Download or read book Biological and cultural diversity of Amazonia written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Ecosystem and Biodiversity of Amazonia written by Heimo Mikkola and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2021-03-10 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Amazonia is the largest continuous river basin and rainforest ecosystem in the world. In all aspects it is a natural wonder, and the rainforest with its billions of trees is a vital carbon store that slows down the advance of global warming. It is home to one million indigenous people and some three million species of plants and animals. There have been many climate fluctuations during the last 55 million years of its existence, but never before have “the lungs of the world” been at greater risk than they are today due to uncontrolled fires, expanding agriculture and heavy industrial development in the forms of oil drilling, mining and large hydroelectric dams. Over twelve chapters, this book describes the anthropological, biological and industrial problems facing the Amazonia, and seeks to find new solutions.
Download or read book Human Impacts on Amazonia written by Darrell Addison Posey and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 389 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of late, religion seems to be everywhere, suffusing U.S. politics and popular culture and acting as both a unifying and a divisive force. This collection of manifestos, Supreme Court decisions, congressional testimonies, speeches, articles, book excerpts, pastoral letters, interviews, song lyrics, memoirs, and poems reflects the vitality, diversity, and changing nature of religious belief and practice in American public and private life over the last half century. Encompassing a range of perspectives, this book illustrates the ways in which individuals from all along the religious and political spectrum have engaged religion and viewed it as a crucial aspect of society. The anthology begins with documents that reflect the close relationship of religion, especially mainline Protestantism, to essential ideas undergirding Cold War America. Covering both the center and the margins of American religious life, this volume devotes extended attention to how issues of politics, race, gender, and sexuality have influenced the religious mainstream. A series of documents reflects the role of religion and theology in the civil rights, feminist, and gay rights movements as well as in conservative responses. Issues regarding religion and contemporary American culture are explored in documents about the rise of the evangelical movement and the religious right; the impact of "new" (post-1965) immigrant communities on the religious landscape; the popularity of alternative, New Age, and non-Western beliefs; and the relationship between religion and popular culture. The editors conclude with selections exploring major themes of American religious life at the millennium, including both conservative and New Age millennialism, as well as excerpts that speculate on the future of religion in the United States. The documents are grouped by theme into nine chapters and arranged chronologically therein. Each chapter features an extensive introduction providing context for and analysis of the critical issues raised by the primary sources.
Download or read book ON BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY written by MAFFI LUISA and published by Smithsonian Books (DC). This book was released on 2001-04-17 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biodiversity loss is a well-known phenomenon. Over the next thirty years, according to most projections, 20 percent of the world's species may cease to exist. Less widely known, though attracting increasing attention, is the diversity loss that is affecting the world's languages and cultures. Up to 11 percent of an estimated 6,000 spoken languages in the world today are "nearly extinct", and as many as 90 percent of those languages may vanish during the course of this century. On Biocultural Diversity brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars from the social and natural sciences as well as cultural advocates, human rights specialists, and indigenous experts to discuss the ways in which the losses of biological, linguistic, and cultural diversity are linked. Combining research with advocacy, this book outlines the threats to the world's diversity, explores the connections among its various forms, and recommends measures to help preserve and perpetuate the variety of life on Earth. Presenting case studies from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, the contributors show how the loss of linguistic and cultural diversity -- often involving indigenous peoples' removal from their lands, suppression of their languages, and the loss of traditional environmental knowledge based on subsistence practices -- can affect biodiversity. The final chapters suggest new directions for research, documentation, training, and action in order to conserve biocultural diversity. This collection reveals a broad picture of why diversity matters. It offers a common foundation and practical avenues for preserving the wealth of biological life as well as the cultural riches represented byindigenous and minority languages and the knowledge they embody.
Download or read book The Diversity of Life written by Edward O. Wilson and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: View a collection of videos on Professor Wilson entitled "On the Relation of Science and the Humanities" "In the Amazon Basin the greatest violence sometimes begins as a flicker of light beyond the horizon. There in the perfect bowl of the night sky, untouched by light from any human source, a thunderstorm sends its premonitory signal and begins a slow journey to the observer, who thinks: the world is about to change." Watching from the edge of the Brazilian rain forest, witness to the sort of violence nature visits upon its creatures, Edward O. Wilson reflects on the crucible of evolution, and so begins his remarkable account of how the living world became diverse and how humans are destroying that diversity. Wilson, internationally regarded as the dean of biodiversity studies, conducts us on a tour through time, traces the processes that create new species in bursts of adaptive radiation, and points out the cataclysmic events that have disrupted evolution and diminished global diversity over the past 600 million years. The five enormous natural blows to the planet (such as meteorite strikes and climatic changes) required 10 to 100 million years of evolutionary repair. The sixth great spasm of extinction on earth--caused this time entirely by humans--may be the one that breaks the crucible of life. Wilson identifies this crisis in countless ecosystems around the globe: coral reefs, grasslands, rain forests, and other natural habitats. Drawing on a variety of examples such as the decline of bird populations in the United States, the extinction of many species of freshwater fish in Africa and Asia, and the rapid disappearance of flora and fauna as the rain forests are cut down, he poignantly describes the death throes of the living world's diversity--projected to decline as much as 20 percent by the year 2020. All evidence marshaled here resonates through Wilson's tightly reasoned call for a spirit of stewardship over the world's biological wealth. He makes a plea for specific actions that will enhance rather than diminish not just diversity but the quality of life on earth. Cutting through the tangle of environmental issues that often obscure the real concern, Wilson maintains that the era of confrontation between forces for the preservation of nature and those for economic development is over; he convincingly drives home the point that both aims can, and must, be integrated. Unparalleled in its range and depth, Wilson's masterwork is essential reading for those who care about preserving the world biological variety and ensuring our planet's health.
Download or read book Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Amazonia written by Leslie Elmer Sponsel and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This timely book provides the first examination of the relationship between cultural and environmental variation in the Amazon, with special reference to the survival and welfare of indigenous societies. The particular strength of this collection is that it emphasizes ongoing changing elements rather than static ones in Amazonian human ecology in the context of colonization. Leslie Sponsel and twelve other contributors, including archaeologists, biological anthropologists, cultural ecologists, and nutritionists, review traditional and changing adaptations of indigenous societies to Amazonian ecosystems; they analyze the challenges presented to indigenes by the massive cultural and environmental impact of Westernization. They also discuss the applications of research results to the needs, interests, and priorities of indigenous societies. In his concluding chapter, Sponsel calls for anthropologists to contribute through their research to the empowerment of indigenous communities and organizations. "In the Amazon the only people who already know and practice ecologically sound economies are most indigenous societies. Documenting their ecologically sound values, knowledge, and technology is one of the most important tasks for cultural ecology".
Download or read book Ethnobotany and Conservation of Biocultural Diversity written by Thomas J. S. Carlson and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The field of ethnobotany (and more generally ethnobiology) traces its roots to two distinct research traditions: a long standing interest in how human societies around the world make use of plants (and animals) in their local environments; and a more recent (mid-1950's onward) interest in how humans perceive, classify, and name the natural world. Ethnobotany and Conservation of Biocultural Diversity is based in part on a symposium by the same title held at the Sixteenth International Botanical Congress in Saint Louis, Missouri, August 1-7, 1999. This volume showcases recent ethnobotanical research conducted by members of a new generation of ethnobiologists, including case studies from the tropical environments of the Amazon Basin, Africa, and Asia. Part 1 focuses on the contributions of traditional ecological knowledge and sustainable use of traditional plant resources. Part 3 deals with ethical issues in ethnobiology."--
Download or read book Cultural and Spiritual Values of Biodiversity written by United Nations Environment Programme and published by Intermediate Technology Publications. This book was released on 1999 with total page 776 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Weaving together philosophical, historical, legal, scientific and personal viewpoints, this book gives a rich sample of the vast web which makes up our cultural, spiritual and social diversity. The volume highlights the central importance of cultural and spiritual values in the appreciation and preservation of all life and argues that these values give us a true reflection of worth. It demonstrates how many cultures see Nature as an extension of society, and how sensitive stewardship is an integral part of existence. The book covers: language and how cognition and speech encode indigenous knowledge systems are critical for preservation of diversity; the complex issue of indigenous people and the problems of preserving their relationships both with and within their societies; voices of the world - expressions of concern and disquiet over the declining world diversity; holistic health practices where environment and diet are integrated into indigenous medical health systems; the importance of developing effective intellectual property rights and territorial and land rights to enhance and maintain local control. This book arose out of the Global Biodiversity Assessment (GBA), a massive review of current knowledge in the broad field of biological diversity, commissioned by United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
Download or read book Through Amazonian Eyes written by Emilio F. Moran and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 1993-08 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this well-written, comprehensive, reasonable yet passionate volume, Emilio Moran introduces us to the range of human and ecological diversity in the Amazon Basin. By describing the complex heterogeneity on the Amazon's ecological mosaic and its indigenous populations' conscious adaptations to this diversity, he leads us to realize that there are strategies of resource use which do not destroy the structure and function of ecosystems. Finally, and most important, he examines ways in which we might benefit from the study of human ecology to design and implement a balance between conservation and use.
Download or read book Sharing a World of Difference written by Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and published by UNESCO. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in a world threatened by the loss of one of humanity's greatest treasures--it's linguistic heritage. But few realize that bound up with the loss of language is loss of knowledge about our environment. This book documents the complex interrelationships between the Earth's linguistic, cultural and biological diversity. It offers a general introduction to a complex field and outlines some of the key challenges facing sustainable development from cultural and educational perspectives. 'We need more than ever to find ways to share and maintain this world of diversity in which languages, cultures and environments are mutually supporting and sustainable.'
Download or read book Nature and Culture written by Sarah Pilgrim and published by Earthscan. This book was released on 2010 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a growing recognition that the diversity of life comprises both biological and cultural diversity. But this division is not universal and, in many cases, has been deepened by the common disciplinary divide between the natural and social sciences and our apparent need to manage and control nature. This book goes beyond divisive definitions and investigates the bridges linking biological and cultural diversity. The international team of authors explore the common drivers of loss, and argue that policy responses should target both forms of diversity in a novel integrative approach to conservation, thus reducing the gap between science, policy and practice. While conserving nature alongside human cultures presents unique challenges, this book forcefully shows that any hope for saving biological diversity is predicated on a concomitant effort to appreciate and protect cultural diversity.
Download or read book Harmony and Balance in the World written by Latoya Abulu and published by Latoya Abulu. This book was released on 2020-08-02 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To create harmony and balance on the planet, we should mirror the planet's own inherent structure of harmonious biodiversity. Through a new paradigm in global cooperation in perceiving biological and cultural diversity, this piece shows how a new chapter and future for humankind can be created that brings harmony and balance to the world both in the environmental and international political sphere. Developing this through the concept of the ‘ecological civilization’ that emphasizes harmony with nature and is emerging as a key theme within the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, a future of peace and stability is painted where the world’s multiple ecological civilizations interact with one another and emerge. In this new world, harmony with nature's inherent structure can serve as the basis and rationalization for a world where biodiversity and cultural diversity is valued, conserved, restored and wisely used.
Download or read book An Assessment of Biological Diversity and Tropical Forests for Ecuador written by Bruce J. Cabarle and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book One Century of Scientific Literature on Peruvian Amazonian Ethnicities written by María de los Ángeles La Torre Cuadros and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scientific literature that contributes to the conservation of the biological and cultural diversity in19 linguistic families (representing 41 ethnic groups) of the Peruvian Amazon were reviewed in ISI Web of Science and Anthropology Plus (1895-2007). They revealed a total of 790 articles that reported data on Amazonian ethnicities, mainly represented by Machiguenga (103), Ashaninka (60) and Yánesha (43) [Arawaks], Shipibo-Conibo (78) [Panos] and Aguaruna (64) [Jíbaros]. The number of publications increased notably between 1970 and 1990, and a transition from linguistic to ecological, themes was observed throughout the studied period. Ethnobotany publications totaled 109 and occupied the fourth position in research priority. These trends are explained with regard to the global environmental agenda, group density, geographical location and cultural preservation, while a new field of study incorporating traditional knowledge on the management of natural resourcesis proposed.
Download or read book Rethinking the Andes Amazonia Divide written by Adrian J. Pearce and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2020-10-21 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nowhere on Earth is there an ecological transformation so swift and so extreme as between the snow-line of the high Andes and the tropical rainforest of Amazonia. The different disciplines that research the human past in South America have long tended to treat these two great subzones of the continent as self-contained enough to be taken independently of each other. Objections have repeatedly been raised, however, to warn against imagining too sharp a divide between the people and societies of the Andes and Amazonia, when there are also clear indications of significant connections and transitions between them. Rethinking the Andes–Amazonia Divide brings together archaeologists, linguists, geneticists, anthropologists, ethnohistorians and historians to explore both correlations and contrasts in how the various disciplines see the relationship between the Andes and Amazonia, from deepest prehistory up to the European colonial period. The volume emerges from an innovative programme of conferences and symposia conceived explicitly to foster awareness, discussion and co-operation across the divides between disciplines. Underway since 2008, this programme has already yielded major publications on the Andean past, including History and Language in the Andes (2011) and Archaeology and Language in the Andes (2012).
Download or read book Life in the Amazon written by Open University Course Team and published by . This book was released on 2010-02-13 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This block investigates the richest storehouse of the world's biological diversity. You will develop an understanding of the environmental science of tropical forests by exploring their role in global carbon and water cycles, and also as a genetic storehouse. While scientists only visit these forests, you will also make contact with indigenous communities who live there trying to secure the future of their forest home. Block 4 will discuss how your own daily choices as a consumer connect to the fate of what has been called'the Earth's lungs'.Unfortunately due to copyright restrictions the DVD material refered to in this book is not available for sale as a result study of some of the activities is limited.
Download or read book Trees of Life written by Kenton Miller and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 1991-04-30 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Staggering statistics and dramatic headlines about the destruction of rain forests, the world's richest ecosystems, are only a small part of the devastating story of global deforestation. This volume provides comprehensive coverage of this complex scientific and political catastrophe-in-the-making and examines the costs and the consequences, in human, economic, and ecological terms. Also, a survey of both contemporary and historical assaults on the world's forests, along with their impact on the dependency of native peoples and cultures, is chronicled. Specifically, within developing nations, the relationships among poverty, population growth, and short-sighted government policies are calculated to be fundamental elements in the acceleration of tropical deforestation. With a special section on North America's old-growth forests, a glossary of special terms, an account of both the importance and relevance of arboreal genetic diversity, an extended list of suggested readings, and appendices listing international and federal organizations which offer educational materials for both individual and classroom use, this book offers important practical resources, and makes clear the social, economic, and biological costs of continued global deforestation. (JJK)
