Background

In many regions of the world we witness a loss of biodiversity which is paralleled by a loss of traditional modes of land use. Traditional land use is part of the regional or local culture – a “Way of Life” including, e.g. language, handicraft, spirituality, and traditional knowledge. These local Ways of Life evolved over a long time to cope with specific – often harsh – environments, e.g. high-mountain or desert regions. Living in traditional ways enabled the people not only to survive but to lead a good life without destroying their environment – a role model of sustainable land use.

Bio-cultural diversity describes the entire system of culture, traditional land use, and biodiversity. Preserving bio-cultural diversity, therefore, means more than applying old techniques; it means helping to revive traditional land use and developing it further, so that people can make their living even in modern times. Preserving bio-cultural diversity begins with keeping traditional culture alive, but cannot stop there – it needs participatory development considering socio-economy, cultural heritage, and ecology. To aid such a development through science we need trans-disciplinary approaches.

All over the world traditional land users are forced to change their lives because of changes in the world’s economy and societies. If socio-economic or natural conditions change, the traditional culture and techniques may not guarantee the mutual benefit for nature and humans any longer. Although the problems arising may be different in different parts of the world, there are also many similarities. Therefore, it will be beneficial to learn from approaches taken elsewhere to solve regional or local problems.