GLOSSARY

Words in this document are used as defined in most standard English language dictionaries. The precise meaning and local interpretation of certain phrases (such as local communities) should be decided in the local context by forest managers and certifiers. In this document, the words below are understood as follows:

Biological diversity:  The variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are a part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. (see Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992)

Biological diversity values:  The intrinsic, ecological, genetic, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic values of biological diversity and its components. (see Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992)

Biological control agents:  Living organisms used to eliminate or regulate the population of other living organisms.

Chain of custody:  The channel through which products are distributed from their origin in the forest to their end-use.

Chemicals:  The range of fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and hormones which are used in forest management.

Criterion (pl. Criteria):  A means of judging whether or not a Principle (of forest stewardship) has been fulfilled.

Customary rights:  Rights which result from a long series of habitual or customary actions, constantly repeated, which have, by such repetition and by uninterrupted acquiescence, acquired the force of a law within a geographical or sociological unit.

Ecosystem:  A community of all plants and animals and their physical environment, functioning together as an interdependent unit.