Soil erosion is defined as the accelerated removal of topsoil from the land surface through water, wind and tillage (FAO, 2020).

Nonpoint sources of pollution refer to pollution sources that are diffused and without a single point of origin or not introduced into a receiving freshwater or maritime environment from a specific outlet. The pollutants are generally carried off the land by storm-water run-off. The commonly used categories for nonpoint sources are agriculture, forestry, urban areas, mining, construction, dams and channels, land disposal and saltwater intrusion (UN data, no date).

Coastal erosion is the physical reduction of land mass at the coast that results from the interfacing of marine, fluvial and landsliding (driven by the interactions between groundwater and the soil or rock) processes with the coast (Mentaschi et al., 2018).

Permafrost is defined as the ground that remains frozen under 0°C for a minimum of two consecutive years. Permafrost loss, also known as permafrost thaw is the progressive loss of ground ice in permafrost, usually due to input of heat. Thaw can occur over decades to centuries over the entire depth of permafrost ground, with impacts occurring while thaw progresses. During thaw, temperature fluctuations are subdued because energy is transferred by phase change between ice and water. After the transition from permafrost to non-permafrost, ground can be described as thawed (IPCC, 2019).

Biodiversity loss refers to the reduction of any aspect of biological diversity (i.e., diversity at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels) in a particular area through death (including extinction), destruction or manual removal; it can refer to many scales, from global extinctions to population extinctions, resulting in decreased total diversity at the same scale (IPBES, no date).

Sand mining (extraction) is defined as the removal of primary (virgin) natural sand and sand resources (mineral sands and aggregates) from the natural environment (terrestrial, riverine, coastal, or marine) for extracting valuable minerals, metals, crushed stone, sand and gravel for subsequent processing (UNEP, 2019).

Forest declines and diebacks are episodic events characterised by premature, progressive loss of tree and stand vigour and health over a given period without obvious evidence of a single clearly identifiable causal factor such as physical disturbance or attack by primary disease or insect (Ciesla and Donaubauer, 1994).

Sea-level change (sea-level rise / sea-level fall) is a change to the height of sea level, both globally and locally (relative sea-level change) at seasonal, annual, or longer time scales due to: a change in ocean volume as a result of a change in the mass of water in the ocean (e.g., due to melt of glaciers and ice sheets); to changes in ocean volume as a result of changes in ocean water density (e.g., expansion under warmer conditions), and to changes in the shape of the ocean basins and changes in the Earth’s gravitational and rotational fields, and local subsidence or uplift of the land (I

Forest disturbance is the damage caused by any factor (biotic or abiotic) that adversely affects the vigour and productivity of the forest and which is not a direct result of human activities. It includes disturbance by insect pests, diseases, severe weather events and fires (FAO, 2018, 2020).