Why language loss in indigenous communities hurts biodiversity conservation

Cop30, the 30th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (Cop) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 1992 landmark international treaty and parent treaty to the 2015 Paris Agreement, began on November 10 and was scheduled to end on November 21. Hosted in Belem, Brazil, Cop30 was the “Forest Cop”, not only for its Amazon rainforest venue, but because a focus of the UN Climate Change Conference is forest and biodiversity protection. Central to this endeavour has been the significant inclusion of indigenous peoples in dialogue. Indigenous peoples, numbering some 476 million worldwide, comprise just 6 per cent of the global population – but almost 40 per cent of the planet’s intact forests are located in indigenous territories. Indigenous peoples are thus stewards of hundreds of millions of hectares of land, safeguarding much of the world’s biodiversity. Regions of great endemic biodiversity that contain at least 1,500 species of vascular plants found nowhere else on Earth, but which have also lost at least 70 per cent of their primary native vegetation – usually because of human activities and influences – are known as “biodiversity hotspots”. Currently, 36 biodiversity hotspots are identified globally, which, while comprising only about 2.5 per cent of Earth’s land surface, are home to more than half of the world’s plants and 43 per cent of land vertebrates. But it is not only flora and fauna that are of importance – so too are the ecologies’ communities and their languages and cultures. The correlation between regions of high biodiversity and high linguistic diversity has long been recognised. These locales have a higher concentration of languages than would be expected by chance. The most floristically diverse island on Earth, New Guinea, boasts 840 living languages, while Indonesia and the Philippines, both biodiversity hotspots, are home to, respectively, 703 and 175. Crucially, the loss of ecosystems and the erosion of languages often occur in tandem: when traditional habitats and ecological niches come under threat, the indigenous peoples who inhabit them, with their cultures and languages, are affected. And conversely, language loss hurts biodiversity conservation. Indigenous communities are widely recognised as possessing a body of knowledge, beliefs and practices, reflecting a deep understanding of the local environment and sustainability of local resources. Such traditional or indigenous ecological knowledge (TEK/IEK) is passed on through generations, embedded in names, systems and oral traditions. The historical and extant importance of indigenous peoples for cataloguing biodiversity, contributing to taxonomy and, more broadly, being involved in biodiversity protection, is now widely recognised. The Maori of New Zealand – the entire archipelago a biodiversity hotspot – have ancestral sayings that encompass information concerning plant growth, soils and nutrients, ecological niches and communities, and landscape processes. In Yunnan’s Nujiang prefecture, a core area of the Mountains of Southwest China biodiversity hotspot, the Lisu, Nu and Dulong people hold traditional knowledge regarding edible and medicinal plants, bamboo weaving, beekeeping, large old trees and biocultural diversity management. Cop30 marked an unprecedented effort to elevate indigenous voices, with the largest indigenous delegation in the summit’s history, comprising more than 3,000 indigenous representatives and a record number of over 900 indigenous delegates taking part in official debates. Outcomes include the creation of 10 new indigenous territories in Brazil, where their culture and environment are protected by law; and – with indigenous groups historically receiving less than 1 per cent of climate-change funding – steps towards indigenous-led governance and direct funding access. Beyond Cops, scholars and practitioners continue their efforts on smaller but no less effective scales. A project of the Unesco Chair in Environmental Leadership, Cultural Heritage and Biodiversity, established at VinUniversity in Hanoi in 2024, documents the cultural heritage, ethnobotany and language of the Bahnar ethnic group in Vietnam’s Central Highlands, a region that is part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot. Priorities lie in working in partnership with ethnic minority community members, as well as in training the next generation of environmental leaders – perhaps two of the most significant dimensions in climate-change action for a sustainable future.

Why language loss in indigenous communities hurts biodiversity conservation

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ecosystem loss and language erosion often occur in tandem. Thankfully, Cop30 marked an unprecedented effort to elevate indigenous voices

Ecosystem loss and language erosion often occur in tandem. Thankfully, Cop30 marked an unprecedented effort to elevate indigenous voices