Terralingua’s magazine Langscape has become a unique venue for promoting understanding and appreciation of biocultural diversity through high-quality text and images. A special issue of Langscape, “Sacred Natural Sites: Sources of Biocultural Diversity”, co-produced with the Sacred Natural Sites Initiative (SNSI) and guest-edited by Bas Verschuuren and Robert Wild, was distributed at the 5th World Conservation Congress. Handsomely designed and illustrated, and printed in full color, this issue contains a wealth of contributions from all over the world. Together, these articles paint a vivid portrait of Sacred Natural Sites, their value and significance, the threats they are undergoing, and the many initiatives underway to protect them.
Terralingua was a co-presenter in Conservation Campus session “Learning from the Guardians of Sacred Natural Sites – Dialogue and Exchange” at the 5th World Conservation Congress organized by the Sacred Natural Sites Initiative . This conservation campus was one of a series of events organized together with Gaia Foundation, United Nations University Traditional Knowledge Initiative and the Sacred Land Film Project. SNSI is an outcome of the work of IUCN’s Specialist Group on the Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas. According to SNSI, “Sacred Natural Sites are being increasingly recognized as a resilient conservation network harboring biological and cultural diversity. Their contribution to biodiversity conservation is significant but… legal protection and related policies are often insufficient.” Therefore, this session aimed to bring policy makers, representatives of international organizations, conservationists, and civil society leaders together with custodians of Sacred Natural Sites, to “evaluate the options for international and national policy and practice in order to better legally recognize, safeguard and conserve Sacred Natural Sites”.
In one segment of this day-long session, devoted to “Custodian voices: Oral history and community film”, Terralingua and SNSI shared lessons learned from a recent collaboration on two participatory community videos focusing on Sacred Natural Sites in Zanzibar,
Sacred Natural Sites; Sources of Biocultural Diversity. Join Terralingua and the Sacred Natural Sites Initiative as we explore the rich interconnections between Sacred Natural Sites and Biocultural Diversity. Through a unique lens of stories, photographs, articles, and a diversity of perspectives this volume of Langscape introduces you to the value of Sacred Natural Sites as valuable sources of biocultural diversity. They are the amongst the oldest places at which intersecting human culture and wild nature have deeply shaped humanity. Their conservation is complex but important not only for the survival of biodiversity and cultural diversity but also for human well-being and life as a whole.
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