Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Global Sourcebook

We wrote Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Global Sourcebook (Earthscan, 2010) as a comprehensive source of information for researchers, professionals, policy makers, indigenous and other local organizations, international agencies and non- governmental organizations (NGOs), funders, media and others. It is the very first resource of its kind. The material we present in this volume is the outcome of a project carried out over several years by Terralingua, with support from The Christensen Fund. In the course of this project, we conducted a worldwide survey to identify a representative sample of projects that take an integrative approach to sustaining cultures and biodiversity. We were especially interested in projects initiated and conducted by indigenous and local communities, or else jointly planned, led and managed by these communities and external agents (such as governments, international organizations, or NGOs). The 45 projects we selected are ones that recognize the fundamental link between local languages, ecological knowledge, cultural practices, and biodiversity, and that apply this recognition to the design of sustainable solutions to environmental and social problems.