Conference promotes links between biological, cultural diversity

The 1^st Asian  Conference  on  Biocultural  Diversity,  held  from  27-29  October  in Nanao City, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, produced a regional Declaration on Biocultural Diversity and an annex  of  practical  actions  that can  be  taken  at  different levels  to  strengthen  the  links  between  biological and cultural diversity for a sustainable future living in harmony with nature.

In Asia, many local communities use resources provided by ecosystems for their distinct local cultures. It is  essential  that  such  local  natural  resources  are  regarded  as  assets  to  be  protected  and  preserved,  and furthermore,  utilized  appropriately  and  wisely  for  the  vitalization  of communities.

In the  conference Declaration, participants  committed  to  further  exploring  and  implementing  integrated  approaches  to conservation,  sustainable  and  equitable  use  and  the  equitable  sharing  of  benefits  arising  from  nature, through  strengthening    and  transmission  of  resilience  of  local  biocultural  diversity,  including  by enhancing and supporting local and traditional knowledge systems, technologies and cultural practices.

“Both cultural and biological diversity are the common heritage of humanity  and  must  be  recognized  as such and affirmed for the benefit of present and future generations,” said Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive  Secretary of  the  Convention  on  Biological  Diversity  (CBD).    “Cultural and biological components of the Earth’s diversity are not only closely related but are also inextricably linked. They have co-evolved and continue to change in an interdependent and mutually reinforcing way.”

The  conference, organized by  the United  Nations  Educational,  Scientific  and  Cultural Organization(UNESCO), CBD Secretariat, United  Nations  University,  and  the  Ishikawa  Prefectural  Government, highlighted that  actions  from  local  to  international levels  that  value  and  protect  biodiversity  and  cultural diversity can benefit people in many ways, including through better health, food security, access to clean water, and less poverty.  These actions can also help people adapt to climate change, by adding resilience to  both  human  communities  and  ecosystems  and  making  them  less  vulnerable,  and  by providing  the needed genetic resources to adapt  food systems to face the impacts of climate change.

Yet, when  it  comes  to  policy  making  and  management  decisions  aimed  at  reversing global  trends  of  diversity erosion, biological and cultural diversity are treated as distinct and completely separate issues. “These dual approaches often lead to diverging and sometimes conflicting agendas, undermining the advances made in the field of biodiversity at the expense of those in cultural diversity and vice versa,” said UNESCO  Assistant  Director-General for Natural  Sciences, Flavia Schlegel. “In this context it becomes clear that instead of fragmentation, the global erosion of diversity needs to be addressed in a holistic way that recognizes the links between biological and cultural components.”

Conference participants committed to engaging in promoting diverse and culturally appropriate means of local, sustainable, and culturally appropriate development through dialogue, mutual exchange and learning –especially through local implementation of international designation systems such as the CBD, the Food and  Agriculture  Organization of  the  United  Nations, Globally  Important  Agricultural  Heritage  Systems, UNESCO Biosphere Reserves and Geoparks, UNESCO World Heritage sites and others.

Participants also invited  international  and  regional  organizations,  national  and  local  authorities, to  establish  or  further develop  and  support  platforms  for  dialogue,  where  citizens,  indigenous  peoples  and  local  communities, municipalities, business entities and researchers, can build networks and foster exchanges and partnership, towards better policy development regarding biocultural diversity and urban-rural linkages.

The  CBD  Executive  Secretary, Braulio de  Ferreira  de  Souza  Dias, UNESCO  Assistant  Director-General for  Natural  Sciences, Flavia  Schlegel, and  the  Governor  of Ishikawa  Prefecture, Masanori  Tanimoto, opened the event.

The  Declaration  and  related  actions  will  be  presented  to  the UN  Biodiversity  Conference1 in  Cancun, Mexico, being held between 2 and 17 December 2016.

The 1^st European Conference for the Implementation of the UNESCO-SCBD Joint Program on the Links between Cultural and Biological Diversity was held in Florence, Italy in 2014. Discussions by re searchers and practitioners who have been involved in biocultural diversity activities emphasized the importance of  biological  and  cultural  diversity  for  our  welfare,  and  the  Florence  Declaration  on  the  Links  between Cultural  and  Biological  Diversity,  which  advocates  mutual  coordination  in  policymaking  on  various levels, was adopted.