46 • Technologies To Maintain Biological Diversity 



BENEFITS TO CULTURAL HERITAGE 



Throughout history, societies have put great 

 value on physical features of their environment. 

 In developed and developing countries, a diver- 

 sity of ecosystems is a source of esthetic, his- 

 toric, religious, and ritualistic values. Species 

 diversity assures people of national and state 

 symbols, and many such symbols are protected. 

 Genetic diversity continues in part because of 

 the cultural value of plants and animals. Gar- 

 deners around the world share seed material 

 ensuring genetic survival. 



Ecosystem Diversity 



Natural ecosystems have great cultural (in- 

 cluding religious, esthetic, and historic) impor- 

 tance for many people. Mountains are the focus 

 of religious celebrations and rituals through- 

 out the world: Mount Kenya, Mount Everest, 

 Mount Fuji, Mount Taishan in China, and Black 

 Mesa in Arizona. Forests also have great spir- 

 itual value: probably the only surviving exam- 

 ples of primary forest in southwestern India 

 are sacred groves— ancient natural sanctuaries 

 where all living creatures are protected by the 

 deity to which the grove is dedicated. Remov- 

 ing even a twig from the grove is taboo (36). 



People who lead subsistence-based lives iden- 

 tify closely with the ecosystems on which they 

 depend. Two examples are the Guarao people 

 in the mangrove swamps and savannas of Vene- 

 zuela's Orinoco Delta (39) and the Inuit people 

 in the tundra of the North American Arctic 

 (9,24). The economic, social, and spiritual ele- 

 ments of the relationship between such peoples 

 and the ecosystems that support them are in- 

 separable. 



Ecosystems define and symbolize relation- 

 ships between human beings and the natural 

 world and express cultural and national iden- 

 tity. In the United States, the landscapes pro- 

 tected in wilderness areas, national parks, mon- 

 uments, and preserves are full of historical 

 meaning and show the close ties between Amer- 

 ica the nation and America the land. Examples 

 of these are pre-Columbian Indian habitations 

 at Mesa Verde in Colorado; symbols of the 



opening of the Midwest and West at Voyageurs 

 Park in Minnesota; and combinations of wilder- 

 ness preservation and human occupation in- 

 cluding current subsistence-use at Kobuk Val- 

 ley in Alaska (66,94). 



Species Diversity 



Whereas the Continental Congress in 1782 

 adopted the bald eagle as a national symbol; and 



Whereas the bald eagle thus became the sym- 

 bolic representation of a new nation under a 

 new government in a new world; and 



Whereas by that act of Congress and by tra- 

 dition and custom during the life of this Na- 

 tion, the bald eagle is no longer a mere bird of 

 biological interest but a symbol of the Amer- 

 ican ideals of freedom . . . 



—Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940 



Photo credit: National Wildlife Federation 



Cultural value of species is exemplified by the bald 



eagle, adopted by ttie Continental Congress as a 



symbol of the United States. 



