The Intersections of Biological Diversity and Cultural Diversity: Towards Integration

By J. Pretty, Bill Adams, Fikret Berkes, Simone Athayde, N. Dudley, E. Hunn, L. Maffi, K. Milton, D. Rapport, P. Robbins and 5 more. 2009

419 citations recorded by the source corpus.

There is an emerging recognition that the diversity of life comprises both biological and cultural diversity. In the past, however, it has been common to make divisions between nature and culture, arising partly out of a desire to control nature. The range of interconnections between biological and cultural diversity are reflected in the growing variety of environmental sub-disciplines that have emerged. In this article, we present ideas from a number of these sub-disciplines. We investigate four bridges linking both types of diversity (beliefs and worldviews, livelihoods and practices, knowledge bases and languages, and norms and institutions), seek to determine the common drivers of loss that exist, and suggest a novel and integrative path forwards. We recommend that future policy responses should target both biological and cultural diversity in a combined approach to conservation. The degree to which biological diversity is linked to cultural diversity is only beginning to be understood. But it is precisely as our knowledge is advancing that these complex systems are under threat. While conserving nature alongside human cultures presents unique challenges, we suggest that any hope for saving biological diversity is predicated on a concomitant effort to appreciate and protect cultural diversity.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/916bea5a30d08ea8413c3337b9f21afd3b46f3cd

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

1. Z. Bharucha
2. J. Pretty
3. Alemu Nega

In Global and Planetary Change

1. Z. Bharucha
2. J. Pretty
3. J. Cinner
4. R. Cramb
5. W. Nyangena

In Sociology and Political Science

1. J. Pretty
2. Z. Bharucha

Citations in the corpus

• The roles and values of wild foods in agricultural systems (2010, background): “B (2010) importance of wild game in Alaska, where 80 per cent of the population is urban, and found urban households routinely consuming significant amounts of wild game.”