Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Global Sourcebook

Biocultural Diversity Conservation:
A Global Sourcebook

By Luisa Maffi and Ellen Woodley

Publication date: 19th February 2010

'All of the world's cultures are utterly dependent upon the biodiversity among which they live. Each culture has developed ways of adapting to their biodiversity, drawing on nature for goods, services, inspiration, mythology, and much else besides. Biocultural Diversity Conservation is a treasure trove of the many approaches that have been taken by the world's diverse cultures to maintain the biological systems upon which they depend. This invaluable resource will certainly find great utility in all parts of the world and among many disciplines. '
Jeffrey A. McNeely, Senior Science Advisor, IUCN

'Here is a treasure trove of a book, one that will truly make a difference in the world. It represents a key milestone in our global understanding of the profound and inextricable links between cultural and biological diversity. Written by two of the leading lights in this new and growing field, it is filled with important information, case studies and analyses on a global scale.'
Nancy J. Turner, University of Victoria, Canada

'At long last: an authoritative guide to biocultural conservation. This is a splendid illumination of the intermingled diversity of culture and nature ... revealing and revolutionary.'
Thomas E. Lovejoy, Biodiversity Chair, The Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, USA

The field of biocultural diversity is emerging as a dynamic, integrative approach to understanding the links between nature and culture and the interrelationships between humans and the environment at scales from the global to the local. Its multifaceted contributions have ranged from theoretical elaborations, to mappings of the overlapping distributions of biological and cultural diversity, to the development of indicators as tools to measure, assess, and monitor the state and trends of biocultural diversity, to on-the-ground implementation in field projects.

This book is a unique compendium and analysis of projects from all around the world that take an integrated biocultural approach to sustaining cultures and biodiversity. The 45 projects reviewed exemplify a new focus in conservation: this is based on the emerging realization that protecting and restoring biodiversity and maintaining and revitalizing cultural diversity and cultural vitality are intimately, indeed inextricably, interrelated.

Eco-cultural mapping to protect natural resources and sacred sites, South Africa

The case of the vhaVenda people echoes throughout many other rural areas in Africa and amongst other groups of traditional and indigenous peoples – the loss of communally owned territories, the expansion of industrial plantations and non-sustainable forms of land and resource use including tourism, the erosion of cultural values and sacred sites. With support from CTA, women, men and youth from Tshidzivhe community, in Limpopo province, northern South Africa, spent six days exploring ways to ‘map’ their traditional knowledge and practices for managing their natural resources. As the different maps were finished, the local people celebrated their new capacity to express traditional environmental knowledge in an appropriate way for gaining recognition, reviving traditional practices and securing their rights.

This was a unique mapping experience that involved local people as well as indigenous from other parts of the world. More than 70 vhaVenda people took part, guided by trainers in eco-cultural mapping from Colombia and accompanied by indigenous leaders from the Colombian Amazon and the Russian Republic of Altai. The process required the full participation of community members, especially the elders and the makhadzis, women custodians of sacred sites, but with minimal materials or technology.

Four maps and two ecological calendars were produced, covering what the local population refers to as “Venda territory” and with special attention to the main sacred sites. The maps show the changes and alterations to the land - the past, present and future visions - and the importance of recovering traditional practices and rituals.

Trainees from Kenya and Ethiopia, members of the African Biodiversity Network, took part and hope to carry out similar workshops in their respective countries in 2010.

Photos by Will Baxter, text by Fiona Wilton / The Gaia Foundation