The cultural context of biodiversity conservation - Oapen

The discursive context
a religious or mythological expression of the recognition of its vital functions. Similarly,
social regulations determine active management when degradation occurs and
exclusion rules in terms of taboos tend to be established in relation to especially valued
species and other elements of nature, thereby creating a sense of respect and care.
1263).
26
With emphasis on biodiversity conservation, the role of restrictions in regard to the
use of sacred sites has also been referred to by Schaaf (2000). As they have served as
important reservoirs of biodiversity, preserving species of plants, insects and animals,
taboo associations attached to particular trees, groves, mountains, rivers, caves and
temple sites should continue to play an important role in the protection of particular
ecosystems by local people. 27 As inextricable elements of the cultural landscape, such
places are widely found in societies throughout the Americas, in Australia, as well as in
Asian and African countries. Schaaf suggests that they may provide an alternative and
innovative approach to environmental conservation. Due to access restrictions, such
sanctuaries serve to maintain ecosystems in landscapes that people otherwise would
have transformed into agro-ecosystems. As they contain important reservoirs of genetic
and species diversity and often play a major role in safeguarding the hydrological
cycle of watershed areas, they can help to protect ecosystems against environmental
degradation. In this way, the transdisciplinary nature of the interface between cultural
perceptions and scientific rationale in the effective protection of bio-cultural diversity
found in sacred sites provides compelling models for integrated conservationdevelopment
programmes (2000: 341f.). 28 This observation might also have led
Mauro and Hardison to apply the term »ecocultural landscapes« (2000:
Taking into account the above considerations on the untenable distinction between
nature and culture and the polysemic texture of landscape, a concept for bridging
the gap between the natural and the cultural has been developed aiming at the
conservation of »bio-cultural diversity« (Oviedo et al. 2000). With an emphasis on in
situ conservation of biological and cultural resources as interdependent phenomena, it
indicates »the crucial complementarity for achieving an alternative, less exploitive philosophy
of nature and the environment for improved sustainable natural resource
management and conservation« (Slikkerveer 2000: 174). 29
26 Taboo is derived from the Polynesian context, where the concept was established to protect resources
considered particularly vulnerable; overfished reefs, orchards of unripe fruit or overharvested
wild plants and animals would be declared taboo until they had recovered to be harvested again.
27 This point has been made by a number of authors. See for instance Gadgil et al. (1993), who provide
numerous ethnographic examples in their account on Indigenous Knowledge for Biodiversity Conservation.
Although sacred sites undoubtedly contribute to biodiversity conservation, Laird (2000) questions
whether the complex conditions that have created and maintained such areas may be operationalised
as conservation tools.
28 In particular, Schaaf relates to a programme initiated by UNESCO aimed at cultural landscapes and
their link with the conservation of biodiversity. Established in 1992 within the Convention Concerning
the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, this category recognises the complex interrelationships
between humans and nature in the construction, formation and evolution of landscapes.
29 Anthropologists not only focused on differing representations of landscape in the frame of resource
management, but also extended discussions towards the accounts by colonial administrations
of how they perceived local landscapes through ›imperial eyes‹. For an example, see Misreading the Af-
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