Interaction between forest biodiversity and people's use of forest resources in Roviana, Solomon Islands: implications for biocultural conservation under socioeconomic changes

Conclusions: Human modifications of the forest created unique vegetation communities, thus increasing biodiversity overall. Each type of forest had different species that varied in their levels of importance to the local subsistence lifestyle, and the villagers' behaviors, such as respect for forest reserves and the semidomestication of some species, contributed to conserving diversity. Urbanization threatened this human-forest interaction. Although the status of biodiversity in human-modified landscapes is not fully understood, this study suggested that traditional human modifications can positively affect biodiversity and that conservation programs should incorporate traditional uses of landscapes to be successful.
Source: Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine - Category: Complementary Medicine Authors: Source Type: research