Inviting biocultural conservation projects for Terralingua portal

GAIN EXPOSURE FOR YOUR BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY CONSERVATION PROJECT BY ADDING IT TO TERRALINGUA’S ONLINE PORTAL.

If you are or have been involved in an on-the-ground biocultural diversity conservation project, we in Terralingua would like to offer you an opportunity to showcase your project on our biocultural diversity conservation portal (www.terralingua.org/bcdconservation).

The portal is the online companion to our 2010 book Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Global Sourcebook. The book has been praised as a key introduction to an integrated approach to nature conservation and cultural affirmation, and is being widely read by academics, professionals, policy makers and students. It is already having a significant impact on the conservation community, by showing the way toward an integrative and synergistic approach to conserving nature and strengthening and revitalizing local cultures and languages.

Over 45 biocultural projects from all over the world are already featured in our expanding gallery. The projects serve as key examples of the value of the biocultural approach for both conservation and the resilience of indigenous and local communities. The goal of this project gallery and of our portal is to give greater visibility and strength to this emerging approach, and to connect people engaged in biocultural diversity conservation into a community of practice. The projects help foster understanding of and appreciation for this approach, and contribute to creating a favorable climate for biocultural diversity conservation.

The portal is visited frequently by people interested in biocultural diversity conservation, including indigenous and local communities, researchers and practitioners, governmental and non-governmental organizations, international agencies, funders, and others. By including your project in the gallery, you can literally put it on the map of biocultural diversity conservation. You can also become an active part of a growing community of practice, fostered by our discussion forum and other opportunities for interaction.

Projects appropriate for the portal are ones that recognize the links between cultural beliefs and practices, traditional knowledge and innovations, local languages, and biodiversity, and that acknowledge the importance of these links for the conservation, management, and sustainable use of biodiversity and for the resilience of indigenous and local communities.

We especially welcome projects that are initiated and conducted by indigenous and local communities themselves, or that are based on close collaboration and equitable partnership with indigenous and local communities.

To read more about the criteria for project inclusion, and to find out how to submit your project, please go to http://www.terralingua.org/bcdconservation/?page_id=645, or write to ortixia@terralingua.org.

We look forward to hearing from you. And if you know of other people involved in biocultural diversity projects, please do forward this note to them!

Many thanks, and best regards,
Terralingua

April 7th, 2011 | Category: Get Involved | Comments are closed

2011

  • Terralingua’s Biocultural E-Magazine Focuses on Key Issues of Linguistic Diversity What is linguistic diversity, and why is it so important? The current issue of Terralingua’s E-Magazine, Langscape, “The Case for Linguistic Diversity”, sheds light on these questions and illuminates them with new insights. This issue introduces our readers to one of Terralingua’s innovative projects, the Index of Linguistic Diversity (ILD), and provides a ...
  • Introducing New Terralingua Project: Voices of the Earth Indigenous Peoples the world over are seeking to hold on or reconnect to their oral traditions, in order to maintain or rebuild their identities, their sense of place, and their ability to forge their own destiny and “walk to the future in the footprints of their ancestors”. There is a lot everyone can learn, or ...
  • Policy for Biocultural Diversity: Where Are We Now? Article: Policy Matters, Issue 17. Policy for Biocultural Diversity: Where are we now? by Luisa Maffi. A brief history of the work that has been done to implement BCD into policy over the past 15 years. “It is arguably critical for advocates of biocultural diversity to continue to rise to the challenge and strive for ...
  • Terralingua’s Index of Linguistic Diversity on National Geographic News Watch Language Diversity Index Tracks Global Loss of Mother Tongues. David Braun of National Geographic News Watch interviewed Maffi, David Harmon, and Jonathan Loh about the Index of Linguistic Diversity. “For the past several years, we had been hearing anecdotal reports about endangered languages–how we’re losing languages by the day, how we may lose 50-90 percent of ...
  • Do indigenous peoples hold the key to tackling global hunger? – The Ecologist Competition for land, water and energy are increasing, exacerbated by climate change and a growing population. But why does the Food and Agriculture Organisation now believe indigenous people could provide a solution? Peter Giovannini investigates. Contains interview excerpts with Luisa Maffi.
  • Documenting and Revitalizing Indigenous Oral Literatures A generous grant from the Firebird Foundation for Anthropological Research, which we received at the end of 2010, is allowing us to start a new, vital project! We are embarking on an effort to support the documentation and revitalization of indigenous oral literatures, which reveal the intimate connection between people and nature. We are presently ...
March 24th, 2011 | Tags: | Category: History | Comments are closed

Policy for Biocultural Diversity: Where Are We Now?

“It is arguably critical for advocates of biocultural diversity to continue to rise to the challenge and strive for concrete steps forward at the international and national levels that can, in turn, support and be influenced by local initiatives for biocultural diversity conservation. Recent developments in international policy indicate that this positive feedback loop has been set in motion. At the beginning of the third decade since the Declaration of Belém, education is one of the key aspects of affirming the multiplicity of values and roles that a biocultural perspective can play. Creating a groundswell of support for biocultural diversity involves in-depth work to educate the public, professionals, policy-makers, and funders about the value of biocultural diversity as the “true web of life” and that sustaining life on earth means sustaining biocultural diversity.” Luisa Maffi

At the editor’s request, Luisa Maffi has contributed an article to the latest issue of Policy Matters (IUCN, Issue 17, October 2010). “Policy for Biocultural Diversity: Where are we now” explores the extensive work that has been done over the past 15 years to implement biocultural diversity into policy.

Policy Matters, Issue 17, Part 2 (.pdf) (Maffi Article – Page 23)

The full publication can be downloaded from the following link: (please note that the site does not yet offer the publication as a whole, but in sections)

http://www.iucn.org/about/union/commissions/ceesp/ceesp_publications/pm/

March 24th, 2011 | Category: 2011, Article, Biocultural Diversity Primer, Maffi, News, Policy | Comments are closed
« Newer Entries  
  Older Entries »