Biocultural vulnerability exposes threats of culturally important species
Reyes-García, Victoria (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Cámara-Leret, Rodrigo (University of Zurich. Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies)
Halpern, Benjamin S. (University of California. Bren School of Environmental Science and Management)
O'Hara, Casey (University of California. Bren School of Environmental Science and Management)
Renard, Delphine (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Université de Montpellier. Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive)
Zafra-Calvo, Noelia (Basque Centre for Climate Change (Bilbao))
Díaz, Sandra (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (Argentina))
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Antropologia Social i Cultural

Date:	2023
Abstract:	There are growing calls for conservation frameworks that, rather than breaking the relations between people and other parts of nature, capture place-based relationships that have supported social-ecological systems over the long term. Biocultural approaches propose actions based on biological conservation priorities and cultural values aligned with local priorities, but mechanisms that allow their global uptake are missing. We propose a framework to globally assess the biocultural status of specific components of nature that matter to people and apply it to culturally important species (CIS). Drawing on a literature review and a survey, we identified 385 wild species, mostly plants, which are culturally important. CIS predominate among Indigenous peoples (57%) and ethnic groups (21%). CIS have a larger proportion of Data-Deficient species (41%) than the full set of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) species (12%), underscoring the disregard of cultural considerations in biological research. Combining information on CIS biological conservation status (IUCN threatened status) and cultural status (language vitality), we found that more CIS are culturally Vulnerable or Endangered than they are biologically and that there is a higher share of bioculturally Endangered or Vulnerable CIS than of either biologically or culturally Endangered CIS measured separately. Bioculturally Endangered or Vulnerable CIS are particularly predominant among Indigenous peoples, arguably because of the high levels of cultural loss among them. The deliberate connection between biological and cultural values, as developed in our "biocultural status" metric, provides an actionable way to guide decisions and operationalize global actions oriented to enhance place-based practices with demonstrated long-term sustainability.
Grants:	European Commission 771056 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Note:	This contribution is part of the special series of Inaugural Articles by members of the National Academy of Sciences elected in 2021. Contributed by Victoria Reyes-Garcia
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Biocultural diversity ; Conservation planning ; Cultural keystone species ; Indigenous languages
Published in:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 120, Issue 2 (January 2023) , art. e2217303120, ISSN 1091-6490

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2217303120
PMID: 36595703

6 p, 1.3 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles