Researchers at the Institution for Marine and Island Cultures, Mokpo National University, South Korea, spearheaded an Island Biocultural Diversity Initiative at the 5th World Conservation Congress (WCC 5). This initiative, sponsored by the Ecological Society of Korea and co-sponsored by Terralingua and others, aims to strengthen biocultural diversity and traditional ecological knowledge in island and coastal regions, recognizing both their ecological and cultural uniqueness and their fragility and vulnerability.
A related session, “Strengthening Biocultural Diversity and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Asia-Pacific Island Regions”, organized by Prof. Sun-Kee Hong of Mokpo National University, included a keynote by Terralingua Director Dr. Luisa Maffi, as well as a presentation by Dr. Stanford Zent on the relevance of our Vitality Index of Traditional Environmental Knowledge (VITEK) for assessing the state and trends of TEK in island and coastal regions. In her keynote, “Linking Language, Knowledge and the Environment in Island Ecosystems”, Luisa Maffi provided an overview of both the global and the Asia-Pacific regional picture of biocultural diversity in islands. She then used the example of Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, Canada, where Terralingua is located, to illustrate a variety of ecological and cultural issues that are common to islands all over the world.
A motion relevant to the Island Biocultural Diversity Initiative, which was passed by the IUCN Members’ Assembly at the congress, calls for “the creation of “a consultative body responsible for preparing a proposal for a convention or other international instruments to State members within the United Nations for the conservation of biocultural diversity and traditional ecological knowledge in island-coastal regions”, and of “an Islands Specialist Group within IUCN Commissions that will be responsible for advancing the conservation of biocultural diversity and traditional ecological knowledge in island-coastal regions and provide support for the activities of related research institutes and NGOs.”
For more information on this initiative, you can contact Prof. Sun-Kee Hong at landskhong@gmail.com or Dr. Luisa Maffi at maffi@terralingua.org.
Researchers at the Institution for Marine and Island Cultures, Mokpo National University, South Korea, spearheaded an Island Biocultural Diversity Initiative at the 5th World Conservation Congress (WCC 5). This initiative, sponsored by the Ecological Society of Korea and co-sponsored by Terralingua and others, aims to strengthen biocultural diversity and traditional ecological knowledge in island and coastal regions, recognizing both their ecological and cultural uniqueness and their fragility and vulnerability.
A related session, “Strengthening Biocultural Diversity and Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Asia-Pacific Island Regions” [link to http://portals.iucn.org/2012forum/?q=0075], organized by Prof. Sun-Kee Hong of Mokpo National University, included a keynote by Terralingua Director Dr. Luisa Maffi, as well as a presentation by Dr. Stanford Zent on the relevance of our Vitality Index of Traditional Environmental Knowledge (VITEK) [link to VITEK page] for assessing the state and trends of TEK in island and coastal regions. In her keynote, “Linking Language, Knowledge and the Environment in Island Ecosystems”, Luisa Maffi provided an overview of both the global and the Asia-Pacific regional picture of biocultural diversity in islands. She then used the example of Salt Spring Island in British Columbia, Canada, where Terralingua is located, to illustrate a variety of ecological and cultural issues that are common to islands all over the world.
A motion relevant to the Island Biocultural Diversity Initiative, which was passed by the IUCN Members’ Assembly at the congress [link to the motion again], calls for “the creation of “a consultative body responsible for preparing a proposal for a convention or other international instruments to State members within the United Nations for the conservation of biocultural diversity and traditional ecological knowledge in island-coastal regions”, and of “an Islands Specialist Group within IUCN Commissions that will be responsible for advancing the conservation of biocultural diversity and traditional ecological knowledge in island-coastal regions and provide support for the activities of related research institutes and NGOs.”
For more information on this initiative, you can contact Prof. Sun-Kee Hong at landskhong@gmail.com or Dr. Luisa Maffi at maffi@terralingua.org.
Follow Us!