Conferences

There is general agreement that we are currently amid a polycrisis of human origin, formed from interactions between negative changes in biodiversity and climate, amplified through effects of pollution. Many of the international processes are trying to find solutions to this crisis, and increasingly that involves invoking biocultural approaches.

The origins of the biocultural approach are in the Declaration of Belém (1988) from the First International Congress of Ethnobiology, held in Belém, Brazil. The term biocultural was not in the Declaration, rather it noted: “That there is an inextricable link between cultural and biological diversity”.

This biocultural concept extends to include the creation and maintenance of traditional landscapes and the ecological systems within them.  The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) integrated biocultural perspectives into its Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020, within which biocultural heritage was seen as a key promoter of resilience. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in 2022 by the Convention on Biological Diversity carries this connection on through recognising “the important linkages between biological and cultural diversity“.

A biocultural approach also recognizes knowledge as “heritage”, thereby reflecting its custodial and intergenerational character. The cultural landscapes inscribed under the World Heritage Convention are examples of biocultural heritage”.