Biocultural approaches to sustainability: A systematic review of the scientific literature

Abstract

Current sustainability challenges demand approaches that acknowledge a plurality of human–nature interactions and worldviews, for which biocultural approaches are considered appropriate and timely. This systematic review analyses the application of biocultural approaches to sustainability in scientific journal articles published between 1990 and 2018 through a mixed methods approach combining qualitative content analysis and quantitative multivariate methods. The study identifies seven distinct biocultural lenses, that is, different ways of understanding and applying biocultural approaches, which to different degrees consider the key aspects of sustainability science—inter‐ and transdisciplinarity, social justice and normativity. The review suggests that biocultural approaches in sustainability science need to move from describing how nature and culture are co‐produced to co‐producing knowledge for sustainability solutions, and in so doing, better account for questions of power, gender and transformations, which has been largely neglected thus far. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

Social dynamics of values, taboos and perceived threats around sacred groves in Kurdistan, Iran

“…Tibetans (Yaofeng et al, 2009), expresses a biocultural understanding of interlinked intangible natural and cultural heritage values (Hanspach et al 2020). In contrast, the harvesting of wild plant resources and social relations were considered less important.…”

Comparative Assessment of Medicinal Plant Utilization among Balti and Shina Communities in the Periphery of Deosai National Park, Pakistan

“…Since conservation is a social process, many researchers support biocultural approaches as they represent a more pluralistic and collaborative strategy that involves all stakeholders to achieve sustainable conservation goals. Biocultural approaches strongly recognize TEK as the main pillar that helps in implementing conservation strategies, and thus, we believe that ethnobotanical field studies can help to protect disappearing TEK and provide a foundation for future conservation efforts [ 6 ].…”

Making the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration a Social-Ecological Endeavour

“…In a multidisciplinary review, Hanspach et al [72] found that restoration was one of the most prominent contexts in which scientists drew on the concept of biocultural diversity. Biocultural restoration thus approaches ecosystem restoration through a focus on cultural revitalization and is guided by indigenous and local knowledge [73,74].…”