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perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride) by at least 5 per cent below 1990 levels in the 2008 to Module
2012 commitment period. The Kyoto Protocol entered into force on February 16, 2005.

Mainstreaming refers to the integration of adaptation objectives, strategies, policies, measures or
operations such that they become part of the national and regional development policies, processes
and budgets at all levels and stages.

Maladaptation refers to any changes in natural or human systems that inadvertently increase vulnerability
to climatic stimuli; an adaptation that does not succeed in reducing vulnerability but increases it instead.

Mitigation refers to a technological change and substitution that reduce resource inputs and emissions Abu Dhabi, UAE
per unit of output. Although several social, economic and technological policies would produce an
emission reduction, with respect to climate change, mitigation means implementing policies to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and enhance sinks.

Precautionary principle is a management concept stating that, in cases where there are threats of
serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing
cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation.

Resilience refers to the ability of a social or ecological system to absorb disturbances while retaining
the same basic structure and ways of functioning, the capacity for self-organization and the capacity to
adapt to stress and change. In the context of ecosystems, resilience refers to the level of disturbance
that an ecosystem can undergo without crossing a threshold into a different structure or with different
outputs. Resilience depends on ecological dynamics as well as human organizational and institutional
capacity to understand, manage and respond to these dynamics.

Scenario is a description of how the future may unfold based on “if-then” propositions, typically
consisting of a representation of an initial situation, a description of the key drivers and changes that lead
to a particular future state. For example, “given that we are on holiday at the coast, if it is 30 degrees
tomorrow, we will go to the beach”.

Uncertainty implies anything from confidence just short of certainty to informed guesses or speculations;
it is important to recognize that even good data and thoughtful analysis may be insufficient to dispel
some aspects of uncertainty associated with the different standards of evidence and degrees of risk
aversion/acceptance that individuals participating in this debate may hold. (WMO/TD No.1418, p.33)

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was adopted on May
9, 1992 in New York and signed at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro by more than 150
countries and the European Community. Its ultimate objective is the stabilization of greenhouse gas

IEA Training Manual Workshop for the National Reporting Toolkit (NRT) 5