Biodiversity Conservation Essay

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Sacred places have a positive impact on biodiversity, but conservationists have to take the indigenous traditional, spiritual and religious values into consideration when planning conservation management. The practice of biodiversity conservation, rooted in Western science with its materialistic and not religious view, can threaten the value of sacred spaces. Imposing an official protected area status onto a sacred site in a way that hinders its traditional use, can cause cultural disruption and resentment. (Dudley, 2010)

2. Discussion
Over the past millennia, indigenous peoples have lived in harmony with nature, cared for their ecosystems and had an overall positive impact on the biodiversity in their area. This is mainly due to their local …show more content…

Conversation requires protection of threatened resources from human use. At the same time, indigenous peoples rely on these resources for their everyday livelihood. For them the Western idea of conservation is conflicting with their daily life. For these local communities, conservation practises have reduced access to ancestral lands, restrictions on customary resource use and the predation of wildlife on cultivated lands (Dowie, 2011). While conservationists are arguing with indigenous peoples and their advocates about the role of people in conservation, the nature they both wish to preserve is being destroyed (Redford & Painter, …show more content…

Instead of relying on state and private management of resources, biodiversity conversation can be achieved in collaboration with indigenous peoples. Indigenous communities have developed very close interrelationships with local animals, plants and forests (Salick et al., 2007). Over the years, they have gained knowledge about their lands and the natural world. There is a strong relationship between their traditional culture and biodiversity conservation (Redford & Stearman, 1993). They seem well suited for the task of conservation management, but involving indigenous peoples might not be that simple and might not always lead to a positive

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