In shallow coastal waters of the Indian ocean, Dugong, a kind of sea cow, is in trouble. Environmental problems pose such a major threat to its survival that the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) upgraded the species' extinction risk status(地位) to vulnerable(脆弱的).
Much worse, Dugongs are at risk of losing the protection of the Torres Strait Islanders, who have looked after them historically, hunting them for food sustainably and monitoring their numbers. These native people keep their biodiversity, and have deep knowledge about their environment. But these people are also threatened, in part because rising sea levels are making it difficult for them to live there.
This situation isn't unique to Dugongs. A global analysis of 385 culturally important plant and animal species found 68 percent were both biologically vulnerable and at risk of losing their cultural protection.
The findings clearly illustrate that biology shouldn't be the primary factor in shaping conservation policy, says anthropologist Victoria Reyes-García.When a culture declines, the species that are important to that culture are also threatened. "Lots of conservationists think we need to separate people from nature," says Reyes-García. "But that strategy misses the caring relationship many cultural groups have with nature."
One way to help shift conservation efforts is to give species a "bio-cultural status," which would provide a fuller picture of their vulnerability. In the study, the team used a new way to determine a species' risk of disappearing: the more a cultural group's language use declines, the more that culture is threatened. The more a culture is threatened, the more culturally vulnerable its important species are. Researchers then combined a species' cultural and biological vulnerability to arrive at its bio-cultural status. In the Dugong's case, its bio-cultural status is endangered, meaning it is more at risk than its IUCN categorization suggests.
This new approach to conservation involves people that have historically cared for them. It can highlight when communities need support to continue their care. Scientists hope it will bring more efforts that recognize local communities' rights and encourage their participation — taking advantage of humans' connection with nature instead of creating more separation.
