A Bridge over the Chasm: Finding Ways to Achieve Integrated Natural and Cultural Heritage Conservation

Abstract

The long‐standing rift between the biological and social sciences has done much to shape how nature conservation and the conservation of cultural heritage are practised today. In the field of protected areas, fundamental differences in outlook have contributed to an unproductive atmosphere in which seemingly endless rounds of criticisms are traded among disciplines. Better conservation outcomes might well be produced if these disciplines could work together by focusing on common points of agreement. The prospects for integrating natural and cultural heritage conservation might seem bleak, but the emerging field of biocultural diversity research points the way towards how bridges can be built across the nature/culture divide. This will require seeking out common ethical foundations and terms of reference, and calls for a serious commitment to promoting interdisciplinary research and facilitating the work of interdisciplinary teams to perform it. The result—integrated natural and cultural heritage conservation—has the potential to be more effective.