Preserving Our Natural Heritage

It has become more and more accepted that nature conservation is not possible without taking into account human activities. Thus an integrated approach to both the natural and cultural heritage is being encouraged and developed. Gathering a number of distinguished authors with diverse backgrounds (from a religious leader to academics to conservation scientists), the book aims to investigate the relationship between human beings and nature, between nature and culture. Looking at nature as ‘heritage’ of the human race is a recognition both of the tremendous impacts (both positive and negative) that human activities have had on the natural environment, as well as the acceptance of human responsibility for managing our planet in a sustainable and sensitive manner. The texts included examine this interface between human beings and nature in specific places (from the Everglades in Florida and Mont Saint Micelle in Atlantic France, to the UK, Europe and the Mediterranean), as well as on a theoretical basis, and in the context of the international biodiversity conventions.

Preservation of natural and cultural heritage is often said to be something that is done for the future, or on behalf of future generations, but the precise relationship of such practices to the future is rarely reflected upon. Heritage Futures draws on research undertaken over four years by an interdisciplinary, international team of 16 researchers and more than 25 partner organisations to explore the role of heritage and heritage-like practices in building future worlds. Engaging broad themes such as diversity, transformation, profusion and uncertainty, Heritage Futures aims to understand how a range of conservation and preservation practices across a number of countries assemble and resource different kinds of futures, and the possibilities that emerge from such collaborative research for alternative approaches to heritage in the Anthropocene. Case studies include the cryopreservation of endangered DNA in frozen zoos, nuclear waste management, seed biobanking, landscape rewilding, social history collecting, space messaging, endangered language documentation, built and natural heritage management, domestic keeping and discarding practices, and world heritage site management.

Volume, organized by geographic location, which illustrates the ways in which our cultural heritage is tied to the Earth's natural heritage. Examines the ways in which our actions today determine our future.