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2002; and the 2002 Roundtable on Cultural Diversity and Biodiversity for Sustainable

Development.

The speeches presented at the 2002 roundtable along with background information are

compiled into a report titled Cultural Diversity and Biodiversity for Sustainable Development

(UNEP & UNESCO 2003). A discursive analysis of this report offers insight into the ideas of

nature and culture that framed debates. A theme emerged in these debates expressing the

interconnectedness of cultural diversity and biological diversity, as well as the need to value

and advocate for cultural diversity in addition to biodiversity. Contributors included many

high profile political and community leaders and well-known academic Arjun Appadurai.

Then president of France, Jacques Chirac, chaired the roundtable. The core purpose of the

roundtable was to set out a protocol designed to ensure that culture and cultural diversity

would become a priority in sustainable development programs and be given equal weight to

biological diversity. As Chirac firmly stated in his address to the roundtable, ‘culture will

gradually take its place as the fourth pillar of sustainable development alongside economics,

the environment and social concerns’ (in UNEP & UNESCO 2003, p. 26).

Specific notions of the relationship between cultural diversity and biological diversity

came to the forefront. Cultural diversity was articulated as a ‘source of innovation, creativity

and exchange [and] is humanity’s guarantee for a mutually enriching and sustainable future’

(UNEP & UNESCO 2003, p. 8). Moreover, a ‘mutual dependency between biological

diversity and culture’ (UNEP & UNESCO 2003, p. 9) was expressed. As the roundtable

report suggests:

On the one hand, innumerable cultural practices depend on specific elements of
biodiversity for their continued existence and expression. On the other hand,
significant ensembles of biological diversity are developed, maintained and
managed by cultural groups, with language and knowledge, as the media for their
management. (UNEP & UNESCO 2003, p. 8)

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