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PAHO-WHO is the abbreviation for the Pan American Health Organisation of the World Health Organisation.
A pandemic is the widespread occurrence (i.e. global or at multiple continents) of a disease during a particular period. Historically, many pandemics have involved infectious diseases that have been spread by viruses such as cholera and flu. Pandemics, however, can both be caused by communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Passive rewilding refers to the spontaneous rewilding of ecosystems when land is left to its own devices. It can be applied intentionally, but the concept also includes cases when (agricultural) land is abandoned. Arguably, as a result of farmland abandonment in Eastern Europe and some other world regions, unintentional passive rewilding currently covers far more land than do other forms of rewilding. Passive rewilding involves no or very little human intervention and does not specify an explicitly desired historical baseline scenario to which the landscape should revert, or include deliberate reintroductions of keystone species.
Pastoralism describes a form of animal husbandry and subsistence that involves raising livestock (e.g., cattle, goats, sheep, reindeer) in large, open, grassland environments (pastures). It is historically associated with a nomadic lifestyle in which people move with their herds as the seasons change.
Land covered with grass and other low plants suitable for grazing animals, especially cattle or sheep.
Permaculture is a landscape and settlement design movement that focuses on learning from observation of nature and ecosystems, systems thinking, and taking a long-term perspective. In the context of agriculture and horticulture, permaculture promotes the creation of food-producing ecosystems that require minimal ongoing human intervention. This often entails the use of perennials instead of annuals, minimising chemical inputs, the use of polycultures over monocultures, minimising soil disturbance, incorporating livestock and crops into the same system, agroforestry systems, and compost production. Permaculture shares some principles with and is related to various other 'natural' farming movements including agroecology, organic farming and regenerative farming.
Photochemical smog is observed as a haze in the atmosphere, typically near to cities. It is created through the action of sunlight on pollutants (nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds) emitted by automobiles and other industrial sources, which creates other pollutants harmful to health, such as ozone.
The planetary boundaries concept refers to the idea that humans are substantially altering natural systems, and that beyond a certain level of change this may become irreversible and self sustaining. The potential result is a planet with environmental conditions that differ substantially from those in which human civilisation developed and to which many species and ecosystems are adapted. Planetary boundaries have so far been proposed for climate change, biodiversity loss, biogeochemical cycles, ocean acidification, land use, freshwater, and ozone depletion.
The geological period that lasted from roughly 2.5 million years ago until about 11,700 years ago. The Pleistocene ended with a mass extinction of large megafauna such as the mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros. Note that the exact role of humans in megafaunal extinction remains contentious.
Pleistocene rewilding is a rewilding strategy that takes the Pleistocene (the period from roughly 2.5 million years ago until about 11,700 years ago) as its historical baseline for ecosystems. While Pleistocene rewilders draw inspiration from the species and functional complexity of ecosystems during the Pleistocene, they do not necessarily aim to recreate the exact same ecosystems as existed during this period. Pleistocene rewilding is associated with the reintroduction of large carnivores such as the wolf. It has mainly been promoted in North America and has its origins in the 3C-approach: an approach to rewilding that calls for the establishment of large cores (nature conservation areas where human interference is minimised), corridors that allow wildlife to travel between core areas, and the reintroduction of large carnivores. Pleistocene rewilding is contested as – depending on the context – it could give rise to human-wildlife conflicts and has been criticised for being based on views and principles that could lead to the marginalisation and displacement of rural and indigenous communities.
Polycultures consist of cultivating two or more crops (or animal species) on the same piece of land. Polycultures are often grown in groupings that either complement their nutritional needs or growing habit. Though polycultures have long been practiced in traditional farming systems around the world, the development of farm machinery, synthetic fertilisers and pesticides and a preference for simpler, more intensive systems that lend themselves well to economies of scale led to the displacement of polycultures in many contexts. Polycultures are associated with agroecology, regenerative agriculture and organic farming and are favoured for their role in enhancing biodiversity, improving soil health and reducing the need for chemical inputs.
Precision farming is an agricultural management practice that aims to supply plants or animals with precisely the amounts of agricultural inputs (e.g. water, pesticides, and fertilisers) they need at a specific location and moment in time, thereby increasing efficiency by reducing the total inputs needed for agricultural production, and reducing environmental impacts. Precision farming uses different types of technologies to measure, observe, and act upon factors that are relevant to the growth of crops and livestock. These can range from big data, GPS, robotics, sensors, and drones, to low-tech measures such as using bottle caps for applying the right amounts of fertilisers to individual plants. Aiming to optimize crop or livestock production, precision techniques include measuring, modelling, and responding to (site-specific) data, including weather forecasts, soil properties, soil water content, pests, and weeds.
Precision fermentation involves the production of certain molecules using genetically modified microbes, such as yeast, grown in bioreactors. It is used both in the medical field (such as to make insulin) and for food production (such as to make rennet and more recently dairy proteins and egg whites). In food production it contrasts with cellular agriculture in that it is the molecules produced by the cells, and not the cells themselves, which are used for human consumption.
Price elasticity refers to how much the demand for a good is affected by a change in its price. A good is said to be price inelastic if a change in price means that there is little change in demand. An example might be medication or addictive substances, like tobacco. A good is said to be price elastic if a change in price greatly changes the demand for the good.
Processed culinary ingredients is a category of food ingredients in the NOVA classification that result from the further treatment of unprocessed and minimally processed foods by processes such as pressing, refining, grinding, milling, and spray drying. Examples include salt, spices, cane sugar, flour, honey and olive oil. Processed culinary ingredients are added to other foods in the preparation of dishes. Advocates of NOVA understand their purpose to be enabling the preparation of more varied dishes from minimally processed foods and improving the taste and appearance of such dishes. Processed culinary ingredients are usually not consumed on their own.
The concept of processed food, in the public understanding, is often used loosely to refer to mass-produced ready-to-eat foods such as instant flavoured noodles and soda drinks. The concept, however, also refers to one of the four categories of the NOVA classification, which classifies many of these foods as ultra-processed foods. Within NOVA’s processed food category are minimally processed foods to which one or more processed culinary ingredient has been added, and which have been further modified by processes such as smoking, salting, and canning. Advocates of NOVA understand processed foods to be produced primarily to increase the durability of minimally processed foods and to enhance the taste and appearance of such foods. Examples of processed foods include freshly made breads, pickled vegetables, salted nuts, smoked meats, and canned fish.
Protein is one of the three macronutrients, the main components of food from which we get energy (the other two are fat and carbohydrate). In chemical terms, ‘proteins’ are a class of millions of different molecules which make up much of the physical structure of animal bodies and perform most complex biological tasks. However, from the point of view of nutrition, these are almost all broken down by the digestive system and can be constructed as needed from the resulting components. These components are the amino acids.
Protein-energy malnutrition refers to a spectrum of presentations of poor nutrition caused by insufficient intake of protein and/or calories. Specific protein malnutrition with sufficient energy intake (sometimes referred to as kwashiorkor, although this term has a complex history: see definition) characteristically presents with oedema (swelling). Undernourishment but with sufficient protein intake presents with loss of muscle mass and subcutaneous fat (referred to as marasmus). The combination of these, marasmic kwashiorkor or simply severe PEM, shows both sets of symptoms. In practice, it is often impossible to make such neat distinctions. The fact that forms of PEM are typically accompanied by comorbidities complicates the picture further.
Public procurement refers to the acquisition of goods, services or work by public bodies such as government agencies, hospitals, and schools, or by state owned enterprises such as railways or energy providers. Such spending can represent a substantial amount of taxpayers' money and of gross domestic product in many countries, and so how it is spent is a matter of public interest. Beause of this, changing public procurement is often seen as a way in which to influence business practices.