Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Diversità bioculturale'

This thesis looks at how ecotourists can become aware of biocultural diversity (the intersection of biological and cultural diversity) and help contribute to sustainable development, which considers the needs of both present and future generations. The thesis will address the ecotourism industry and how people who travel with companies that cater to ecotourists can contribute to biocultural diversity and sustainable development. It will utilize a sustainable development framework and a critical theory approach for considering biological and cultural perspectives including human rights and social justice, the contribution of traditional knowledge, community involvement, and the effects of human impact and globalization. The primary audience of my research is people who travel the globe in search of the earth’s natural wonders. I highlight issues related to minimizing environmental impact, respecting local cultures, building environmental awareness, and providing direct financial benefits for conservation. My central research question is: How can travelers help to preserve the environment, be sensitive to local cultures, and contribute to a sustainable future? I ask: By understanding the distinct correlation between biological and cultural diversity, how can we utilize both traditional (and local) knowledge combined with scientific knowledge to help sustain and preserve our natural ecosystems?

I conclude with findings that point to the need for shared community authority, management, and decision making; mutual benefits; recognition of the rights, values, norms, power structures, and dynamics of local populations; respect for belief systems as well as traditional and local ecological knowledge; and the importance of contextual adaptation.

This study set out to investigate the learning and change that emerged in and through participatory mapping in the context of biocultural diversity and resilience in rural Ethiopia. It did this through examining the learning and agency emerging from three participatory mapping practices (Participatory 3 Dimensional Modelling, sketch mapping and eco-cultural calendars) using two case study sites, located in the Bale Mountains and the Foata Mountains in Ethiopia, and honing in on in-depth reflective processes in two community contexts located within the broader case study sites, namely Horo Soba, Dinsho wereda in Bale; and Telecho, in Wolmera wereda, in the Foata Mountain complex. This study tried to answer three research questions related to participatory mapping: its role in mobilizing knowledge related to biocultural landscape, its role in learning and change, and its value in building resilience. The study used qualitative case study research methodology underpinned by critical realist philosophy, and used photographic ‘cues’ to structure the reporting on the cases. It used four categories of analysis: biocultural diversity, educational processes, learning and agency, in the first instance to report on the interactions associated with the participatory mapping practices as they emerged in the two case study sites. This was followed by in-depth analysis and interpretation of participatory mapping and biocultural diversity, as well as participatory mapping and learning, with an emphasis on acquisition, meaning making and identity formation processes. The in-depth analysis drew on social and learning theory, and theory of biocultural diversity and social-ecological resilience. The study also included analysis of broader change processes that were related to and emerged from the social interactions in the mapping activities, and the resultant morphogenesis (change), showing that morphogenesis, while broadly temporal, is not linear, and involves ‘little iterative morphogenic cycles’. These insights were then used to interpret how participatory mapping may contribute to resilience building in a context where social-ecological resilience is increasingly required, such as the two case study sites, where socialecological degradation is highly visible and is occurring rapidly. The study’s contribution to new knowledge lies in relation to the role of participatory mapping in facilitating learning, agency and change which, to date, appears to be under-theorised and under-developed in the participatory mapping and environmental education literature. As such, the study findings provide in-depth insight into how participatory mapping methodologies may ‘work in the world’, in contexts such as those presented in the two cases under study. It has tried to demonstrate how participatory mapping has managed to mobilize knowledge related to biocultural diversity, facilitated the acquisition of knowledge and helped members of the community to engage in meaning making activities relevant to their biocultural landscape and renegotiate their identity within the wider community context. It has also shown that dissonance is an important dynamic in the learning process; and that morphogenesis (or change) occurs over time, but also in smaller cycles that interact at different levels; and that participatory mapping cannot, by itself mobilise significant structural change, at least in the short term. It has also shown, however, that learning and the desire for change can emerge from participatory mapping processes, and that this can be utilized to adapt to the changing socio-ecological environments, potentially contributing to longer term resilience of social-ecological systems.

Biodiversity is in global decline and around 19% of the world's vertebrate species are listed as threatened on the IUCN Red List (Baillie et al. 2010; IUCN 2013). Linguistic diversity is also in decline and it is believed that as many as 90% of the world's 7,000 languages are threatened with extinction this century (Krauss 1992; Nettle and Romaine 2000). It has also been noted that there is a strong similarity in the distributions of terrestrial species diversity and linguistic diversity at the global scale, with the greatest richness found in the humid tropics and the lowest richness in the cold temperate zones (Mace and Pagel 1995; Sutherland 2003; Gavin et al. 2013). The term biocultural diversity has come into use to describe the collective diversity of species, languages and cultures around the world and their ongoing declines (Maffi 2001b; Harmon 2002). One of the papers presented here develops the first national index of biocultural diversity, which confirms the pattern of greatest richness in the tropics, particularly in Southeast Asia (Loh and Harmon 2005). However, measures of the state of biological, linguistic and biocultural diversity based on richness alone simply record the number of species or languages present and ignore underlying trends in abundance or populations of species or speakers of languages. Extinction risk has been the most widely-used measure of the status of both species and languages, but indicators based on time-series population data offer an alternative and more responsive measure of status and trends. The other papers presented here describe the development of Living Planet Index (Loh et al. 2005; Collen et al. 2009), an indicator which aggregates trends in populations of several thousand vertebrate species worldwide and shows an overall decline of about 30% over four decades since 1970, and the Index of Linguistic Diversity (Harmon and Loh 2010; Loh and Harmon 2014), a closely-related indicator based on trends in speaker numbers of around a thousand languages worldwide, and which also shows a decline of about 30% over the same period. At the regional level, the respective trends diverge. For biodiversity, there was a greater rate of decline in the tropics compared with temperate regions, whereas for linguistic diversity, there was a far higher rate of decline in the Americas, Australia and the Pacific compared with Africa, Asia and Europe. An analysis of the threat status of 1,500 languages using the IUCN Red List criteria reveals that 27% languages are threatened with extinction and confirms the regional pattern in the status of languages apparent in the Index of Linguistic Diversity. The differing regional patterns between the declines in languages and species reflect differences in the proximate drivers of diversity loss, where habitat loss or degradation are the major causes of species population declines (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005), while linguistic diversity is lost primarily through language shift, a process whereby a politically, socially or economically dominant language displaces local or indigenous languages either as a result of colonialization, industrialization or migration (Nettle 1999).

The practices related to the growing, harvesting, preparation, and celebration of food over millennia have given rise to diverse biocultural landscapes the world over. These landscapes – rich in biological and cultural diversity – are often characterised by persistent poverty, and, as such, are often the target of development interventions. Yet a lack of understanding of the interdependencies between human well-being, nature, and culture in these landscapes means that such interventions are often unsuccessful - and can even have adverse effects, exacerbating the poverty they were designed to address. This thesis investigates different conceptualisations of persistent poverty in rural biocultural landscapes, the consequences of these conceptualisations, and the ways in which development interventions can benefit from, rather than erode, biocultural diversity. The thesis first reviews conceptualisations of persistent poverty and specifically, the notion of a poverty trap (Paper I), and examines the consequences of different conceptualisations of traps for efforts to alleviate poverty (Paper II). Paper I argues that the trap concept can be usefully broadened beyond a dominant development economics perspective to incorporate critical interdependencies between humans and nature. Paper II uses multi-dimensional dynamical systems models to show how nature and culture can be impacted by different development interventions, and, in turn, how the degradation of both can undermine the effectiveness of conventional poverty alleviation strategies in certain contexts. In the second section, the thesis focuses on the effects of, and responses to, trap-like situations and development interventions in a specific context of high biocultural diversity: the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. Paper III advances a typology of responses to traps based around the mismatch of desires, abilities and opportunities. Observing daily practice provides a way to study social-ecological relationships as a dynamic process, as practices can embody traditional and tacit knowledge in a holistic way.  Paper IV examines the diverse effects of a development intervention on the coevolution of biocultural landscapes and the ways in which everyday practice – particularly around food – can be a source of both innovation and resilience. Papers I-IV together combine insights from diverse disciplines and methodologies, from systematic review to dynamic systems thinking and participant observation. Paper V provides a critical analysis of the opportunities and challenges involved in pursuing such an approach in sustainability science, underscoring the need to balance methodological groundedness with epistemological agility. Overall, the thesis contributes to understanding resilience and development, highlighting the value of viewing their interrelation as a dynamic, coevolving process. From this perspective, development should not be regarded as a normative endpoint to be achieved, but rather as a coevolving process between constantly changing ecological and social contexts. The thesis proposes that resilience can be interpreted as the active and passive filtering of practices via the constant discarding and retention of old and new, social and ecological, and endogenous and exogenous factors. This interpretation deepens understanding of resilience as the capacity to persist, adapt and transform, and ultimately shape new development pathways. The thesis also illustrates how daily practices, such as the growing, harvesting, and preparation of food, offer a powerful heuristic device for understanding this filtering process, and therefore the on-going impact of development interventions in rural landscapes across the world.

At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.

L’idée que les discours du gouvernement Harper représenteraient une rupture fondamentale par rapport à la mythologie nationale établie est répandue dans les discours populaires et universitaires. Selon ces perspectives, une ancienne mythologie canadienne, exemplifiée par les symboles du multiculturalisme et du maintien de la paix, serait animée par l’idéal d’une ouverture exceptionnelle à la diversité. En contraste, la nouvelle symbolique conservatrice serait monolithiquement britannique, monarchique, impérialiste, et raciste. Ce penchant sur la question d’une telle rupture, cette thèse doctorale offre une analyse systématique des discours historiques du gouvernement fédéral, par lesquels l’ancienne mythologie nationale s’est ancrée dans l’imaginaire canadien. À la lumière d’une telle analyse, la nature et l’ampleur des continuités et ruptures entre ancienne et nouvelle mythologies sont évaluées. Du point de vue théorique, cette thèse innove en développant un concept apte à cerner les limites de ces deux systèmes symboliques mythologiques en ce qui a trait à leurs ouvertures relatives à la diversité. Adoptant comme point de départ la biopolitique foucaldienne et les conceptions poststructuralistes de l’identité/différence, la bioculture s’en distingue en étant sensible à la possibilité que les discours identitaires reconnaissent l’importance centrale de la diversité pour assurer l’optimisation de mécanismes adaptifs culturels, de façon analogue aux processus de la biologie évolutive. Une telle grille d’intelligibilité, qui appréhende la culture comme le résultat de la tension entre dynamiques autotransgressive et autopréservative, nous permet de répondre à notre questionnement sur la symbolique nationale.

In this dissertation I address urban sustainability with a focus on loss of cultural heritage and ecological knowledge by expanding the concept “extinction of experience” (EoE). Conceptualized by conservationist Robert Michael Pyle, EoE is the loss of nature experiences leading to apathy towards biodiversity and degradation of the common habitat. I expand upon Pyle’s formulation of the concept by considering the EoE cycle as an indirect driver that amplifies biodiversity losses. Additionally, I introduce the analysis of interrelated losses of biological and cultural diversity in relation to EoE. With a biocultural approach I discuss that EoE is tied to the infrastructural inertia within the global urban economy. I propose that addressing the EoE cycle is critical in that as a complex and multi-faceted process, it cements threats to biological and cultural diversity as permanent fixtures within society by obscuring their significance in light of economic development. This cycle remains a hidden problematic in that it perpetuates the environmental crisis while making such losses invisible within day-to-day lifestyle habits, constructing an emerging urban culture within the global economy that is ignorant of ecological processes and sustainability requirements. I frame the implications of EoE with an analysis of the newly proposed revisions of the UN Sustainable Development Goals voted on in September 2015 to prioritize local ecological knowledge and biocultural heritage.

The concept of biodiversity – the phenotypic and genotypic variation among organisms – is central to conservation biology. There is growing recognition that biodiversity does not exist in isolation, but rather is intrinsically and evolutionarily linked to cultural diversity and indigenous knowledge systems. In Canada, caribou (Rangifer tarandus) occupy a central place in the livelihoods and identities of indigenous people and display substantial variation across their distribution. However, quantifying caribou intraspecific variation has proven challenging. Interdisciplinary approaches are necessary to produce effective species characterizations and conservation strategies that acknowledge the interdependent relationships between people and nature in complex social-ecological systems. In this dissertation I use multiple disciplinary traditions to develop comprehensive and united representations of caribou variation through an exploration of population genetics, phylogenetics, traditional knowledge, language, and visual approaches in the Sahtú region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. First, I examine caribou variation through analysis of population genetics and the relationships Dene and Métis people establish with animals within bioculturally diverse systems. Next, I focus on how the Pleistocene glacial-interglacial cycles have shaped the current patterns of caribou phylogeographic lineage diversification. Finally, I explore how art can be used to facilitate cross-cultural collaboration and externalize the unique heterogeneity of biocultural diversity. The results demonstrate a broad scale understanding of the distribution, spatial organization, and the degree of differentiation of caribou populations in the region. I found evidence for caribou population differentiation that corresponds to the caribou types recognized by Dene people: tǫdzı “boreal woodland caribou,” ɂekwę́ “barren-ground caribou,” and shúhta ɂepę́ “mountain caribou.” Phylogenetic results reveal that in their northern margin the boreal ecotype of woodland caribou evolved independently from the northern Beringian lineage in contrast with southern boreal caribou which belong to the sub-Laurentide refugia lineage. In addition, I demonstrate how art can be used improve communication, participation, and knowledge production among interdisciplinary research collaborations and across language and knowledge systems. A collaborative process of research that facilitates łeghágots'enetę “learning together” has the potential to produce sustainable conservation solutions, develop efficient and effective wildlife management policies, and ensure caribou remain an important part of the landscape.
February 2017

Preventing emissions from deforestation is propagated as an effective strategy to combat climate change. At the same time forest landscapes are habitat to the last remaining traditional societies of this planet. For a long time forest conservation programs neglected the role of these indigenous communities for forest landscapes. Historical ecology pushes a change of environmental narratives towards an understanding that biocultural diversity has had and will have a significant impact on resource use and on the transformation of landscapes. A growing number of debates on global environmental justice and poverty alleviation goals call for such an integrated approach in protecting biodiversity and cultural diversity when conserving forest landscapes. Although this topic is discussed, there is a gap in scientific literature on how such an approach can actually be implemented in practise. This paper examines how the dual-objective of forest conservation and protection of cultural diversity can be achieved in practise by applying a case study of a conservation project, Carbon Tanzania. Carbon Tanzania is operating in an area in northern Tanzania inhabited by one of the few remaining hunting and gathering societies on the planet, the Hadzabe. Carbon Tanzania conservation project issues carbon credits which can be bought by companies, organisations and individuals to offset their emissions. Interviews with the different actors have been conducted in the course of the research project in order to examine how Carbon Tanzania’s ‘community-led project’ contextualizes the dual objective of protecting forests and the Hadzabe culture. The results show that the implementation of the project is facilitated through an integrated network of different actors and organisations. Critical for the operations in the area is secured land ownership and a binding land use plan in order to protect the area from external pressure and to manage the utilization of the landscape by the different communities within the area. Payments for ecosystem services generate benefits for the local forest community and support community development. This form of ‘productive’ land utilization offers a path in changing development narratives for African countries.

As cities globally experience rapid urbanization, the pressure on urban green areas increases and simultaneously opportunities for human-nature interactions decrease, which are crucial for urban citizens’ wellbeing. Urban foraging- the gathering of plant or fungal materials in urban areas- is a common human-nature interaction that has been inadequately studied and overlooked in urban policy, planning, and design. The objective of this thesis is to gain insights into the practices, motivations, and barriers of foragers in Järva City District and Stockholm County. Through an exploratory mixed methodology approach, this study demonstrated that urban foraging is perceived as a recreational activity that motivates people to get out in nature and connects them to biodiversity in forests and parks within the city. Foraging links people to high quality and local food and encourages the sharing of local ecological knowledge. Foragers investigated display care for nature, indicating that foraging can nurture a bond between nature and urban citizens. The expressed barriers to foraging were time, proximity, lack of knowledge, and fear of pollution. The findings show that foraging provides various benefits for citizens in Stockholm County and Järva City District, implying that urban foraging should not be overlooked in future research and assessments, and should be considered and incorporated into urban policy, planning, and design.
Green Access

Abstract We are living in the epoch of 'enlightenment disillusion' in which the Anthropocene debate shows the inconsistency of some of the pillars of the Western enlightenment thought, e.g., confidence in the abundance of natural resources, faith in historical progress, and conviction of humanity's dominance over nature. In this scenario, environmental conservation policies are gaining momentum as solutions for the ecological crisis. Currently, the interrelation between conservation and group rights is still underexplored by legal scholars, even if these policies are having a substantial impact on indigenous communities and the enjoyment of their collective rights. In fact, conservation policies are mostly implemented in areas with a significant presence of indigenous and other ethnic groups. This dissertation seeks to bridge this gap by navigating the interrelation among conservation studies, group rights and accommodation of cultural diversity. In detail, it explores how conservation policy can limit or support the enjoyment of collective rights and, more generally, how it should accommodate cultural diversity. Since the late 1980s, two discourses of conservation have emerged in the field of conservation studies: biodiversity and biocultural diversity. The former is still the dominant focus of conservation policy, while the latter is just appearing from the sub-disciplines of ethnobiology and ethnoecology. In the case of biodiversity, objects of conservation are genetic resources, species, and ecosystems. In the case of biocultural diversity, objects of conservation are ecosystems conceived as the product of an inextricable link between biological and cultural diversities. Borrowing methodological tools from constructivist, legal pluralist, decolonial, and Science Technology and Social Studies scholarship, and relying on a fieldwork research, this dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: how biocultural diversity discourse shapes the idea of culture and the relationship between humans and non-humans vis-à-vis the dominant biodiversity paradigm; how indigenous communities use biocultural diversity discourse to re-appropriate their way of life the territory; how conservation discourses are 'vernacualarized' into indigenous customary legal system and legal strategies; and how biocultural diversity discourse can offer insights into the debate on multiculturalism in the era of ecological crisis. In showing the interconnection between legal and conservation studies, this dissertation offers new insights at the intersection of these two disciplines. Mainly, it suggests new possible fields for future investigations on accommodation of cultural diversity and protection of collective rights in the era of ecological crisis. Abstract Il dibattito che si è sviluppato nel campo delle scienze della conservazione riguardo all'impatto negativo dell'uomo sull'ambiente, ha mostrato i limiti di alcuni dei fondamenti del pensiero illuminista, come l'idea dell'abbondanza delle risorse naturali, la fede nel progresso storico e la convinzione della superiorità dell'uomo sulla natura. La necessità di ripensare la relazione tra uomo e natura, al fine di trovare soluzioni per affrontare la crisi ambientale, ha quindi favorito lo sviluppo di politiche di conservazione ambientale. Tuttavia, anche se la gran parte di queste politiche sono promosse in luoghi ad alta presenza di gruppi indigeni, sino a oggi la dottrina giuridica non ha soddisfacentemente esplorato l'impatto che queste hanno sull'effettivo godimento dei diritti collettivi costituzionalmente riconosciuti ai popoli indigeni stessi. Questa tesi si pone l'obiettivo di colmare tale lacuna dottrinale, analizzando la relazione esistente tra teorie e idee che emergono nell'ambito delle scienze della conservazione, la tutela dei diritti collettivi e la definizione delle politiche di accomodamento della diversità culturale. In particolare, questo lavoro guarda ai meccanismi attraverso i quali le politiche di conservazione ambientale possono limitare o favorire l'effettivo godimento dei diritti collettivi e promuovere una politica d'accomodamento della diversità culturale. Dagli anni '80, nell'ambito degli studi in materia di conservazione ambientale, sono emersi due discorsi, quello sulla biodiversità e quello sulla diversità bioculturale. Nel caso della biodiversità, dominante nelle politiche conservazioniste, gli oggetti di conservazione sono le specie, le risorse genetiche e gli ecosistemi. Nel caso della diversità bioculturele, discorso emerso più recentemente in discipline come l'etno-ecologia e l'etno-biologia, oggetto di conservazione sono gli ecosistemi concepiti come il prodotto di un vincolo inseparabile tra diversità biologica e culturale. Prendendo in prestito gli strumenti metodologici di discipline come il costruttivismo sociale, il pluralismo giuridico, il pensiero critico e post-coloniale e gli studi sociali in materia di tecnologia e scienza, questo lavoro vuole rispondere alle seguenti domande: Come il discorso sulla diversità biculturale concepisce l'idea di culture e la relazione tra uomo e ambiente rispetto al paradigma della biodiversità che domina le attuali politiche di conservazione? Come le comunità indigene ricorrono al discorso sulla diversità bioculturale per riappropriarsi del loro territorio? Come i discorsi sulla conservazione sono 'vernacolarizzati' nel diritto consuetudinario indigeno? Come il discorso sulla conservazione della diversità biculturale può offrire nuovi spunti per il dibattito in materia di accomodamento della diversità culturale in un'epoca di crisi ecologica? Mostrando la relazione tra il dibattito in materia di conservazione e quello giuridico, questa tesi offre nuovi spunti per analizzare l'accomodamento della diversità culturale e il godimento dei diritti collettivi in un'epoca di crisi ambientale. In conclusione, vengono proposte una serie di riflessioni che aprono a future ricerche volte all'esplorazione dei confini tra conservazione ambientale e accomodamento della diversità culturale.

The importance of agroforestry systems is today widely recognized due to their multifunctional role in terms of climate change mitigation, agrobiodiversity and traditional knowledge preservation, and local communities’ sustenance. In particular, traditional agroforestry systems, being the result of human adaptation to the surrounding environment, represent an example of how man has been able to shape landscape respecting its peculiarities and at the same time improving its potentialities. In this background and considering that traditional systems are a sustainable alternative to intensive cultivations and provide multiple benefits both at the natural and human levels, Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations launched in 2002 a programme dedicated to Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems with the aim of protecting, monitoring and valorizing traditional agrosilvopastoral systems. Thanks to the cooperation between the University of Florence, FAO and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) a three-year project on GIAHS programme has been defined. It has had the aim of spreading knowledge on globally important systems and carrying on a series of scientific researches both on sites already inscribed and on potential ones. The thesis is included in this wider project and it is the result of a series of different studies mainly focused on agroforestry systems analyzing their role in GIAHS programme, their importance as agrobiodiversity and biocultural diversity spots, and investigating their structures to point out their differences and peculiarities. In particular, the thesis aims to provide a complete description of traditional agroforestry systems, giving a series of study cases in potential GIAHS site where a series of landuse analysis and specific data collections on agrobiodiversity have been conducted, and linking them to the importance of biocultural diversity preservation and valorization while paying attention in the role they play in the dynamic conservation background.

During the past decade the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity has received increased attention, resulting in the identification of what the Declaration of Belém calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity. Although the term biocultural diversity, introduced to denote this link, is being used increasingly, there has been little critical reflection on what it precisely refers to. I argue that it is used with particular reference to ‘indigenous traditional’ people, but that there is scope for extending its application within biocultural discourse. I therefore review the concept of culture and discuss what constitutes cultural values of the natural environment. I conclude that the concept of culture must be understood as involving a dynamic process of transcultural exchange and constant re-articulations of tradition resulting in the persistence of certain cultural practices. This approach ultimately reveals that the concept of biocultural diversity is also applicable to non-indigenous traditional communities.

During the past decade the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity has received increased attention, resulting in the identification of what the Declaration of Belém calls an ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity. Although the term biocultural diversity, introduced to denote this link, is being used increasingly, there has been little critical reflection on what it precisely refers to. I argue that it is used with particular reference to ‘indigenous traditional’ people, but that there is scope for extending its application within biocultural discourse. I therefore review the concept of culture and discuss what constitutes cultural values of the natural environment. I conclude that the concept of culture must be understood as involving a dynamic process of transcultural exchange and constant re-articulations of tradition resulting in the persistence of certain cultural practices. This approach ultimately reveals that the concept of biocultural diversity is also applicable to non-indigenous traditional communities.

Sacred sites in Ysyk-Köl area of Kyrgyzstan represent areas of land and bodies of water which are spiritually and culturally meaningful for local people. The present study mapped about 130 sacred sites, which are conserved-through-use by local communities and represent traditional model of conservation. The entire territory of Ysyk-Köl region is a formal protected area as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Thus, sacred sites, as traditional model of community conserved area, are embedded in the formal government-run Biosphere Reserve. The study scrutinizes how these two models of conservation (sacred sites and the Biosphere Reserve) co-exist in the same territory and interact with each other. Results indicate that these two models are parallel. However, recognition of sacred sites can improve formal conservation by: a) providing a complementary culture-based set of incentives for conservation, b) fostering a biocultural approach, and c) serving as a communication hub for YKBR managers and local communities.
February 2016

Theories of writing are one of the fundamental ways by which Indigenous peoples have been labeled as "uncivilized." In these discussions, writing becomes synonymous with history, literacy, and often times Truth. As such, scholars studying Nahua codices and Andean khipu sometimes juxtapose the two because together they present a break in an evolutionary theory of writing systems that links alphabetic script with the construction of "complex civilizations." Contemporary scholars tend to offer an "inclusive" approach to the study of Latin American histories through challenging exclusive definitions of writing. These definitions are always informed and limited by language-the extent to which these "writing" systems represent language. However, recentering discussions of writing and language on what Gregory Cajete has called Native Science shifts the discussion to matters of ecology in a way that intersects with current scholarship in bicocultural diversity studies regarding the link between language, culture, and biodiversity. Because of the ways in which language configures rhetoric and writing studies, a shift in understanding how language emerges bears great impact on how we understand not only the histories tied to codices and khipu but also how they function as epistemologies. In my dissertation, I build a model of relationality using Indigenous and decolonial methodologies alongside the Nahua concept of in ixtli in yollotl (a wise face/a wise heart) and embodied rhetorics. The model I construct here offers a path for understanding "traditional" knowledges as fluid and mobile. I specifically look at the relationship between land, bodies, language, and Native Science functions on the reciprocal relationship between those three components in making meaning. I then extend this argument to show how the complex web of relations that we might call biocultural diversity produces and is produced by "things" like images from codices and khipu that in turn help to (re)produce biocultural diversity. Thing theory, in emerging material culture studies, argues for the agency of cultural artifacts in the making of various realities. These "things" always-already bear a relationship to bodies and "nature." Thing theory, then, can challenge us to see artifacts like khipu and Nahua images as language artifacts and help us connect Nahua images and khipu to language outside of a text-based model. Ultimately, I argue that Native Science asks us to see language as a practice connected to biocultural diversity.

Planning and managing ecologically sound and inclusive Urban Green Spaces (UGS) providing meaningful experiences that contribute for visitors well-being is of paramount relevance and requires a deep integration of natural and social sciences knowledge. Drawing on the Biocultural Diversity (BCD) concept, that addresses the close interlinkage between biological and cultural diversity, we developed a conceptual framework adapted to the urban setting, highlighting the three dimensions where these interactions manifest: Lived BCD, Materialized BCD and Stewardship of BCD. These three dimensions were the foundation to develop and operationalize an indicator-based decision tool, which was tested in Lisbon’s twelve parks. Besides proven feasible and useful, the tool allowed to unearth self-exclusion processes. Motivations to visit UGS, and their enjoyed and disliked features, were analysed in 33 parks of four European cities, and related with their structural diversity. Motivations for visit were highly variable and though mostly based on social interactions or physical activities, the most appreciated features were related with the park itself and nature, a result consistent across cities. Parks with lower structural diversity, serving neighbourhoods of lower socioeconomic condition displayed less motivations and enjoyments. One of the benefits of visiting greenspaces is psychological restoration and the study of Lisbon parks showed that this was mainly driven by user’s perceptions, rather than by biodiversity itself, but mediation analysis showed that the effect of proportion of broadleaf species in biodiversity perception was completely mediated by the perception of trees diversity. Overall, this thesis contributed to highlight the usefulness of the BCD concept in urban settings, by developing a conceptual framework and a decision support tool, that revealed environmental justice issues that otherwise would have remained hidden, and by making a major contribution to clarify the mechanisms underlying the influence of urban biodiversity in mental well-being and to contribute to policy at the planning level.