In the last SES Global Conversation of this semester, the focus was on biocultural diversity. Jan Hanspach, Camila Benavides Frias and Stefan Ortiz Przychodzka led the session asking: What is biocultural diversity, and why should we care? The session began questioning what we associate with biocultural diversity, which largely focussed on foods, traditions, place-based practices, local knowledge and history.

From there on, Jan Hanspach explained the definitions of biocultural diversity, from broad to more narrow definitions that discuss the complexities and interdependency of cultural and biological diversity. He emphasised that biocultural diversity incorporates cultural practices, knowledge, worldviews and ontologies. Such knowledge and relationships affect language and vice versa, and Hanspach argued that humans are not separate from nature, they have a long history of interaction and co-evolution and this is reflected in our languages and cultures. Common threats exist to biological and cultural diversity, such as rapidly changing systems and…
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