Key terms

Displacement
Physical displacement occurs when there is loss of residence or assets resulting from project-related land acquisition and/or land use that require affected persons to move to another location. Economic displacement occurs where there is a loss of assets or access to assets that leads to loss of income sources or other means of a livelihood as a result of project-related land acquisition or land use.
Entitlements
The range of measures, including compensation, income restoration, transfer assistance, income substitution, training, benefits and other actions accorded to those affected by displacement, depending on the nature of their losses, to restore their economic and social base.
Food Security
The state that exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for a healthy and active life. Food security is critically fundamental to the wider livelihood considerations as people may experience food insecurity to preserve other assets or meet other objectives of their livelihoods. Food insecurity is primarily a problem of inter-related system failures that impact on the various dimensions of access to essential and nutritious foods, not simply one of production failures.
Food Systems
As a minimum, a food system includes the set of activities involved in producing food, processing and packaging food, distributing, retailing and consuming food. This includes the interactions between the bio-geophysical and human environments which determine how these activities are carried out. These activities then give rise to a set of outcomes, including food security, as well as associated environmental (e.g. ecosystem services), social (e.g. wealth, health status), economic (e.g. capital stocks) and ethical (e.g. equity and fairness) outcomes.

Source: Scoones, I 1998, Sustainable rural livelihoods: a framework for analysis, IDS Working Paper 72, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton.
Land acquisition
All methods of obtaining land for project purposes, which may include outright purchase, expropriation of property and acquisition of access rights, such as easements or rights of way. Involuntary land acquisition refers to the compulsory acquiring, or involuntary taking of land by government for public purpose where the land owner(s) must surrender their land involuntarily but retain the right to negotiate and appeal the amount of compensation proposed or terms on which the involuntary acquisition will take place. This includes land or assets for which the owner enjoys uncontested or other rights, including customary.
Land tenure
The system of rights and institutions that govern access to and use of land, and is often described in terms of `bundles of rights' to do certain things with land or other property. These rights derive from statutory and customary laws, as well as from institutions such as marriage, those of power and control, and through inheritance.
Livelihoods
Comprises the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and shocks and can maintain or enhance capabilities and assets both at that time and in the future, while at the same time not undermining the natural resource base. A livelihood system is the total combination of activities undertaken by a household or community to ensure a living. Participation in community-level socio-cultural and political activities is part of the livelihood system. The livelihood system also includes the total pattern of labour allocation of household members between crops, livestock, off-farm work, non-farm business and reproductive and community tasks.

Source: MacPherson, S & Silburn, R 1998, ‘The meaning and measurement of poverty’, in Poverty: A persistent global reality, Routledge, London, UK, pp. 1-19.
Poverty
Traditionally, the concept of poverty has carried the notion of material deprivation. It is a multifaceted concept, which includes social, economic, and political elements and may be either absolute or relative. Absolute poverty is the lack of basic means of survival. However, defining what the basic means of survival includes involves arbitrary standards because the issue of survival is immediately related to the quality of survival. Relative poverty takes into consideration individual social and economic status compared to the rest of society.
Relocation
The process through which physically displaced households are assisted to move from their place of origin to an alternative place of residence. Households may receive compensation for loss of assets or may be provided with replacement land or housing structures at the destination site.
Resettlement
The comprehensive process of planning, displacement, relocation, livelihood restoration and support for social integration. Involuntary resettlement occurs without the informed consent of the displaced persons or if they give their consent without having the power to refuse resettlement. Resettlement to pave way for mining is seen as involuntary because the process is mandatory.
Risk
The likelihood of occurrence of (external) shocks and stresses plus their potential severity, whereas vulnerability is commonly defined as the degree of exposure to risk (hazard, shock) and uncertainty.
Vulnerability
A state or condition of exposure to contingencies and stress, and the capacity of coping with the hazard or shock. The word encapsulates the notion that the extent to which people suffer from shocks or calamities depends on both their likelihood of being exposed to them, as well as their capacity to withstand them.

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