A short list of some of the abbreviations and jargon in the climate debate (in alphabetical order).

AFOLU: Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use. A carbon accounting sector covering all emissions from agriculture and land use.

Annex 1 countries, Annex B countries: Wealthy industrialised countries, such as the European Union, USA, Canada, Russia, Japan and Australia, listed in annex 1 of the UNFCCC and Annex B of the Kyoto Protocol (the lists are similar).

AOSIS: Alliance of Small Island States: a coalition of 43 states and observers with similar concerns especially about their vulnerability to climate change. http://www.sidsnet.org/aosis/

Bali Action Plan, Bali Roadmap: Plan and timeline for negotiating an international agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The 2007 Bali meeting accepted scientific guidance that industrialised countries should consider, as a group, adopting targets to cut emissions by 25-40% by 2020, and that global emissions should be cut by more than half by 2050.

Biochar: Charcoal manufactured by heating biomass. It is used to condition soil and promoted as a form of carbon storage (its greenhouse status depends on the source of the biomass – biochar from existing carbon stores in natural ecosystems is likely to be negative).

Carbon (C), Carbon dioxide (CO2): Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas. It is released into the atmosphere by burning fossil carbon stores (coal, oil, gas) or through burning and decay of ‘living carbon’ or ‘biocarbon’ stored in vegetation and soil. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations have risen from 289 ppm (parts per million) in the 1700s to about 375 ppm today.

CDM: Clean Development Mechanism. A mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol allowing industrialised countries to meet part of their Kyoto targets by carrying out emission reduction projects in developing countries. Only some kinds of projects are eligible – there is currently a push to extend eligibility to nuclear power, ‘clean coal’, biochar and ‘exhausted forests’.

Clean coal: An oxymoron for an unproven, uncosted and risky technology to capture carbon dioxide from coal-fired power stations and bury it underground or under the sea.

Emissions trading A market mechanism where rights to emit carbon dioxide are traded. Internationally, the Kyoto Protocol allows countries that have exceeded their Kyoto target to sell their CO2 savings to other countries failing to meet their target.

Exhausted forest: Plantations that are no longer commercially viable (from the Brazilian government).

Forest: Used to mean tree-covered land but does not make a distinction between ‘plantations’ (tree farms) and biodiverse ‘natural forest’.

G77: Group of 77. A caucus of developing countries formed in 1964 to give greater negotiating strength in UN forums. Now expanded to 130 member countries. www.g77.org

IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A global panel of scientists that reports regularly on the state of knowledge on climate change and prepares methodologies for carbon accounting. The Fourth Assessment Report was completed in 2007; the Fifth is due in 2014. http://www.ipcc.ch/

JI: Joint Implementation. A mechanism under the Kyoto Protocal allowing industrialised countries to meet part of their Kyoto target by carrying out emission reduction projects in another industrialised country.

Kyoto Protocol: An international agreement, linked to the Convention on Climate Change, that sets binding emission-reduction targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European Union. The targets amount to an average 5% reduction on 1990 emission levels over the commitment period 2008-2012. Emissions can be reduced in-country or by using ‘Kyoto mechanisms’: emissions trading, clean development mechanism (CDM), joint implementation (JI).

LULUCF: Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry. A carbon accounting sector covering all emissions and uptake associated with land management (but not non-CO2 emissions from animal husbandry and other agricultural sources).

Non-annex 1 countries: Countries other than those listed in Annex 1. Important ones include China, India and Brazil

Offsets: Activities that supposedly compensate for emissions elsewhere.

Plantation: Trees planted to produce wood, fibre, food or fuel, usually in a monoculture (single species). Should be distinguished from ‘natural forests’ – biodiverse self-regenerating ecosystems that store carbon permanently.

REDD: Reducing Emissions from Deforestation (forest clearing) and forest Degradation (activities such as logging that reduce the carbon density of forests) in developing countries. The REDD negotations, running parallel to the post-Kyoto negotiations, aim to reduce emissions from tropical forest destruction. REDD is limited to developing countries (even though natural forests continue to be cleared and logged in industrialised countries like Australia, Canada and Russia). http://unfccc.int/methods_science/redd/items/4531.php

Umbrella group: a loose group of non-EU developed countries formed after adoption of the Kyoto Protocol. It usually includes: Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and the US. Some members of the group have played a blocking role in past negotiations.

UNFCCC: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The overarching global agreement on climate change, ratified by 192 countries. www.unfccc.int