The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

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The cultural context of biodiversity conservation
from being clarified. The UN have undertaken to lance an approach passed on the
widely accepted definition elaborated by José Martínez-Cobo:
Indigenous communities, peoples and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with preinvasion
and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from
other sectors of the societies now prevailing in those territories, or parts of them. They form at present
non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to future generations
their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as
peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal systems (cited in
Oviedo 2002: 40).
The criterion ›self-identification‹ tends to be regarded as a central aspect that has been
emphasised in other international agreements such as the ILO-Convention 169 that
recognises indigenous rights to the use, ownership, management and control of traditional
lands and territories. 11 This debate is not without meaning, as the term ›indigenous‹
implies a fundamental notion of »aboriginality« to a particular place, i.e. the
»original belonging« or the »first presence«, which in turn leads to the recognition of
»primary rights« for those found to be aboriginal, as outlined by Oviedo (2002: 4ff.).
Referring to the context of biodiversity conservation, he has undertaken to summarise
the essential characteristics of indigenous peoples. These include: historical continuity
(traditional inhabitation of lands); strong link to territories (expressed in traditional
management practices and in a sense of care for the land); distinct social, economic or
political systems rooted in tradition (especially in terms of self-management, control,
participation and government institutions); distinct language, culture and beliefs (including
traditional ecological knowledge and cultural practices related to the management
of homelands); belonging to non-dominant sectors of society (local-level interactions
are therefore important, since national, dominant institutions are not necessarily
reflective of their interests); self-identification as different from national society;
traditional systems of control, use and management of lands and resources; predominantly
subsistence systems that are largely dependent on a diversity of resources; collective
rights over at least some of the resources available; traditional practices of decision-making
on matters of their concern and traditional systems of redistribution.
On a global scale, it is estimated that at least 200 million people may be defined as
indigenous, comprising about four percent of the world's total population, but 90 to
95 percent of contemporary cultural diversity (Howitt 2001: 27). Language is considered
one of the major indicators of cultural diversity. As estimated by UNESCO, 4,000
to 5,000 of the 6,000 distinguished languages in the world are spoken by indigenous
peoples (Posey 2000b: 3). An analysis of the correlation between biological and cultu-
11 According to the ILO-Convention 169, groups are considered ›indigenous‹ if they are »regarded by
themselves or others as indigenous on account of their descent from the populations which inhabited
the country, or a geographical region to which the country belongs, at the time of conquest or
colonization or the establishment of present state boundaries and who, irrespective of their legal
status, retain, or wish to retain, some or all of their own social, economic, cultural and political characteristics
and institutions« (cited in Posey 1996b: 54).