Indigenous Peoples and Biodiversity*

Indigenous people number over 300 million. They are inhabitants of practically each main biome of the earth and especially of the least disturbed terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of the world. Based on an exhaustive review of recently published data, this chapter stresses the strategic importance of indigenous peoples in the maintenance and conservation of world's biodiversity. Four main links between biodiversity and indigenous peoples are examined: the correlation between biological richness and cultural diversity on both geopolitical and biogeographic terms, the strategic importance of indigenous peoples in the biomass appropriation; the remarkable overlap between indigenous territories and world's remaining areas of high biodiversity; and the importance of indigenous views, knowledge and practices in biodiversity conservation. The chapter finishes emphasizing the urgent need for recognizing a new bio-cultural axiom: that world's biodiversity only will be effectively preserved by preserving diversity of cultures and viceversa. * In: Levin, S. el al., (eds.) Encyclopedia of Biodiversity. Academic Press (in press).