How the diversity of human concepts of nature affects conservation of biodiversity

Abstract

Protecting nature has become a global concern. However, the very idea of nature is problematic.We examined the etymological and semantic diversity of the word used to translate nature in a conservation context in 76 of the primary languages of the world to identify the different relationships between humankind and nature. Surprisingly, the number of morphemes (distinct etymological roots) used by 7 billion people was low. Different linguistic superfamilies shared the same etymon across large cultural areas that correlate with the distribution of major religions. However, we found large differences in etymological meanings among these words, echoing the semantic differences and historical ambiguity of the contemporary European concept of nature. The principal current Western meaning of nature in environmental public policy, conservation science, and environmental ethics-that which is not a human artifact-appears to be relatively rare and recent and to contradict the vision of nature in most other cultures, including those of pre-Christian Europe. To avoid implicit cultural bias and hegemony-and thus to be globally intelligible and effective-it behooves nature conservationists to take into account this semantic diversity when proposing conservation policies and implementing conservation practices.

Naturalness Is in the Eye of the Beholder

“…The point is that for Indigenous Peoples the opposition between the natural and the artificial, between naturalness and anthropogenicity, does not apply. This opposition, which goes back to the origins of Western metaphysics, imposes on us a simplistic dichotomy between nature conservation and human action (Mendes dos Santos, 2020; Ducarme et al, 2021). In their great sociocultural and linguistic diversity, Amazonian peoples continue to promote life in their territories, which, in the case of Brazilian Amazonia, amounts to about 21% of its area.…”

“…The term "naturalness" contains seldom recognized biases: it is derived from a definition of nature as being separate from culture and assumes that all human actions degrade nature (Ducarme et al, 2021). This definition and this assumption are common among conservationists trained in the natural sciences, especially in the United States, where National Parks were established to create wilderness from cultural landscapes (Schullery and Whittlesey, 2003).…”

“…This definition and this assumption are common among conservationists trained in the natural sciences, especially in the United States, where National Parks were established to create wilderness from cultural landscapes (Schullery and Whittlesey, 2003). The majority of world cultures do not conceptualize a Nature/Culture divide in the way Western modernity came to do (Ducarme et al, 2021). Since Amazonia is on most world conservationists' wishlists for conserving nature, understanding Native Amazonian perspectives is essential, especially as Amazonian Indigenous Peoples and local communities are efficient stewards of their territories when they have legal rights (Garnett et al, 2018;Fa et al, 2020;Brondízio et al, 2021).…”

A Singular Concept of Biodiversity Remains the Best Way to Address the Plural Values of Nature in Conservation Planning

“…Here, a focus on the "biodiversity crisis" and species extinctionsthe concerns of "biodiversity"-sits alongside other important concerns of broader nature conservation, such as wilderness, ecosystem health, and local people's various relationships with nature. In this framing, "biodiversity" has a singular focus on living variation (at multiple levels), while "nature" appropriately is pluralistic, covering many ways in which humans perceive/relate to nature [2,3]. While it remains challenging to integrate all these nature-related benefits and values into planning and decision-making, foundational local-to-global approaches are found, for example, in the early case studies exemplifying the principles of systematic conservation planning ( [4]; see below).…”

Communications on Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss with Local Populations: Exploring Best-practices and Postcolonial Moments in Eight Case Studies from across the Globe

“…Climate change and biodiversity loss are concepts born and refined in global fora (Wilson, 1988(Wilson, , 1992Piechocki 2007, Radkau 2011). The respective discourses, which are dominated by concepts of the Global North (Ducarme et al 2020), take place among scientists, politicians, civil servants, and highly specialised segments of civil society. 1 The concepts are based on the postenlightenment consensus that humans and nature follow different rationales (Hinchman and Hinchman, 2001).…”