NCEA Level 2 Education for Sustainability flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Sustainable development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs; the Brundtland definition, balancing environment, society and economy.

Carrying capacity

The maximum population or level of use an ecosystem can sustain indefinitely without degrading the resources and processes that support it.

Ecological footprint

A measure of human demand on nature, expressed in global hectares of biologically productive land and water needed to supply resources and absorb wastes.

Planetary boundaries

Nine Earth-system processes with defined thresholds that together mark a safe operating space for humanity; crossing them risks abrupt, irreversible environmental change.

Strong vs weak sustainability

Weak sustainability assumes natural capital can be replaced by human-made capital; strong sustainability holds that critical natural capital cannot be substituted and must be preserved.

Precautionary principle

Where there is a risk of serious or irreversible harm, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason to delay cost-effective preventive action.

Ecosystem services

The benefits people obtain from ecosystems, grouped as provisioning (food, water), regulating (climate, pollination), cultural (recreation, identity) and supporting (nutrient cycling, soil formation).

Externality

A cost or benefit arising from production or consumption that is not reflected in the market price, such as pollution or carbon emissions borne by the public.

Circular economy

An economic model that designs out waste and pollution, keeps products and materials in use, and regenerates natural systems, replacing the linear take-make-dispose approach.

Environmental justice

The principle that no group, especially low-income or minority communities, should bear a disproportionate share of environmental harm or be excluded from environmental benefits and decisions.

Tragedy of the commons

The over-exploitation of a shared, unregulated resource by individuals acting in self-interest; Ostrom showed community rules and clear boundaries can prevent it.

Social licence to operate

The ongoing acceptance and approval a business or project needs from local communities and stakeholders, beyond legal compliance, to operate without disruption or conflict.

Kaitiakitanga

The Māori obligation and practice of guardianship over the environment, held by tangata whenua, involving active care, protection and intergenerational responsibility for land, water and resources.

Mauri

The life force or vital essence believed to be present in people, land, water and ecosystems; its protection is central to Māori environmental values and wellbeing.

Whakapapa

Māori genealogy and kinship linking people to ancestors, land, waterways and species; it grounds identity, relationships and obligations to care for place.

Rāhui

A customary Māori restriction or temporary ban on using a resource or entering an area, used to protect people, mark death, or allow ecosystems to recover.

Mātauranga Māori

The body of knowledge, values and practices developed and transmitted by Māori over generations, including environmental observation; a distinct knowledge system, not a subset of Western science.

Cultural sustainability

Maintaining and supporting language, customs, identity and access to culturally significant places and resources, treated as a pillar alongside environmental, social and economic sustainability.

Te Tiriti principles

Partnership, participation and protection: principles derived from the Treaty of Waitangi that guide shared decision-making and Māori involvement in resource management.

Co-management

A formal arrangement where indigenous or local communities and government share authority and responsibility for managing a resource or area, rather than consultation only.

Root cause

The underlying reason an issue persists, often an economic incentive, policy gap or set of values, rather than the immediate visible symptom or individual behaviour.

Stakeholder analysis

Identifying who is affected by an issue, who holds power, who holds knowledge, and where interests conflict, to understand why the issue is contested.

Primary vs secondary data

Primary data are collected first-hand by the investigator (surveys, field measurement); secondary data are already gathered by others (council reports, statistics, scientific papers).

Reliability and validity

Reliability means results are repeatable with consistent methods and adequate samples; validity means the data genuinely measure the factor claimed and not something else.

Feedback loop

A circular cause-and-effect relationship in a system; reinforcing loops amplify change while balancing loops resist or stabilise it, shown in causal loop diagrams.

SMART goals

Goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, allowing progress to be tracked against a baseline and evaluated afterwards.

Output, outcome, impact

Outputs are direct products of an action (trees planted); outcomes are changes in behaviour or state; impacts are longer-term environmental or social changes.

Attribution problem

The difficulty of proving an observed change was caused by an action rather than other factors such as weather, policy or season; it must be stated as a limitation.

Baseline measurement

Data collected before an action begins, providing the comparison point needed to demonstrate whether any change occurred afterwards.

Backcasting

A planning method that starts by defining a desired future state, then works backwards to identify the steps and decisions needed now to reach it.

Intergenerational equity

The fairness principle that decisions today should not reduce the ability of future generations, who have no voice, to meet their own needs.

Adaptive management

A decision approach for uncertain situations: act on the best available evidence, monitor the results, learn from them, and adjust the approach accordingly.