Capital “is a stock resource with value embedded in its ability to produce a flow of benefits. We make a distinction among three kinds of capital: (a) human-made capital, which is generated through economic activity through human ingenuity and technological change, the produced means of production; (b) natural capital, which consists of non-renewable resources extracted from ecosystems, renewable resources produced by the processes and functions of ecosystems and environmental services sustained by the workings of ecosystems; and (c) cultural capital, which refers to the factors that provide human societies with the means and adaptations to deal with the natural environment and actively to modify it (Berkes and Folke 1994, as presented in Berkes and Folke 1998:6). References cited: Berkes, Fikret and Carl Folke. 1998. Linking Social and Ecological Systems for Resilience and Sustainability. In Linking Social and Ecological Systems, F. Berkes, C. Folke, and J. Colding, eds. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-25. [GEW]

common-property (common-pool) resources are those subtractable resources for which use exclusion is difficult, resulting in joint use. [GEW]

Community forestry “is based in the local control over, and enjoyment of the benefits from, the local forest resource. These benefits are not simply monetary, nor are they derived exclusively from timber production, but may vary with the many values associated with forest ecosystems, including cultural, spiritual, social, medicinal, ecological, recreational, aesthetic and economic values” (Curran and M’Gonigle 1997, cited by http://www.forestsandcommunities.org/ecosystem.html ). [FH]

consensus analysis is a family of mathematical models related to quantitative data collection methods standard in cognitive anthropology that estimate and compare the cultural competence or knowledge of individuals. [CEB; based on Miller et al. 2004]

Cross sectional survey data refers to information collected by observing or interacting with a diverse group of informants, or cross section, at the same point in time. Analysis of this one dimensional, synchronic data usually involves comparing the differences among the subjects in order to detect trends that are correlated with selected independent variables. Relying on synchronous observations may limit the scope for understanding dynamic processes (such as knowledge loss) and the development of trends over time. Cross sectional data are often used as proxies in studies of change: information gathered from communities at various distances from an urban area may be considered to reflect the impact of market integration over time, or data from informants of different ages may be assumed to give insights into acquisition or loss of knowledge. [HW]

Cultural support is a term used by Wolff and Medin (2001) to refer to continued exposure to nature through media, conversation, and values such that knowledge about the natural world is maintained in a particular society. Cultural support, for example, will promote knowledge about the natural world even in an urban society while a decline in cultural support can lead to devolution of knowledge about nature. [JG]