A Survey on Biocultural Diversity, its Assessment and Conservation

In this paper biocultural diversity, its assessment and conservation has been investigated by reviewing different articles. The most striking characteristic of life on earth is its enormous diversity which is formed not only by the variety of plant and animal species and ecosystems, but also by the variety of cultures and languages in human societies. However, currently both biological and cultural diversity are showing an unprecedented rate of decline in human history. Studies in late 20th century have demonstrated that there is a direct link between distribution, threats and loss of these diversities on both regional and global levels. Increasing awareness of commonalities and linkages among biological, cultural and linguistic diversity and realizing the fact that breaking down of these linkages underlies many of the environmental and social problems humanity faces today; have led to the development of a new field named "biocultural diversity".  In this regard, many researches have been completed in different countries as well as in the world, the main lines of which can be grouped as: global and regional analyses of the correlations between linguistic and biological diversity; tools for measuring and assessing the state of biocultural diversity; and studies about the persistence and loss of biocultural diversity. It seems therefore that carrying out such studies in Iran considering its biological and cultural diversity, could be of higher importance.