Ten principles for biocultural conservation at the southern tip of the Americas: the approach of the Omora Ethnobotanical Park.

RICARDO ROZZI; FRANCISCA MASSARDO; CHRISTOPHER B. ANDERSON; KURT HEIDINGER; JOHN SILANDER

ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY

RESILIENCE ALLIANCE

Año: 2006 vol. 11 p. 43 - 43

1708-3087

During the 1980s, conservation biologists successfully characterized the alarming losses of biodiversity and raised public awareness about the multiple human causes and problems associated with these losses (Primack et al. 2001). In the 1990s, it was recognized that greater integration between ecological and social dimensions was required to achieve conservation goals (Pandey and Wells 1997, Rozzi and Feinsinger 2001). Also, ecological societies and ecologists called for greater involvement of scientists with environmental decision makers and educators (e.g., Lubchenco et al. 1991, Vitousek 1994). The Ecological Society of America’s Sustainable Biosphere Initiative (ESA-SBI), encouraged ecologists to become involved in environmental education and decision making, and the ESA-SBI provided a stimulus to overcome narrow specialization and the divide between basic and applied science, not only in the United States but abroad as well (Huntley et al. 1991, Rozzi et al. 1998, 2000). Additionally, a new level of political involvement and awareness regarding losses of biodiversity, environmental degradation, and their connections with social problems was achieved through new international agreements, e.g., Convention on Biological Diversity, Kyoto Protocol. Since 2000, though, a central challenge faced by conservation biology is how to effectively implement international environmental conventions and models while integrating multiple ecological and social dimensions at local, regional, and global levels (Holling 2004, Jax and Rozzi 2004). Today, there is a general consensus among conservation practitioners regarding the need for: (1) social involvement by scientists (Bradshaw and Beckoff 2001); (2) interdisciplinary approaches that integrate human and biological factors (Gunderson et al. 1995); (3) a focus on local, regional, and global levels (Primack et al. 2001); and (4) the establishment of international agreements on biodiversity and environmental protection (UNESCO 2000). Despite the general agreement on these goals, most conservation biology research and scholarly articles continue to have a traditional, narrow disciplinary focus (Noss 1999), educational curricula have not shown sufficient innovation (Clark 2001), and there is a shortage of hands-on examples or demonstrative case studies (Heemskerk et al. 2003). This article presents a case study of a long-term biological and cultural conservation initiative at the southern extreme of the Americas, offering insights at two levels. First, we characterize the process of creation of the Omora Ethnobotanical Park (OEP) and the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, emphasizing the integration of social, cultural, and ecological dimensions required by this conservation initiative. Given its isolated character, low anthropogenic impact, and small population (2500), the vast Cape Horn Archipelago region (55o S) offers an ideal venue for a proactive conservation initiative, especially now that the area is confronting increasing pressures of development, tourism, aquaculture, and the exploitation of natural resources. Here, we lay out a set of 10 interrelated principles for implementing biocultural conservation. These principles are nested at local, regional, national, and international scales, and involve multiple institutions, actors, and disciplines. This set of principles had both applied and theoretical value for the Omora initiative. They contributed to policy making and regional planning, and they integrate across disciplines that have remained largely disconnected within the field of conservation: the sciences and humanities (Oelschlaeger and Rozzi 1998, Primack et al. 2001), biological and cultural diversity (Rozzi et al. 2003a), and theory and practice (Rozzi 1999, 2003a). We first introduce the unique biological and cultural attributes of the Cape Horn region and the conservation challenges that this region faces today. We then provide an overview of OEP’s origins and its strategy to turn theory into practice, describing its 10 principles for biocultural conservation. In the final section, we briefly discuss some of the main findings, and challenges that the Omora initiative had to overcome to achieve sustainable conservation.