisms that carry an infectious disease from an infected ‘host’ individual to a non-… |
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| Virtual water | The water ‘hidden’ in products and services, including in production and the supply chain.… |
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| Waste crisis | Humans generate an enormous amount of waste. The waste crisis is caused and amplified by over-… |
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| Water scarcity | Insufficient freshwater to meet all demands (human, animal and ecosystem), due to shortage (… |
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| Water security | Reliably having enough (and not too much) quality water for human and ecosystem health, human… |
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| Wellbeing economy | An economic system operating within safe environmental limits that is centred on healthy people… |
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| X (Disease X) | A hypothetical (future and unknown) disease that could cause a pandemic. Disease X could be a… |
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| Young people | Children and young people will increasingly face the consequences of climate change as adults,… |
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| Zoonosis | An infectious disease humans get from an animal. |
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| Zooxanthellae | Coloured microscopic algae that live within corals and other aquatic organisms in a mutually-… |