Various recent studies examine relation between cultural & biological diversity.
Most of these
studies use language diversity as a proxy for cultural diversity (e.g., the more languages native to
a
different area, the higher the diversity score). It is commonplace to find some positive
relationships: for example, both are highest in tropical/subtropical areas, and both are highest
along coastlines
Unfortunately, the measures and scales are often crude, with the most common pattern
being to
a) measure biodiversity by species richness (# of species of some type in an area,
e.g., mammals),
b) measure cultural diversity by language richness (number of languages in an area),
and c)
tabulate both kinds of diversity at the country scale.
A slightly more sophisticated version is to focus on endemic species and languages
(meaning
those only found in the given area). A handful of studies measure diversity on a continuous scale
(e.g., per unit area) rather than at national or regional scales. Thus, the rigorous measurement of
biodiversity & cultural diversity correlation is in its infancy; unfortunately, the objects of study
are
going extinct at an alarming rate.
Although the empirical evidence indicates that biodiversity & cultural diversity
(or at least linguistic
diversity) are correlated in their geographical abundances, this in itself doesn't tell us why this
correlation occurs
Whatever the actual causal processes, there must logically fall into one or more of
the following 3
relationships:
(1) Cultural diversity drives increased biodiversity
(2) Biodiversity drives increased cultural diversity
(3) Some third factor (or factors) co- determines both cultural and biological diversity
All 3 possibilities have some plausible candidates, and these are not mutually exclusive
(each
could predominate in particular cases)
1) Does cultural diversity enhance biodiversity?
The first hypothesis focuses on small-scale societies (locally adapted, therefore
high cultural
diversity per unit area)
Proposed mechanisms:
(a) Intentionally conserve biodiversity (for livelihood or for religious reasons)
(b) Create habitat mosaics & moderate disturbance regimes (burning, swidden)
(c) Low environmental impact due to low population densities & high mobility (foraging
& swidden
agriculture)
Evidence for (a) is mixed, while (b) and (c) are well supported
2. Does biodiversity enhance cultural diversity?
The main idea is that high biodiversity provides more niches for human populations,
allowing higher
cultural diversification
Evidence for this is mixed at best:
Some areas of low biodiversity have high cultural diversity (e.g., Niger Delta),
while other areas of
high biological have low cultural diversity (e.g., deserts)
Biodiversity has to be “right kind” (relevant to human subsistence)
to favor niche diversity (ie people
don’t eat trees…)
3. Does some third factor enhance both biodiversity and cultural diversity?
There are a number of candidate “third factors”:
(a) A warmer, wetter climate = a longer growing season ; this allows evolution/coexistence
of more
plant species, which in turn allows denser human populations, hence more ethno-linguistic groups
per unit area (= higher cultural diversity)
(b) A warmer, wetter climate equates with more parasites. The effect on biodiversity
is as in (1),
but in turn the parasites favour local cultural & genetic adaptations, and thus limit intrusion
of
empires & colonial populations
(c) Geographic barriers to dispersal could affect both plant/animal species &
human groups.
(d) Expansion of large-scale social systems (empires, colonial powers) reduces both
biological &
cultural diversity.
This is arguably most important “third factor”causing correlation
between biodiversity &cultural
diversity, since such systems require surplus production, based on intensive agriculture (difficult
in
tropical forests), high population densities, and trade (hence increasing demand for extracted
resources. This of course raises the issue of the increasingly strong impacts of governmental
and
economic expansion ("globalization" etc.) on areas of high cultural and biological diversity
in
today's world.
References
Barth, Fredrik (1956) Ecologic relationships of
ethnic groups in Swat, North Pakistan. American
Anthropologist 58:1079- 89.
Harmon, David (1996) Losing species, losing languages:
Connections between biological and linguistic
diversity. Southwest J. of Linguistics15:89- 108.
Maffi, Luisa, ed. (2001) Language, knowledge,
and the environment: The interdependence of biological
and cultural diversity. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Maffi, Luisa (2005) Linguistic, cultural, and biological
diversity. Annual Review of Anthropology 29:599- 617.
Moore, Joslin L., et al. (2002) The distribution
of biological and cultural diversity in Africa. Proceedings of
the Royal Society of London, B269(1501):1645-1653.
Nettle, Daniel (1998) Explaining global patterns
of linguistic diversity. J. of Anthropological
Archaeology17:354-74.
Smith, Eric Alden (2001) On the coevolution of
cultural, linguistic, and biological diversity. In Language,
knowledge, and the environment: The interdependence of biological and cultural diversity, ed. Luisa
Maffi, pp. 95-117. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Sutherland, William J. (2003) Parallel extinction
risk and global distribution of languages and species.
Nature 423:276- 279.
Wilcox, Bruce A. and Kristin N. Duin (1995) Indigenous
cultural and biological diversity: overlapping
values of Latin American ecoregions. Cultural Survival QuarterlyWinter, 49-53.
