“Indigenous knowledge systems and practices and local communities play a crucial role in conserving our planet’s biodiversity and culture,” a recent report said. Journal of Ethnobiology, written by 30 international scholars from the indigenous population and not from the indigenous population.
“Our warning raises concerns about the pervasive and pervasive erosion of knowledge and practice and the social and environmental consequences of this erosion,” the report continued. In this context, the word “erosion” is layered with meaning. Often used to describe the weathering of the earth, its application to the knowledge of the indigenous population suggests parallels between people and place.
This is a connection that Dr. Yuri Cheliduen, a native of Naoua and the Maya, often sees in his scientific work at the intersection of Indigenous research, cultural psychology, and contemplative science.
“Along with the mass extinction of species, there is a cultural and linguistic extinction that deeply affects the indigenous population in every way,” Celidwen said in an interview with mindbodygreen.
This disappearance is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in the loss of the native language. Of the world’s approximately 7,000 spoken languages, she says more than half are indigenous languages. Half of them are now spoken by less than 1,000 people, which means that “every two weeks, language is lost,” says Jelliduen.
All the while, she adds, the area where most of this loss is happening – the tropics – is also where we lose biodiversity in the fastest clip. Think about it: Although they control about 20 percent of the world’s land area, local communities protect approximately 80 percent of the rest of forest biodiversity.
When the local culture is endangered, so is the rest of life on Earth. Now, Celidwen says, “We can clearly see what interdependence really means.”