XVI International Botanical Congess

The world's biodiversity crisis became a major focus of scientific and public attention in the 1980s. Originally attributed to the negative impact of humans on the environment, the crisis is now regarded as a highly complex phenomenon that must be understood on the basis of a more nuanced evaluation of the interaction among a wide range of variables. Research in ecological anthropology and ethnobiology has demonstrated considerable cross-cultural variation in the environmental consequences of human behavior and a strong correlation between the geographical distribution of biological megadiversity and that of cultural and linguistic diversity. This perspective has profound implications for conservation of both natural and cultural resources. The paper presents the notion of Abiocultural diversity@ at the core of this new integrated conservation perspectives and introduces some of the relevant developments in ethnobiology.