Terralingua
Encyclopedia
Terralingua is a 501(3) non-profit organization under U.S. tax law (#38-3291259) and a registered non-profit society in Canada based on Salt Spring Island in Vancouver
, British Columbia
whose mission is to support the integrated protection, maintenance and restoration of the biocultural diversity
of life. Created in 1996, Terralingua's founders Luisa Maffi
and Dave Harmon pioneered the concept and field of Biocultural Diversity
, building on emergent ideas about the links between biological and cultural diversity.
In 2001, Terralingua received the first foundation grant ever given explicitly for Biocultural Diversity
research and applications—an unsolicited Ford Foundation
grant that allowed the non-profit to establish a long-term program of work focused on five areas: Mapping biocultural diversity, measuring and monitoring biocultural diversity, maintaining biocultural diversity, networking for biocultural diversity,and promoting policies for biocultural diversity.
called "Endangered Languages, Endangered Knowledge, Endangered Environments." Held at the University of California, Berkeley
, the conference brought together internationally recognized researchers and practitioners in the social
, natural, linguistics
, and behavioral sciences, as well as Indigenous
thinkers and activists, to discuss the “converging extinction crisis” of the biocultural diversity
of life.
Within two years of being founded, Terralingua began to receive invitations to collaborate with major environmental and cultural organizations including World Wildlife Fund, United Nations Environment Programme
, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Convention on Biological Diversity
, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
, and other international, academic and research-based institutions, and museums.
In 2003, Terralingua developed the first educational booklet on Biocultural Diversity
, in collaboration with UNESCO
Sharing a World of Difference: The Earth’s Linguistic, Cultural, and Biological Diversity, along with the companion map, The World’s Biocultural Diversity: People, Languages, and Ecosystems (UNESCO
, 2003). A year later, Terralingua created the first index jointly quantifying the global state of cultural diversity and biodiversity. The Index of Biocultural Diversity independently confirmed the overlap between cultural and biological diversity based on five indicators: languages, religions, and ethnic groups (for cultural diversity
), and bird
/mammal
species
and plant
species (for biological diversity). These indicators were selected because data were readily available for them.
In 2008, in collaboration with IUCN and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)
, Terralingua co-organized a major follow-up symposium on Biocultural Diversity, "Sustaining Cultural and Biological Diversity in a Rapidly Changing World: Lessons for Public Policy", which was held at the AMNH headquarters in New York
.
Terralingua co-developed and co-sponsored the first international policy resolution focused on Biocultural Diversity
, in which they requested that the IUCN, the world’s largest conservation organization, integrate cultural diversity
with the conservation of biodiversity
. The IUCN Member Assembly passed a motion to accept this request at the 4th World Conservation Congress in Barcelona
, Spain
in 2008.
diversity, as well as the adoption of an integrated biocultural
perspective on the perpetuation, maintenance and revitalization of diversity on Earth
. Terralingua seeks to build bridges and synergies between groups and individuals working in support of the world's diverse peoples and their languages and cultures and those working to conserve
species
and ecosystems.
Terralingua fosters the perpetuation of the world's linguistic diversity in all its forms, regardless of political, demographic, or linguistic status, and to promote respect for linguistic human rights
. The non-profit emphasizes supporting and maintaining language diversity as a whole and fostering the resilience
of bioculturally diverse
regions rather than on language endangerment or documentation of specific endangered languages.
Terralingua's field projects focus on restoring ecological and cultural resilience at landscape and regional levels. Through its global network, it provides information, documentation, and expertise to individuals and grassroots organizations seeking to maintain their linguistic and cultural heritage, restore the health of their environments, and uphold their human rights.
In 2001 and 2002 respectively, Terralingua's founding members published the first two books on Biocultural Diversity theory and applications. The books "On Biocultural Diversity: Linking Language, Knowledge, and the Environment" and "In Light of Our Differences: How Diversity in Nature and Culture Makes Us Human" were published by the Smithsonian Institution Press and are widely recognized as foundational texts.
In 2008, Terralingua developed the first index that measures trends in the persistence or loss of Traditional Environmental Knowledge (TEK). A year later, Terralingua developed the first Index of Linguistic Diversity to show trends in the numbers of mother tongue speakers of the world’s languages. This allowed for a quantitative rather than anecdotal assessment of the state of the world’s languages, and revealed parallel trends in linguistic diversity and biodiversity.
In 2010, Terralingua published Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Global Sourcebook (Luisa Maffi and Ellen Woodley, Earthscan
)and launched Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Community of Practice, a companion portal to the book that was designed for researchers, professionals, policy makers, and the public.
Recent Terralingua activities include developing a broad-ranging educational campaign on Biocultural Diversity to reach academics, professionals, policy makers, schools, and the general public. Additionally, the non-profit is working on school curriculum and study guides to engage students on a range of issues related to Biocultural Diversity.
Terralingua has received grants from The Christensen Fund, the International Development Research Centre
(IDRC) in Canada, as well as support from international organizations and academic institutions. In 2007, Terralingua was given a bequest from the estate of former Terralingua member Dr. Aldon Roat, which became a principal funding source.
In 2008, Terry Glavin, Canadian author and journalist, and winner of several science-related journalism awards wrote an article, "In Defense of Difference", where he referred to Luisa Maffi, Terralingua Director, as a leader who paved the way for “biocultural diversity” to start "...showing up with increasing frequency in the lexicon of a wide variety of scientists and academics concerned with the phenomenon of extinction." Writes Glavin, "That we are beginning to understand the intricacies of these relationships is due in no small measure to the work of Italian-born anthropologist and linguist Luisa Maffi."
Terralingua has been featured on the blogs WiserEarth, NatGeo News Watch and Huffington Post.
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
whose mission is to support the integrated protection, maintenance and restoration of the biocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity: diversity of life in all its manifestations — biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.-See also:* Biocultural anthropology* Biocultural evolution...
of life. Created in 1996, Terralingua's founders Luisa Maffi
Luisa Maffi
Luisa Maffi Ph.D. is co-founder and Director of Terralingua, an international NGO devoted to sustaining the biocultural diversity of life - the world’s biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity - through research, education, policy-relevant work, and on-the-ground action...
and Dave Harmon pioneered the concept and field of Biocultural Diversity
Biocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity: diversity of life in all its manifestations — biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.-See also:* Biocultural anthropology* Biocultural evolution...
, building on emergent ideas about the links between biological and cultural diversity.
In 2001, Terralingua received the first foundation grant ever given explicitly for Biocultural Diversity
Biocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity: diversity of life in all its manifestations — biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.-See also:* Biocultural anthropology* Biocultural evolution...
research and applications—an unsolicited Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
grant that allowed the non-profit to establish a long-term program of work focused on five areas: Mapping biocultural diversity, measuring and monitoring biocultural diversity, maintaining biocultural diversity, networking for biocultural diversity,and promoting policies for biocultural diversity.
History and beginnings
In 1996, the same year Terralingua launched its operations, it organized its first conference on biocultural diversityBiocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity: diversity of life in all its manifestations — biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.-See also:* Biocultural anthropology* Biocultural evolution...
called "Endangered Languages, Endangered Knowledge, Endangered Environments." Held at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, the conference brought together internationally recognized researchers and practitioners in the social
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
, natural, linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, and behavioral sciences, as well as Indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
thinkers and activists, to discuss the “converging extinction crisis” of the biocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity: diversity of life in all its manifestations — biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.-See also:* Biocultural anthropology* Biocultural evolution...
of life.
Within two years of being founded, Terralingua began to receive invitations to collaborate with major environmental and cultural organizations including World Wildlife Fund, United Nations Environment Programme
United Nations Environment Programme
The United Nations Environment Programme coordinates United Nations environmental activities, assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices. It was founded as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in June 1972 and has its...
, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Convention on Biological Diversity
Convention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity , known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an international legally binding treaty...
, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, released in 2005, is an international synthesis by over 1000 of the world's leading biological scientists that analyses the state of the Earth’s ecosystems and provides summaries and guidelines for decision-makers...
, and other international, academic and research-based institutions, and museums.
In 2003, Terralingua developed the first educational booklet on Biocultural Diversity
Biocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity: diversity of life in all its manifestations — biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.-See also:* Biocultural anthropology* Biocultural evolution...
, in collaboration with UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Sharing a World of Difference: The Earth’s Linguistic, Cultural, and Biological Diversity, along with the companion map, The World’s Biocultural Diversity: People, Languages, and Ecosystems (UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, 2003). A year later, Terralingua created the first index jointly quantifying the global state of cultural diversity and biodiversity. The Index of Biocultural Diversity independently confirmed the overlap between cultural and biological diversity based on five indicators: languages, religions, and ethnic groups (for cultural diversity
Cultural diversity
Cultural diversity is having different cultures respect each other's differences. It could also mean the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole...
), and bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
/mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
and plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...
species (for biological diversity). These indicators were selected because data were readily available for them.
In 2008, in collaboration with IUCN and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
, Terralingua co-organized a major follow-up symposium on Biocultural Diversity, "Sustaining Cultural and Biological Diversity in a Rapidly Changing World: Lessons for Public Policy", which was held at the AMNH headquarters in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Terralingua co-developed and co-sponsored the first international policy resolution focused on Biocultural Diversity
Biocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity: diversity of life in all its manifestations — biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.-See also:* Biocultural anthropology* Biocultural evolution...
, in which they requested that the IUCN, the world’s largest conservation organization, integrate cultural diversity
Cultural diversity
Cultural diversity is having different cultures respect each other's differences. It could also mean the variety of human societies or cultures in a specific region, or in the world as a whole...
with the conservation of biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
. The IUCN Member Assembly passed a motion to accept this request at the 4th World Conservation Congress in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
in 2008.
Projects and aims
Terralingua works to promote the investigation of the links between biological, cultural, and linguisticLanguage
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
diversity, as well as the adoption of an integrated biocultural
Biocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity: diversity of life in all its manifestations — biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.-See also:* Biocultural anthropology* Biocultural evolution...
perspective on the perpetuation, maintenance and revitalization of diversity on Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
. Terralingua seeks to build bridges and synergies between groups and individuals working in support of the world's diverse peoples and their languages and cultures and those working to conserve
Conserve
Conserve may refer to:* Conserve , a preserve made from a mixture of fruits or vegetables* Conserve , an Indian environmental organization*Conserve , a Dutch publisher...
species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
and ecosystems.
Terralingua fosters the perpetuation of the world's linguistic diversity in all its forms, regardless of political, demographic, or linguistic status, and to promote respect for linguistic human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
. The non-profit emphasizes supporting and maintaining language diversity as a whole and fostering the resilience
Resilience
Resilience is the property of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically and then, upon unloading to have this energy recovered. In other words, it is the maximum energy per unit volume that can be elastically stored...
of bioculturally diverse
Biocultural diversity
Biocultural diversity: diversity of life in all its manifestations — biological, cultural, and linguistic — which are interrelated within a complex socio-ecological adaptive system.-See also:* Biocultural anthropology* Biocultural evolution...
regions rather than on language endangerment or documentation of specific endangered languages.
Terralingua's field projects focus on restoring ecological and cultural resilience at landscape and regional levels. Through its global network, it provides information, documentation, and expertise to individuals and grassroots organizations seeking to maintain their linguistic and cultural heritage, restore the health of their environments, and uphold their human rights.
In 2001 and 2002 respectively, Terralingua's founding members published the first two books on Biocultural Diversity theory and applications. The books "On Biocultural Diversity: Linking Language, Knowledge, and the Environment" and "In Light of Our Differences: How Diversity in Nature and Culture Makes Us Human" were published by the Smithsonian Institution Press and are widely recognized as foundational texts.
In 2008, Terralingua developed the first index that measures trends in the persistence or loss of Traditional Environmental Knowledge (TEK). A year later, Terralingua developed the first Index of Linguistic Diversity to show trends in the numbers of mother tongue speakers of the world’s languages. This allowed for a quantitative rather than anecdotal assessment of the state of the world’s languages, and revealed parallel trends in linguistic diversity and biodiversity.
In 2010, Terralingua published Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Global Sourcebook (Luisa Maffi and Ellen Woodley, Earthscan
Earthscan
Earthscan is an English language publisher of books and journals on climate change, sustainable development and environmental technology for academic, professional and general readers....
)and launched Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Community of Practice, a companion portal to the book that was designed for researchers, professionals, policy makers, and the public.
Recent Terralingua activities include developing a broad-ranging educational campaign on Biocultural Diversity to reach academics, professionals, policy makers, schools, and the general public. Additionally, the non-profit is working on school curriculum and study guides to engage students on a range of issues related to Biocultural Diversity.
Terralingua has received grants from The Christensen Fund, the International Development Research Centre
International Development Research Centre
The International Development Research Centre is a Canadian Crown Corporation created by the Parliament of Canada that supports research in developing countries to promote growth and development...
(IDRC) in Canada, as well as support from international organizations and academic institutions. In 2007, Terralingua was given a bequest from the estate of former Terralingua member Dr. Aldon Roat, which became a principal funding source.
Media
Terralingua's work has received attention from media over the years for its research and outreach activities, and has been featured in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Wired Magazine, and National Geographic.In 2008, Terry Glavin, Canadian author and journalist, and winner of several science-related journalism awards wrote an article, "In Defense of Difference", where he referred to Luisa Maffi, Terralingua Director, as a leader who paved the way for “biocultural diversity” to start "...showing up with increasing frequency in the lexicon of a wide variety of scientists and academics concerned with the phenomenon of extinction." Writes Glavin, "That we are beginning to understand the intricacies of these relationships is due in no small measure to the work of Italian-born anthropologist and linguist Luisa Maffi."
Terralingua has been featured on the blogs WiserEarth, NatGeo News Watch and Huffington Post.