Industrial Estates
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, “a large tract of land, subdivided and developed for the use of several companies in close proximity to use simultaneously, with a shared infrastructure.” Other terms for these include, industrial parks, industrial zones, export processing zones, business parks, industrial development zones, and eco-industrial parks. All industrial estates share […]
Incentive-based Rehabilitative Economics
A set of economic policies that give carbon credits, financial grants or subsidies, expertise, or other types of aid as an incentive to rehabilitate and protect, in perpetuity, habitats that have been destroyed by human activity (for example, rainforests burnt to raise cattle). Example: In 1968, UNESCO and the government of India funded the development […]
Holistic Management
A term originally used to describe an approach to managing land resources that builds biodiversity, improves production, generates financial strength, and improves the quality of life for those who use it. Holistic Management addresses the farm, family, and community as an integrated whole, instead of as separate parts. Coined by Allan Savory, a biologist in […]
GRI (Global Reporting Initiative)
A multi-stakeholder process and independent institution whose mission is to develop and disseminate globally applicable Sustainability Reporting Guidelines. The guidelines were developed so that companies, government agencies, and non-governmental organizations can report on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of their activities, products and services. Started in 1997 by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies […]
Green Marketing
Green-washing
ISO 19011
The ISO 19011 series represents environmental management and auditing standards, created by the International Organization for Standardization, which certify products and companies that meet specific processes and practice criteria. These supercede many of the criteria initially developed under the ISO 14000 standards. ISO 19011
ISO 14000
The ISO 14000 series represents environmental management standards, created by the International Organization for Standardization, which certify products and companies that meet specific processes and practice criteria. This standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to: implement, maintain and improve an environmental management system assure itself of its conformance with its own stated environmental […]
Human Capital
One of at least four forms of capital used by people, organizations, corporations, and governments, to build and maintain their livelihoods. Human Capital is the sum total of knowledge, experience, “good will,” intellectual property, and labor available to an organization or society. While many organizations value their people, many do not manage or measure human […]
Gross National Happiness (GNH)
Coined by Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, Gross National Happiness (GNH) measures actual well-being of a country’s citizens rather than consumption, accounting more fully for social, human and environmental realities. Its premise is that basic happiness can be measured since it pertains to quality of nutrition, housing, education, health care and community life. By contrast, […]
Greenwashing
A term merging the concepts of “green” (environmentally sound) and “whitewashing” (to conceal or gloss over wrongdoing). Greenwashing is any form of marketing or public relations that links a corporate, political, religious or nonprofit organization to a positive association with environmental issues for an unsustainable product, service, or practice. In some cases, an organization may […]
