ABSTRACT
Aa A21 major groups – A term used in the text of Agenda 21 indicating nine
sectors of society fundamental to achieving sustainable development: children and youth, indigenous people, women, NGOs, local authorities, workers and trade unions, scientific and technological community, farmers, and business and industry. (UN)
A posteriori – Relating to or involving inductive reasoning from particular facts or effects to a general principle; derived from or requiring evidence for its validation or support; empirical; open to revision. (WR)
A précis – An abstract, abridgement, condensation, digest, synopsis or a summary of the essential thought of a longer piece. (HH)
A priori – Relating to or involving deductive reasoning from a general principle to the expected facts or effects; known to be true independently of or in advance of experience of the subject matter, requiring no evidence for its validation or support. (WR)
Aarhus Convention – The Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters of the UNECE entered into force on 30 October 2001. Its purpose is to link environmental rights to human rights through stakeholder involvement, and it establishes that the achievement of sustainable development is through government accountability linked to environmental protection. (UNECE)
Aarhus Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) – A protocol to the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution designed to reduce air pollution from 16 persistent organic chemicals including DDT, aldrin, dieldrin, PCB and the industrial byproducts, dioxins and furans. Thirty-three governments signed the protocol in 1998 but it has not yet entered into force. (UNECE)
Abatement – The reduction of the degree or intensity of pollutants or emissions. (EM)
Absolute poverty – A state when a person is not able to satisfy his/her minimum requirements for the basic necessities for life such as food, shelter, sanitation, clean water, medical care, and education. The dollar a day poverty line is accepted internationally as an absolute poverty line. (WDM) See ‘Heavily indebted poor countries.’
