Biocultural diversity

Biocultural diversity is defined by Luisa Maffi, co-founder and director of Terralingua, as "the diversity of life in all its manifestations: biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated (and possibly coevolved) within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system."[1] "The diversity of life is made up not only of the diversity of plants and animal species, habitats and ecosystems found on the planet, but also of the diversity of human cultures and languages."[2] Research has linked biocultural diversity to the resilience of social-ecological systems.[3][4] Certain geographic areas have been positively correlated with high levels of biocultural diversity, including those of low latitudes, higher rainfalls, higher temperatures, coastlines, and high altitudes. A negative correlation is found with areas of high latitudes, plains, and drier climates. Positive correlations can also be found between biological diversity and linguistic diversity, illustrated in the overlap between the distribution of plant diverse and language diverse zones. Social factors, such as modes of subsistence, have also been found to affect biocultural diversity.[5]

  1. ^ Maffi, Luisa (2007). Jules Pretty; et al. (eds.). The SAGE Handbook of Environment and Society. p. 269. ISBN 9781446250082. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  2. ^ Maffi, Luisa (2012). Biocultural Diversity Conservation. UK: Earthscan. p. 5.
  3. ^ Winter, Kawika B.; McClatchey, Will (2008). "Quantifying Evolution of Cultural Interactions with Plants: Implications for Managing Diversity for Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems" (PDF). Functional Ecosystems and Communities. 2: 1–10.
  4. ^ Winter, Kawika B.; Lincoln, Noa K.; Berkes, Fikret (2018). "The Social-Ecological Keystone Concept: A metaphor for understanding the structure and function of a biocultural system". Sustainability. 10 (9): 3294. doi:10.3390/su10093294.
  5. ^ Maffi, Luisa (2012). Biocultural Diversity Conservation. UK: Earthscan. pp. 6–8.