Nature and Culture Rebuilding Lost Connections

There is a growing recognition that the diversity of life comprises both biological and cultural diversity. But this division is not universal and, in many cases, has been deepened by the common disciplinary divide between the natural and social sciences and our apparent need to manage and control nature. This book goes beyond divisive definitions and investigates the bridges linking biological and cultural diversity. The international team of authors explore the common drivers of loss, and argue that policy responses should target both forms of diversity in a novel integrative approach to conservation, thus reducing the gap between science, policy and practice. While conserving nature alongside human cultures presents unique challenges, this book forcefully shows that any hope for saving biological diversity is predicated on a concomitant effort to appreciate and protect cultural diversity.

1. Nature and Culture: An Introduction Part I: Science in Practice 2. Bridging the Gap: Interdisciplinarity, Biocultural Diversity and Conservation 3. Measuring Status and Trends in Biological and Cultural Diversity Part II: Landscape and Diversity 4. No Land Apart: Nature, Culture, Landscape 5. From Colonial Encounter to Decolonizing Encounters. Culture and Nature seen from the Andean Cosmovision of Ever: the Nurturance of Life as Whole 6. The Dual Erosion of Biological and Cultural Diversity: Implications for the Health of Eco-Cultural Systems Part III: Hunting 7. Biodiversity and Cultural Diversity: The Interdependent and the Indistinguishable 8. Challenging Animals: Project and Process in Hunting Part IV: Agriculture 9. Culture and Agrobiodiversity: Understanding the Links 10. Food Cultures: Linking People to Landscapes Part V: Reconnection 11. Sacred Nature and Community Conserved Areas 12. Solastalgia and the Creation of New Ways of Living 13. EcoCultural Revitalisation: Replenishing Community Connections to the Land 14. Nature and Culture: Looking to the Future for Human-Environment Systems Index

Sarah Pilgrim is a Senior Research Officer at the Centre for Environment and Society, University of Essex, UK. Her areas of interest include indigenous and local knowledge systems, community resource management and cultural revitalisation. Her geographic expertise includes the Indo-Pacific, southern India and Arctic and sub-Arctic environments. Jules Pretty OBE is Professor of Environment and Society in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Essex, UK, and Chief Editor of the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. His works include The Earth Only Endures (2007), The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Agriculture (2005), The Pesticide Detox (2005), Agri-Culture (2002), The Living Land (1998), Regenerating Agriculture (1995), The Hidden Harvest (1992) and Unwelcome Harvest (1991).