Glossary

Agroecology applies ecological principles to the design and management of agricultural and food systems. It considers the relationships between plants, animals, people and their environments, while also addressing the social, cultural, economic and political dimensions of food production.

Agroecology is understood both as a scientific field and as a set of practices and a social movement. It emphasises biodiversity, soil health, resource cycles, local knowledge, autonomy and the co-creation of knowledge between producers, communities and researchers. Rather than making an extractive food system more efficient, agroecology seeks to transform the relationships and structures that shape it.

Biocultural diversity describes the interconnected diversity of biological, cultural and linguistic life. It recognises that landscapes are shaped not only by ecological processes but also by the knowledge, practices, histories and relationships of the communities living within them.

Traditional agricultural systems, grazing practices, seed knowledge, food cultures and landscape management can therefore be understood as part of both biological and cultural diversity.

Biodiversity refers to the diversity of life at multiple levels: genetic diversity within species, diversity between species and diversity of ecosystems.

It also includes the ecological relationships and processes through which living organisms interact. Biodiversity is therefore not simply a catalogue of species. It is a property of living systems that contributes to their functioning, adaptability and resilience.

Care is both an ethical principle and a material practice.

It involves maintaining the conditions that allow people, animals, plants, soils, water and communities to continue to flourish. Care requires time, attention, knowledge and responsibility and therefore has social, ecological and political dimensions.

For ABOCA verds, restoration is fundamentally a practice of care.

Climate adaptation refers to adjustments in ecological, social or economic systems in response to actual or expected climatic changes and their effects.

For landscapes, adaptation can include improving soil and water retention, increasing biodiversity, diversifying food systems, reducing wildfire risk and strengthening local capacity to respond to drought, heat and other disturbances.

Adaptation is not only a technical challenge. It also raises questions about whose landscapes are protected, whose knowledge is valued and who has the resources to adapt.

Commons are resources, spaces, knowledge or practices governed collectively by a community according to shared rules and responsibilities.

A commons is not simply something that is collectively owned or freely available. It is a social system of stewardship: people collectively determine how a resource is accessed, maintained, reproduced and cared for.

Commons can include land, water, seeds, food, knowledge, cultural practices and digital resources.

Degrowth is a political, economic and social framework that challenges the assumption that economies must continually expand.

It calls for a deliberate reduction of resource and energy use in high-consuming economies, while improving wellbeing, equity and social provisioning. Degrowth distinguishes between economic activity that contributes to human and ecological wellbeing and activity driven primarily by accumulation and growth.

For ABOCA verds, degrowth provides a framework for asking what an economy would look like if its purpose were sufficiency, care and ecological integrity rather than endless expansion.

Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed.

Restoration is not necessarily about recreating an ecosystem exactly as it existed in the past. Contemporary restoration practice considers historical conditions, ecological processes, local knowledge and ongoing environmental change, including climate change.

The aim is to support ecosystems on trajectories towards greater ecological integrity, biodiversity, functionality and resilience.

An ecosystem is a dynamic system formed through interactions between living organisms and their physical environment.

Soils, water, plants, animals, fungi, microorganisms, climate and human activity can all form part of an ecosystem. Ecosystems are therefore not isolated natural spaces but interconnected systems of flows, relationships and processes.

Ecological resilience refers to the capacity of an ecosystem to absorb disturbance and reorganise while maintaining its fundamental functions, structures and relationships.

Resilience does not mean that ecosystems remain unchanged. Healthy ecosystems are dynamic and continually adapt to disturbance and environmental change.

Guerrilla grazing is our term for using mobile grazing animals as an ecological management tool in places where conventional livestock systems are not necessarily operating.

Through carefully managed and temporary grazing, animals can help reduce accumulated biomass, influence vegetation structure, cycle nutrients and maintain open habitats. The approach requires attention to stocking density, timing, duration, animal welfare and ecological response.

For ABOCA verds, grazing is not simply a method of vegetation clearance. It is a way of reintroducing animals into ecological processes and exploring how livestock can contribute to landscape stewardship.

Land stewardship refers to the long-term responsibility of caring for land and the ecological and social relationships within it.

It moves beyond the idea of land as property or resource and emphasises maintenance, regeneration, responsibility and intergenerational care.

Local ecological knowledge is knowledge developed through long-term interaction with a particular environment.

It can include knowledge of soils, plants, animals, weather patterns, water, cultivation, grazing, fire, seasonal cycles and landscape management. Such knowledge is often experiential, situated and transmitted through practice and community.

Effective ecological work can benefit from bringing local, Indigenous, traditional and scientific forms of knowledge into dialogue rather than treating one as inherently superior.

“More-than-human” refers to approaches that understand human societies as embedded within wider networks of life.

The term challenges human-centred perspectives by recognising plants, animals, fungi, microorganisms, soils, waters and other forms of life as active participants in ecological relationships rather than merely resources or background to human activity.

Reciprocity describes relationships based on mutual exchange and responsibility.

Applied to land, reciprocity challenges extractive relationships in which humans take resources without considering what is returned. It asks what we contribute to the ecological systems, communities and places that sustain us.

Regeneration describes processes through which the conditions for life are restored, renewed or strengthened.

In ecological contexts, regeneration can involve the recovery of soil, water cycles, biodiversity, habitat and ecological functions. In social contexts, it can involve rebuilding knowledge, relationships, collective capacity and forms of care.

At ABOCA verds, we use regeneration to describe a process that goes beyond reducing environmental harm: it asks how degraded ecological and social systems can actively regain their capacity to sustain life.

Rotational grazing involves moving grazing animals between different areas according to a planned sequence, allowing grazed areas periods of recovery.

When appropriately designed, rotational grazing can influence vegetation dynamics, nutrient cycling and soil processes and can be integrated into broader landscape-management and biodiversity objectives.

Its ecological effects depend strongly on context, including animal species, stocking density, timing, soil, vegetation, rainfall and duration of grazing.

A social-ecological system recognises that ecological and human systems are inseparable.

Communities, economies, institutions, cultures and ecosystems continuously influence one another. Managing a landscape therefore involves not only ecological processes but also questions of governance, access, knowledge, power and collective responsibility.

Sufficiency means having enough to live well within ecological limits.

Unlike efficiency, which asks how to use fewer resources to achieve a given outcome, sufficiency also questions the level of consumption itself: How much is enough? What do we actually need? What should be available to everyone?

Sufficiency connects individual needs with questions of equity and planetary boundaries.

Territory is more than a geographical area.

It is a place shaped by ecological processes, human histories, cultural practices, infrastructures, economies and relationships. Thinking in terms of territory allows ecological restoration to be understood within its wider social and political context.

For ABOCA verds, caring for territory means caring for the relationships that make a place liveable.