Wiki / Glossary
Adaptation
Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. There are various types of adaptation:
- Anticipatory adaptation: Adaptation that takes place before impacts of climate change are observed; occasionally referred as proactive adaptation
- Autonomous adaptation: Adaptation that does not constitute a conscious response to climate stimuli but is triggered by ecological changes in natural systems and by market or welfare changes in human systems.
- Planned adaptation: Adaptation that is the result of deliberate policy decision, based on an awareness that conditions have changed or about to change and that action is required to return to, maintain, or achieve a desired state.
Adaptive Capacity
The ability of a system to adjust to climate change (including climate variability and extremes) to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with the consequences. It is used to describe the various socioeconomic, structural, institutional and technological abilities of human system to produce adaptation measures.
Agile
A project management approach based on delivering requirements iteratively and incrementally throughout the life cycle.
Anthropogenic
Resulting from or produced by human activities. (greenhouse gasses, aerosols, burning fossil fuels, deforestation. livestock production, fertilization, waste management and industrial processes).
Atmosphere
The gaseous envelope surrounding the earth. The dry atmosphere consists mostly entirely of nitrogen (78.1% volume mixing ration) and oxygen (20.9% volume mixing ratio), together with a number of trace gases, such as argon (0.93% volume mixing ratio), helium and radioactively active greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (0.035% volume mixing ratio) and ozone. In addition, the atmosphere contains the greenhouse gas water vapor, whose amounts are highly variable but typically around 1% volume mixing ratio. The atmosphere also contains clouds and aerosols.
Azure DevOps
Azure DevOps is a Microsoft product that provides ver-sion control, reporting, requirements management, pro-ject management, automated builds, testing and release management capabilities. It covers the entire application lifecycle, and enables DevOps capabilities.
Capacity Building
The process by which people, organizations and society systematically stimulate and develop their capacities over time to achieve social and economic goals, including through improvement of knowledge, skills, systems, and institutions is known as capacity development or capacity development is a concept that extends the term of capacity building to encompass all aspects of creating and sustaining capacity growth over time. It does not involve only learning and various types of training but also continuous efforts to develop institutions, political awareness, financial resources, technology systems and the wider social and cultural enabling environment.
Climate
Climate in a narrow sense is usually defined as the average weather, or more rigorously, as the statistical description in terms of the mean and variability of relevant quantities over a period of time ranging from months to thousands or millions of years. The classical period for averaging these variables is 30 years, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization. The relevant quantities are most often surface variables such as temperature, precipitation, and wind. Climate in a wider sense is the state, including a statistical description of the climate system.
Climate Change
Climate change relates to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or variability of its properties, and that persist for an extended period, typically decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcing such as modulations of the solar cycles, volcanic eruptions and persistent anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in land use. The Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in its article 1, defines climate change as 'a change which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods. The UNFCCC makes a distinction between climate change attribut-able to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and climate variability attribut-able to natural causes. Climate change thus refers to a change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or because of human activity.
Climate Change Impacts
The effects of climate change on natural and human systems. Depending on the state of adaptation, one can distinguish between potential impacts and residual impacts:
- Potential impacts. All impacts that may occur given a projected change in climate, without considering adaptation.
- Residual impacts. The impacts of climate change that would occur after adaptation has taken place.
Climate Data
Historical and real-time climate observations along with direct model outputs covering historical and future periods. Information about how these observation and models were generated (metadata) forms part of climate data. Climate-Related Data is defined by the United Nations Economic Commission Europe as 'environmental, social, and economic data on the human causes of climate change, the impacts of climate change on human and natural systems, and efforts to mitigate climate change or adapts to its consequences (UNECE, 2014). The World Meteorological Organization (WMO, 2016) defines climate-related data as:
- Meteorological, hydro- logical, cryospheric and oceanagraphic data.
- Climate metadata.
- Observations generated by numerical climate models.
- Output generated by numerical climate models
- Data derived from terrestrial and remotely senses observations, and
- Other related data.
Climate Impact Assessment
The practice of identifying and evaluating, in monetary and/or in non-monetary terms, the effects of climate change on natural and human systems. Climate projections are used to identify how the climate is changing, and then the impact of those changes on (infrastructure) systems such as shelters, bridges, road and the river basin dynamics are assessed, through hydrologic or meteorological modeling for example. The practice of identifying and evaluating, in monetary and/or in non-monetary terms, the effects of climate change on natural and human systems. Climate projections are used to identify how the climate is changing, and then the impact of those changes on (infrastructure) systems such as shelters, bridges, road and the river basin dynamics are assessed, through hydrologic or meteorological modelling for example. UNEP defines uses the term Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as a tool to identify the environmental, social, and economic impacts of a project prior to decision-making. In general the assess-ment comprises the following steps (World Bank): (i) Hazard exposure of the project location and proposed interventions or project components, (ii) Potential impact that identifies the sensitivity of project location and proposed interventions to identified climate exposure and ability to cope, (iii) Adaptive capacity, how resilient are the resources of the project location; is resilient built into the proposed project interventions/components, and (iv) Project risk, taken together, what are the project location and proposed interventions vulnerable to, and to what extend?
Climate Model
A qualitative or quantitative representation of the climate system based on the physical, chemical, and biological properties of its components, their interaction and feedback processes and accounting for some of its known properties. The climate system can be represented by models of varying complexity; that is, for for any one component or combination of components a spectrum or hierarchy of models can be identified, differing in such aspects as the number of spatial dimensions, the extent to which physical, chemical, or biological processes are explicitly represented, or the levels at which empirical parametrizations are involved. There is an evolution towards more complex models with interactive chemistry and for operational purposes, including monthly, seasonal, and inter-annual climate predictions.
Climate Prediction
A climate prediction (or forecast) is the result of an attempt to estimate the actual evolution of the climate in the future (seasonal, inter-annual, or long-term timescales).
Climate Projection
The calculated response of the climate system to emissions or concentration scenarios of greenhouse gases, often based on simulations by climate models. Climate projections critically depend on the emissions scenarios used and therefore on highly uncertain assumptions of future socioeconomic and technological development.
Climate Proofing
(i) Refers to the explicit consideration and internalization of the risks and opportunities that alternative climate change scenarios are likely to imply for the design, operation, and maintenance of infrastructure. In other words, integrating climate change risks and opportunities into the design, operation, and management of infrastructure; ii) Actions taken to lessens or perhaps eliminate, the potential negative impacts through the life cycle of a project of weather and climate variability and of climate change based on a CRA and CRM principles; iii) The process of climate proofing investment projects aims both at assessing the climate risk to a project’s future costs and benefits and at undertaking a technical and economic analysis of options to alleviate or mitigate those risks. (ADB, Guidelines for Climate Proofing, 2017; ADB references to Ebinger and Vergara, 2011, Climate impacts, World Bank).
Climate Resilience
Climate Resilience can be generally defined as the capacity for a socio-ecological system to: (i) absorb stresses and maintain function in the face of external stresses imposed upon it by climate change and (ii) adapt, recognize and evolve into more desirable configurations that improve the sustainability of the (infrastructure) system, leaving it better prepared for future climate change impacts.
Climate Scenario
A plausible and often simplified representation of the future climate, based on an internally consistent set of climatological relationships that has been constructed for explicit use in investigating the potential consequences of anthropogenic climate change, often serving as input to impact models. Climate projections often serve as the raw material for constructing climate scenarios, but climate scenarios usually require additional information such as the observed current climate.
Climate Sensitivity
The change in the annual global mean surface temperature in response to a change in the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration or other radiative forcing.
Climate Services
A service providing climate information in a way that assists decision-making by individuals in organizations. It requires appropriate engagement along with an effective access mechanism and must respond to user needs.
Climate System
The climate system is the highly complex system consisting of five major components: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryo-sphere, the lithosphere, and the biosphere, and the interactions among them. The climate system evolves in time under the influence of its own internal dynamics and because of external forces such as volcanic eruptions, solar variations, and anthropogenic forces such as the changing composition of the atmosphere and land use change.
Climate Variability
Climate variability refers to variations in the mean state and other statistics (e.g. standard deviations, the occurrence of extremes, etc) of the climate on all spatial and temporal scales beyond those of individual weather events. Variability may be due to natural internal processes within the climate system (internal variability) or to variations in natural or anthropogenic external forcing (external variability).
Climate-resilient Infrastructure
Planned, designed, built and operated in a way that anticipates, prepares for, and adapts to changing climate conditions. It can also withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from disruptions caused by these climate conditions. (OECD, 2018, p4)
Climate-resilient Pathways
Iterative processes for managing change within complex systems in order to reduce disruptions and enhance opportunities associated with climate change.
Collaboration
Collaboration is the process of two or more people working together on a common goal, document, content asset, process, work flow or function. The parties in-volved can be work colleague, partners, customers, sub-ject matter experts, or even just interested members. Collaboration is the process in which they interact and engage.
Community of Practices (CoPs)
Networks of people who share a passion or work on subjects that have their interest. They interact virtually or physically to develop and share their knowledge in that subject for the benefit of themselves and/or for the organisation they work.
Community-led Adaptation
Local, community-driven adaptation. Community-led adaptation focuses attention on empowering and promoting the adaptive capacity of communities. It is an approach that takes context, culture, knowledge, agency, and preferences of communities as strengths.
Content Management System
A content management system is a way of effectively organizing the content assets of an organisation. The content assets can be documents, web pages, images, videos, records, personal details, data, and other terms of information. Content management systems are usual-ly software based and utilized in a collaborative envi-ronment. They usually provide controls for managing access and update of the assets as well as version con-trol for controlling history of the changes.
Daily Scrum/ Daily Stand-up
Daily collaboration meeting in which the team reviews progress from the previous day, declares intentions for the current day, and highlights any obstacles encoun-tered or anticipated.
Data
Discrete and objective facts, measurements, or observations that can be analyzed to generate information.
Definition of Done (DoD)
A team’s checklist for a user-centric requirement that has all the information the team needs to be able to begin working on it.
Disaster
Severe alterations in the normal functioning of a community or a society due to hazardous physical events interacting with vulnerable social conditions, leading to widespread adverse human, material, economic, or environmental effects that require immediate emergency response to satisfy critical human needs and that may require external support for recovery.
Disaster Management
Social processes for designing, implementing, and evaluating strategies, policies, and measures that promote and improve disaster preparedness, response, and recovery practices at different organizational and societal levels.
Disaster Risk
The likelihood within a specific time period of disaster.
Disaster Risk Management (DRM)
Processes for designing, implementing, and evaluating strategies, policies, and measures to improve the understanding of disaster risk, foster disaster risk reduction and transfer, and promote continuous improvement in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery practices, with the explicit purpose of increasing human security, well-being, quality of life, and sustainable development.
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
Denotes both a policy goal or objective, and the strategic and instrumental measures employed for anticipating future disaster risk; reducing existing exposure, hazard, or vulnerability; and improving resilience.
Downscaling
Is a method that derives local-to-regional-scale (10 to 100 kilometers) information from larger scale models or data analyses. There are two main methods: dynamical downscaling and empirical or statistical downscaling. The dynamical method uses the output of regional climate models, global models with variable spatial resolution, or high-resolution global models. The empirical or statistical methods develop statistical relationships that link large-scale atmospheric variables with local and regional climate variables.
Drought
Drought is a prolonged, continuous period of dry weather along with abnormally insufficient rainfall. It occurs when evaporation, transpiration and water demand exceed the amount of rainfall and water availability over a reasonable period. Drought impacts are diverse and may be broadly classified into economic, environmental, and social impacts. Drought is a relative term, therefor drought must be viewed in terms of precipitation deficit. For example, shortage of precipitation during the growing season impinges on crop production or ecosystem function in general (due to soil moisture drought) and during the runoff and percolation season primarily affects water supplies (hydrological drought). Storage changes in soil-moisture and groundwater are also affected by increases in actual evapotranspiration in addition to reductions in precipitation. A period with an abnormal precipitation deficit is defined as a meteorological drought. A mega-drought is a very lengthy and pervasive drought, lasting much longer than normal, usually a decade or more.
E-Learning
A learning system based on formalised teaching but with the help of electronic resources is known as E-learning. While teaching can be based in or out of the classrooms, the use of computers and the Internet forms the major component of E-learning. E-learning can also be termed as a network enabled transfer of skills and knowledge, and the delivery of education is made to a large number of recipients at the same or different times. Earlier, it was not accepted wholeheartedly as it was assumed that this system lacked the human element required in learn-ing.
Environmental Impact Assessment
Process by which the environmental consequences of a proposed project or programme are evaluated is known as environmental impact assessment. It is undertaken as an integral part of planning and decision-making processes with a view to limiting or reducing the adverse impacts of the project or programme. Environmental impact assessment is a policy tool that provides evidence and analysis of environmental impacts of activities from conception to decision-making. It is utilised extensively in national programming and project approval processes and for international development assistance projects. Environmental impact assessments should include detailed risk assessments and provide alternatives, solutions or options to deal with identified problems.
Explicit Knowledge
Documented knowledge that can be transferred to oth-ers, codified, assessed, verbalized, and stored. It in-cludes information from books, in databases, descrip-tions, and so on.
Exposure
Presence of people, livelihoods, species or ecosystems, environmental functions, services, and resources, infrastructure, or economic, social, or cultural assets in places and settings that could be adversely affected (IPCC AR5).
Extreme Weather Event
Event that is rare at a particular place and time of the year. Definitions or ‘rare’ vary, but an extreme weather event would normally be as rare or rarer than the 10th or 90th percentile of the observed probability density function.
Flood
The overflowing of the normal confines of a stream or other body of water, or the accumulation of water over areas not normally submerged. Floods include river (fluvial) floods, flash floods, urban floods, pluvial floods, sewer floods, coastal floods, and glacial lake outburst floods. The floods in Bangladesh are divided into monsoon river flood, flash flood, local rainfall flood and storm surge flood.
General Circulation Models (GCM)
A GCM is a mathematical model of the general circulation of a planetary atmosphere or ocean. Equations of the model are the basis for complex computer programs commonly used for simulating the earth’s atmosphere or ocean. Atmospheric and ocean GCMs are key components of global climate change models along with sea ice, and land surface components. GCMs and global climate models are widely applied for weather forecasting, understanding the climate, and projecting climate change.
Geo-engineering
Refers to a broad set of methods and technologies that aim to deliberately alter the climate system to alleviate the impacts of climate change. Geo-engineering is different from weather modification and ecological engineering, but the boundary is fuzzy (IPCC, 2012).
Geographical Information System (GIS)
The field of research that studies the theory and con-cepts that underpin GIS. It seeks to establish a theoreti-cal basis for the technology and use of GIS, study how concepts from cognitive science and information science might apply to GIS and investigate how GIS interacts with society.
Hazard
The potential concurrence of a natural or human-induced phenomenon (punctual) or trend (continuous), that may result in the loss of life, injury or other health impacts, as well as damage to and loss of property, infrastructure, livelihoods, services, ecosystems and environmental resources (IPCC AR5). Adverse situations that an area may face and that affect the day-to-day live of inhabitants and normal development. With reference to climate change, these include droughts, floods, heatwaves, etc. (GIZ).
Heat wave
There is no universally accepted definition, but it is understood that heat waves are understood to be periods of unusually hot and dry or hot and humid weather that have a subtle onset and cessation, a duration of at least 2-3 days, usually with a discernible impact on human and natural systems. Because there is no absolute universal value, such as a given temperature that defines what is extreme heat, heatwaves are relative to a location's climate: the same meteorological conditions can constitute a heatwave in one place but not in another.
Human Behaviour
The responses of persons or groups to a particular situation, here likely to relate to climate change. Human behaviour covers the range of actions by individuals, communities, organizations, governments and at the international level.
- Adaptation behaviour. Human actions that directly or indirectly affects the risks of climate change impacts.
- Mitigation behaviour. Human actions that directly or indirectly influence mitigation.
Hydrological Cycle
The cycle in which water evaporates from the oceans and the land surface, is carried over the Earth in atmospheric circulation as water vapor, condense s to form clouds, precipitates over ocean and land as rain or snow, which on land can be intercepted by trees and vegetation, provides runoff on the land surface, infiltrates into soils, recharges groundwater, discharges into streams and ultimately flows out into the oceans, from which it will eventually evaporate again. The various systems involved in the hydrological cycle are usually referred to as hydrological systems.
Information
Data that have been categorized, analysed, summarized, and placed in context in a form that has structure and meaning.
Iteration/ Sprint
A time boxed cycle of development on a product or deliverable in which all the work that is needed to deliver value is performed.
KANBAN
Kanban is one of the agile methods through which Just in Time (JIT) is achieved. Kanban became an effective tool in support of running a production system, and it proved to be an excellent way for promoting improve-ment. Problem areas were highlighted by reducing the number of kanban in circulation.
Knowledge
A combination of data and information, to which is add-ed expert opinion, skills, and experience, resulting in an asset that aids decision making. In organisational terms, knowledge is generally thought of as being know-how, applied information, information with judgment, or the capacity for effective action. Knowledge may be tacit, explicit, individual, and/or collective. It is intrinsically linked to people.
Knowledge Asset
The parts of an organisation’s intangible assets that re-late specifically to knowledge such as know-how, good practices, and intellectual property. Knowledge assets (or products and services) are categorized as human (people, teams, networks, and communities), structural (the codified knowledge that can be found in business processes), and technological (the technologies that support knowledge sharing such as databases and intra-nets). By understanding the knowledge assets, it possesses, an organization can use them to better effect and identify what gaps may exist.
Knowledge Management
The application of a structured process to help infor-mation and knowledge flow to the right people at the right time so they can act more efficiently and effective-ly to find, understand, share, and use knowledge to cre-ate value.
Knowledge Management System
KMS is an IT system that stores and re-trieves information so that enables users to improve understanding, collaboration, and process alignment within organisation for the decision making. KMS usually comprises hardware and a software.
Knowledge Manager
A role with operational and developmental responsibility for implementing and reinforcing knowledge manage-ment principles and practices. Often acts as central owner of taxonomies and content standards and knowledge processes. Works to promote access to information, intelligence support, expertise, and good practices.
Knowledge Sharing
The exchange of knowledge between individuals. Knowledge sharing may be formal or informal as well as in-person or virtual.
Lessons Learned
Lessons learned are concise descriptions of knowledge derived from experiences that can be communicated through mechanisms such as storytelling, debriefing etc., or summarized in databases. These lessons often reflect on "what we did right," "what we would do differently," and "how we could improve our process and product to be more effective in the future."
Mainstreaming
Mainstreaming, in the context of climate change and development, mainstreaming refers broadly to calling attention to climate change concerns within development planning, consid-ering how climate change might impact development goals and activities and, conversely, how these might positively or negatively affect vulnerability to climate change. The Interna-tional Federation of Red Cross defines mainstreaming as ‘considering and addressing risks associated with disasters and climate change in all processes of policy making, planning, budgeting, implementation, and monitoring. In the context of LGED, mainstreaming is the process of systematically integrating a particular issue into all domains of LGED operations. It means that a particular issue is constantly considered in what we do and how it is done. Mainstreaming can be facilitated through: (i) harmonised and effective national policies, guidelines, (ii) effective communication and training to uplift understanding and capacities of staff and identified stakeholders, (iii) Documenting and disseminating project implementation experiences, and (iv) facilitating knowledge and learning processes among staff and with external stakeholders. The latter 3 activities will be supported through LGED knowledge management system.
Maladaptive actions (Maladaptation)
Actions that may lead to increased risk of adverse climate-related outcomes, including via increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, increased vulnerability to climate change, or diminished welfare, now or in the future. Maladaptation is usually an unintended consequence.
Metadata
Metadata is data that describes other data. Meta is a prefix that, in most information technology environments, means an underlying definition or description. Metadata summarizes basic information about data, which can make finding and working with instances of data easier. Example, author, title, date created, date modified, file size, subject or topic are examples of very basic document metadata. Having the ability to filter through that metadata makes it much easier for someone to locate or search a specific document.
Mitigation (of climate change)
A human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases and/or the lessening of the potential adverse impacts of physical hazards (including those that are human induced) through actions that reduce hazard, exposure, and vulnerability.
Open Data
Digital data published with the technical and legal characteristics to be ‘freely used, reused, and redistributed by anyone, anytime, anywhere. This means data that are published in technical formats that allow any software or device to read them, and licensed to permit free redistribution and reuse (OpenDataCharter, 2020, World Bank, 2014)
Precipitation
Water released from clouds in the form of rain, freezing rain, sleet, snow, or hail. It is the primary connection in the water cycle that provides the delivery of atmospheric water to the Earth.
Predictability
The extent to which future states of a system may be predicted based on knowledge of current and past states of the system. Because knowledge of the climate system’s past and current states is generally imperfect, as are the models that utilise this knowledge to produce a climate prediction, and because the climate system is inherently nonlinear and chaotic, predictability of the climate system is inherently limited. Even with arbitrarily accurate models and observations, there may still be limits to the predictability of such a nonlinear system.
Product Backlog
An ordered list user centric requirement that a team maintains for a product.
Product Owner
A person responsible for maximizing the value of the product.
Remote Sensing
Remote sensing is the small- or large-scale acquisition of information of an object or phenomenon using either recording or real-time sensing device(s) that are wireless, or not in physical or intimate contact with the object (such as by way of aircraft, spacecraft, satellite, buoy, or ship). In practice, remote sensing is the stand-off collection using a variety of devices for gathering information on a given object or area.
Resilience
The capacity of social, economic, and environmental systems to cope with a hazardous event or trend or disturbance, responding or reorganizing in ways that maintain their essential function, identity, and structure, while also maintaining the capacity for adaptation, learning, and transformation.
Risk
Something creating a hazard that threatens development. In this context, it can be a risk faced in implementing a strategy or a risk arising from the effects of climate change. To safeguard development in areas affected by climate variability and climate change, risks associated with climate hazards must be managed. (GIZ).
Scrum
Scrum is an iterative and incremental agile software development framework for managing software projects and product or application development. Its focus is on "a flexible, holistic product development strategy where a development team works as a unit to reach a common goal" as opposed to a "traditional, sequential approach". Scrum enables the creation of self-organising teams by encouraging co-location of all team members, and verbal communication between all team members and disciplines in the project.
A key principle of Scrum is its recognition that during a project the customers can change their minds about what they want and need (often called requirements churn), and that unpredicted challenges cannot be easily addressed in a traditional predictive or planned manner. As such, Scrum adopts an empirical approach - accepting that the problem cannot be fully understood or defined, focusing instead on maximising the team's ability to deliver quickly and respond to emerging requirements.
Scrum Master
The coach of the development team and process owner in the Scrum framework. Remove obstacles, facilitates productive events, and defends the team from disrup-tions.
Sensitivity
Is the degree to which a system is affected, either adversely or beneficially, by climate variability or climate change. The effect may be direct (change in crop yield in response to a change in the mean, range, variability of temperature) or indirect (damages caused by an increase in the frequency of coastal flooding due to sea level rise).
SSL
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) are protocols for establishing authenticated and encrypted links between networked computers.
Storm Surge
The temporary increase, at a particular locality, of the height of the sea due to extreme meteorological conditions. The storm surge is defined as being the excess above the level expected from the tidal variation alone at that time and place.
Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG): Climate Action
Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-related hazards and natural disasters in all countries.
- Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning.
- Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning.
- Implement the commitment undertaken by developed-country parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to a goal of mobilizing jointly $100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation and fully operationalize the Green Climate Fund through its capitalization as soon as possible.
- Promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed countries and small island developing States, including focusing on women, youth and local and marginalized communities.
Tacit Knowledge
Knowledge that is difficult to transfer to others, difficult to express, codify, and assess. It is based on experi-ence, values, capabilities, and skills.
Temperature
Is the expected temperature in degrees, valid for the indicated hour. Global temperature is an average of air temperature recordings from weather stations on land and sea as well as some satellite measurements. Extreme temperature events (i.e., maximum, minimum) may have short-term durations of a few days with temperature increases of over 5C above normal temperatures.
Threshold
The level of magnitude of a system process at which sudden or rapid change occurs. A point or level at which new properties emerge in an ecological, economic, or other system, invalidating predictions based on mathematical relationships that apply at lower levels.
Transformation Change
The complex challenges of climate change demand sometimes uncompromising action to affect large scale change across the globe. Transformational change is generally understood as a fundamental change at a systematic level, across complex, dynamic challenges that have a web of interconnected elements. The scale of ambition distinguishes transformational change from incremental adaptation processes.
Uncertainty
An expression of the degree to which the exact value of a parameter is unknown. Uncertainty can result from lack of information or from disagreement about what is known or even knowable. Uncertainty can be represented by quantitative measures or by qualitative statements (oral history, experts).
User Story
User stories are the primary means of expressing need-ed functionality. User stories serve to explain and develop system behaviour that’s later recorded to support compliance, traceability, or other needs. They focus on the user as the subject of interest, and not the system, user stories are value centric. The recommended form of expression is the user-voice form as follows; As a (user role), I want to (activity), so that (business value).
Vulnerability
Refers to the possibility to be affected by an event, coupled with a ;ack of resources or capacities to cope (lack of anticipation, reactivity or recovery). More precisely, the concept of vulnerability refers to all development factors that contribute to increasing (=sensitivity) or reducing (=capacity) risks (IPCC AR5 2019). Refers to the degree to which a system is susceptible to, and unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude, and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity (IPCC, AR4, 2007).
Vulnerability Assessment
The vulnerability assessment attempts to identify the root cause for a systems’ vulnerability to climate change. It helps to understand and identify the vulnerabilities of a construction or a community to climate change and other hazards and take appropriate measures to minimize their potential impact.
Water
Is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. Its molecule contains oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state (water vapour).
Weather
The behaviour of the atmosphere on a day-to-day basis in a relatively local area is known as weather. A description of the weather would include daily temperatures, relative humidity, sunshine, wind, and rainfall.