The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

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The cultural context of biodiversity conservation
As suggested by Jackson and Jackson (1996: 230), the loss of agro-biodiversity
through crop monoculture is a primary cause of concern as the world's population is
dependent on only a minimal percentage of the 250,000 plant species as staple food
crops. Thus, the conservation of genetic diversity found in related wild strains is essential
to the continuing development of crop plant cultivars, in terms of disease- and
pest-resistance and productivity. 8 Agro-biodiversity safeguards the potential for natural
adaptation to changes in the environment and ecosystems and for adaptation to
shifts in human nutritional requirements (GTZ 2000: 3). 9
The recognition of an accelerating process of biodiversity erosion in all its dimensions
has transformed the term biodiversity, which currently appears as a core element
in national and international movements and politics. Like few other terms, it has become
ubiquitous in scientific and non-academic writing. The effort to conserve biodiversity
has become a major component of contemporary environmentalism and articulates,
as Escobar (2006: 244) writes, a »master narrative of biological crisis« in the
last decade. Although the conservation movement originally began with a focus on
endangered species and protected areas, much of the emphasis in recent years has
been on community development, conservation-oriented enterprises, education, public
awareness and policy matters such as international treaties like the CBD (Mittermeier
& Constant 2001: 24). Following the latest trend, which implies that environmental
deterioration can best be reversed by involving the local population, community-based
institutions are increasingly the focus of attempts to manage natural resources
in developing countries.
On the global level, a host of institutions engaged in conservational politics have
emerged. Among others, internationally operating conservation NGOs such as IUCN
or WWF, funding agencies linked to the United Nations such as UNDP, UNEP or
UNESCO and the FAO offer programming and financial support in many countries.
Bilateral development organisations like the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) or the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) also play an essential role in
structuring development and conservation initiatives on the transnational level. Multilateral
lending organisations such as the World Bank add to the list of institutions
global governance structures are composed of. Although using different approaches,
these organisations to be effective need to collaborate with national, regional and local
counterparts, including state agencies and private associations (Brechin et al. 2003:
159f.). In this context, a growing global integration is emerging beyond national
boundaries; local actors become involved in global circuits of goods and capital,
communication and meanings via international policies, social movements and environmental
transformation.
8 Basic human nutrition is dependent largely on seven domesticated species (rice, wheat, barley, oats,
sorghum, millet and corn), all of which require continued genetic input from wild relatives to maintain
their resistance to disease and pests (Mittermeier & Konstant 2001: 12).
9 Orlove and Brush (1996: 342) distinguish four types of plant genetic resources: a) landraces of crop
species, b) semi-domesticated (weedy) crop relatives, c) wild crop relatives and d) non-domesticated
perennial species.