Support Terralingua and the Voices of the Earth

Dear Terralingua members and friends,

When thinking about year-end charitable giving, please consider our Voices of the Earth project. This work embodies the essence of Terralingua’s mission: to collaborate in on-the-ground partnerships with indigenous and local communities striving to keep their languages,  knowledge, and oral traditions alive.

Our partners are keen to continue this work with us, and we’d love to do just that. Please Donate now to this worthwhile project, and  help the Voices of the Earth thrive!

Why Do the Voices of the Earth Matter?

Through the millennia, humanity has spoken in many different tongues—the thousands of languages through which the world’s diverse cultures have expressed their beliefs, values, and wisdom. Oral traditions are the tie that links people to people and people to place. They tell us how to be human, how to respect one another, and how to care for the natural world that sustains us.

Oral traditions contain a wealth of lessons for us all: they remind us that there are other worldviews, other ways of life that are far more connected, more respectful, and more sustainable than the current dominant paradigm. Nurturing the treasure of the world’s oral traditions directly benefits the long-term well-being and resilience of indigenous and local communities, and of humanity at large.

What’s Happening with the Voices of the Earth?

Increasingly, the Voices of the Earth are at risk of being silenced, overwhelmed by the rising tide of only a few, dominant languages. Along with the languages, also threatened are the ancient teachings that the Voices of the Earth have passed down, through oral traditions, from one generation to the next.

Already, our Index of Linguistic Diversity tells us that there has been a 25% decline in the world’s linguistic diversity since 1970—that is, in the past 40 years alone! That’s why it’s so vital to sustain the Voices of the Earth—and why Terralingua started the Voices of the Earth project. It’s a rush against time, while the last generations of fluent elders are still with us.

What Is Terralingua Doing for the Voices of the Earth?

We set up the project to support Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ efforts to document and revitalize their oral traditions. Keeping their oral traditions alive contributes to strengthening their identities, and helps ensure that indigenous and local worldviews, values, beliefs, knowledge, and practices are transmitted to the younger generations. It reaffirms ancestral connections with the land, healing body and mind. In many cases, it provides tools to uphold cultural and land rights threatened by unwanted “development” pressures.

Our initial partnerships have been with the Saanich  and Tsilhqot’in First Nations of British Columbia, Canada, and with local communities in Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Focus on The Saanich: “Bringing Our Stories Back”

Why did we choose to work with British Columbia (B.C.) First Nations? Close to where Terralingua’s home base is, the situation is especially serious: many of the local indigenous languages are highly at risk, with younger generations not learning their ancestral tongues.

Today only 5.1% of the B.C. First Nations population are fluent speakers of their language. The majority of these speakers are aged 65 and older. These means action is needed quickly.
Source: Report on the Status of BC First Nations Languages, 2010

B.C. First Nations are taking action. The Saanich  people (of the Coast Salish language family) have developed a very active language revitalization program, housed at the Saanich Tribal School in Brentwood Bay, B.C. A group of very committed Saanich Language Apprentices is training to be the next generation of language champions.

We are working with the Apprentices on the project,“Bringing Our Stories Back”, which focuses on the documentation of traditional stories in their language and the production of illustrated storybooks. The Apprentices transcribe and translate the stories and create the beautiful artwork that illustrates them. The books will be used as a part of the language revitalization program and to enhance the school’s educational curriculum. The project’s long-term goal is to reconnect the Saanich people to their cultural heritage and to their ancestral sense of place.

“I want my children to have the opportunity that many of our people did not have, that I did not have, to hear our ancestral tongue in the home.” 
SXEDTELISIYE – Saanich Language Apprentice

So far, Terralingua has supported the production of two of these storybooks, which are going to print now and will be distributed in both print and electronic format {for download on this page}. It has been a very enriching experience for all involved, and we all want for this urgent work to continue. There’s so much more to do and so little time!

Donate for the Voices of the Earth Today!

Please do consider supporting this very special project by donating to Terralingua!  No donation is too big or too small. Just earmark your donation for “Voices of the Earth”, and the funds will directly and exclusively go to the projects.

There is no time to lose! Make a donation to Terralingua today, and join the effort to keep the Voices of the Earth alive and strong!

Thank you for your generous support! With best regards and warm wishes for the holidays,

Luisa Maffi, Ph.D.
Terralingua Co-founder and Director

Thanks for your donations!
Contributions to Terralingua are tax-deductible in the U.S.A. and Canada
December 17th, 2012 | Category: News | Comments are closed

5th World Conservation Congress, Jeju, Korea

Terralingua actively participated in IUCN’s 5th World Conservation Congress (WCC 5), which took place on 6-15 September,2012 on the Island of Jeju, South Korea. We organized or participated in a number of events during the WCC Forum. The Forum is a week-long portion of the Congress that brings together NGOs, researchers, indigenous peoples, policy makers, funders, media, and others from all over the world to discuss, share and learn about the world’s most pressing sustainable development issues.

The highlight of our participation in the Forum was the “Conservation Campus” session we gave on our Vitality Index of Traditional Environmental Knowledge . In addition, we were involved in various activities organized by our partners of the Sacred Natural Sites Initiative . As well, we participated in events related to the development of an Island Biocultural Diversity Initiative promoted by researchers from Mokpo National University in South Korea, and in others devoted to the implementation of a Biosphere Ethics Initiative within IUCN.

In addition, Terralingua co-sponsored four motions for the approval of the IUCN Members’ Assembly: on Sacred Natural Sites, the Island Biocultural Diversity Initiative, Indigenous Peoples’ and Community Conserved Areas, and the implementation of the Biosphere Ethics Initiative. All four motions were passed by the Assembly.

It was very encouraging to see biocultural diversity, biocultural heritage, and biocultural conservation come up as recurrent themes during WCC 5. Clearly, the biocultural paradigm is taking hold and making its way into on-the-ground conservation and international policy. Yet, much more needs to be done to counter the continued, rapid loss of the diversity of life in nature and culture and set our planet on a more sustainable course.

October 26th, 2012 | Category: 2012, Events, News, Policy | Comments are closed

Island Biocultural Diversity Initiative Launched at WCC 5

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.

October 26th, 2012 | Category: 2012, News | Comments are closed
 
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