Adaptation

It is the adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected

climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial
opportunities
Adaptive Re-use
It refers to the utilization of buildings, other built structures and sites of value for
purposes other than that for which they were intended originally, in order to conserve
the site, their engineering integrity and authenticity of design
Alluvial Flat
A small alluvial plain having a slope of about 5 to 20 feet per mile (1.5 to 6 meters per
1600 meters) and built of fine sandy clay or adobe deposited during flood.
Climate Model
A quantitative way of representing the interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land
surface, and ice.
Small scale commercial fishing
Fishing with passive or active gear utilizing fishing vessels of 3.1 gross tons (GT) up to
twenty (20) GT
Medium scale commercial fishing
Fishing utilizing active gears and vessels of 20.1 GT up to one hundred fifty (150) GT
Large scale commercial fishing
Fishing utilizing active gears and vessels of more than one hundred fifty (150) GT
Communal Forest
Refers to a tract of forest land set aside by the Secretary of the DENR upon the
recommendation of the concerned LGU for the use of the residents of a
municipality/city. Said residents may cut, collect and remove forest products for their
personal use in accordance with existing laws and regulations and subject to the
provision that utilization of resources therein shall be in accordance with sustainable
development.
Community Mapping
A process that aims to externalize or draw out the community's interpretation of the
landscape, its elements, and the activities within it; their socio-cultural relations with
their environment; and their perceptions on how best to implement forest resource
management.
Conservation
It refers to all the processes and measures of maintaining the cultural significance of a
cultural property, including but not limited to, preservation, restoration, reconstruction,
protection, adaptive re-use or any combination thereof
Demarcation
The determination of the boundaries where there is a depth of at least seven (7)
fathoms. It is where a municipal or city government may, through its local chief
executive and acting pursuant to an appropriate ordinance, authorize or permit small
and medium-scale commercial fishing vessels to operate within the 10.1-15 km area
from the shoreline in municipal waters provided that no commercial fishing be allowed in
municipal waters with depth less than seven (7) fathoms as certified bythe appropriate
agency
Disaster Preparedness
The knowledge and capacities developed by governments, professional response and
recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond
to, and recover from, the impacts of likely, imminent or current hazard events or
conditions.
Disaster Mitigation
The lessening or limitation of the adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters.
Disaster Prevention
The outright avoidance of adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters.
Disaster Response
The provision of emergency services and public assistance during or immediately after
a disaster in order to save lives, reduce health impacts, ensure public safety and meet
the basic subsistence needs of the people affected. Disaster response is predominantly
focused on immediate and short-term needs and is sometimes called "disaster relief'.
Disaster Risk
The potential disaster losses in lives, health status, livelihood, assets and services,
which could occur to a particular community or a society over some specified future time
period.
Disaster Risk Reduction
The concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to
analyze and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced
exposures to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management
of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events.
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management
The systematic process of using administrative directives, organizations, and
operational skills and capacities to implement strategies, policies and improved coping
capacities in order to lessen the adverse impacts of hazards and the possibility of
disaster. Prospective disaster risk reduction and management refers to risk reduction
and management activities that address and seek to avoid the development of new or
increased disaster risks, especially if risk reduction policies are not put in place.
Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Information System
A specialized database which contains, among others, information on disasters and
their human material, economic and environmental impact, risk assessment and
mapping and vulnerable groups.
Eco-efficiency
It is achieved by the delivery of competitively priced goods and services that satisfy
human needs and bring quality of life while progressively reducing environmental
impacts of goods and resource intensity throughout the entire life-cycle to a level at
least in line with the Earth's estimated carrying capacity
Estuary
A water body where sea water of oceanic origin is diluted by freshwater from land
drainage areas. Areas influenced by this include deltas, tidal marshes, and river mouth,
among others
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
An area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea which shall not extend beyond 200
nautical miles from the baselines as defined under existing laws
Fault Rupture
A break in the ground along the fault line during an earthquake
Foreshore area
It is a strip of land alternately covered and uncovered by the tidal movements. Its interior
limits are that portion of land reached by the water during the highest equinoctial tide.
The outer limit is that portion of land reached by the water during the lowest ordinary
tide
Hydrometeorological hazard
A process or phenomenon of atmospheric, hydrological or oceanographic nature that
may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of
livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage
Incunabula
Printed works produced by the native press when the art of printing in a particular
country or locality is still in infancy. In the Philippines, historians and bibliographers
often refers to the years 1593 to 1640 our ________ period.
Liquefaction
A phenomenon in which the strength and stiffness of a soil is reduced by earthquake
shaking or other rapid loading
Mangroves or mangrove forests
The communities of trees and associated shrubs that are restricted to tidal flats in
coastal waters, extending inland along rivers where the water is tidal, saline or brackish;
also defined as a community of intertidal plants inccluding all species of trees, shrubs,
vines and herbs found on coasts, swamps, or border of swamp
Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY)
It is the largest average quantity of fish that can be harvested from a fish
stocks/resource within a period of time (e.g. one year) on a sustainable basis under
existing environmental conditions
Anadromous species
Marine fishes which migrate to freshwater areas to spawn
Catadromous species
Freshwater fishes which migrate to marine areas to spawn.
Participatory Disaster Risk Assessment (PDRA)
It is a process whereby all concerned parties collect and analyze disaster risks
information, in order to make appropriate plans and implement concrete actions to
reduce and/or eliminate disaster risks that will adversely affect their lives. It is both a
dialogue and a negotiated process involving those at risk, authorities and other
stakeholders.
Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA)
It has been described as a set of approaches, behaviors and methods for enabling
people to do their own appraisal, analysis and planning, take their own actions, and do
their own visuals, such as diagrams and maps. Other practitioners describe what they
do as Participatory Learning and Action (PLA).
Percentage Slope
It is a measurement of the rate of change of elevation over a given horizontal distance,
in which the rise is divided by the run and then multiplied by 100. A 45° slope is
equivalent to 100% slope.
Purse Seine
It is a form of encircling net having a line at the bottom passing through rings attached
to the net, which can be drawn or pursed. In general, the net is set from a boat or pair of
boats around the school of fish.
Residual or Second Growth Forest
The status or condition of a forest subsequent to commercial logging and which there is
more or less sufficient or adequate volume of residuals of the desired species of trees
for future harvest.
Resilience
The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb,
accommodate and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner,
including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and
functions.
Sink
Any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse gas from the
atmosphere
Storm Surge
Ocean waves being pushed towards the shore by the force of the winds and the intense
low pressure of a tropical cyclone
Tic Points
Are Geographic control points for a map representing known locations on the earth's
surface. Tics allow all map features to be recorded in a common co-ordinate system.
Tics are used to register map sheets when they are mounted on a digitizer.
Tidal flats
These are lands mostly devoid of trees and shrubs that are alternatively exposed and
inundated by tides.
Total Allowable Catch (TAC)
The maximum harvest allowed to be takenduring a given period oftime from any fishery
area, or from any fisheryspecies or group of fishery species, or a combinationof area
and species and normally would not exceed the MSY.
Trawl
An active fishing gear consisting of a bag shaped net with or without otter boards to
open its opening which is dragged or towed along the bottom or through the water
column to take fisheryspecies by straining them from the water, including all variations
and modifications of trawls (bottom,mid-water, and baby trawls) and tow nets
Tropical Cyclone
The global generic term for an intense circulating weather system over tropical seas and
oceans. It is accompanied with very strong winds, heavy rains & large ocean waves. Its
wind circulation rotates Counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere & Clockwise in
the Southern Hemisphere.
Tsunami
A series of sea waves commonly generated by under-sea earthquakes and whose
heights could be greater than 5 meters. It is erroneously called tidal waves and
sometimes mistakenly associated with storm surges. Tsunamis can occur when the
earthquake is shallow-seated and strong enough to displace parts of the seabed and
disturb the mass of water over it.
Typhoon
A mature tropical cyclone that develops in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean
between 180° and 100°E (119 to 200 KPH near the center)
Vulnerability
The characteristics and circumstances of a community, system or asset that make it
susceptible to the damaging effects of a hazard. It may arise from various physical,
social, economic, and environmental factors such as poor design and construction of
buildings, inadequate protection of assets, lack of public information and awareness,
limited official recognition of risks and preparedness measures, and disregard for wise
environmental management.
Watershed
It is a land area drained by a stream or fixed body of water and its tributaries having a
common outlet for surface run-off. It is synonymous with a catchment area or drainage
basin.