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Since 2001, we have developed a comprehensive program of work that focuses on six main areas of biocultural diversity: mapping, indicators, conservation, networking, policy and education. Some of the tools we have developed in these areas form what we call the “Biocultural Diversity Toolkit”. Our work has been influential in giving shape to these key aspects of the field of biocultural diversity.

• Biocultural Diversity Mapping:
  What is the geographic distribution of biocultural diversity? Through our research, which we initiated through a collaboration with WWF-International and have continued through a partnership with the University of Florida, we have mapped the overlaps in the global distributions of biodiversity and cultural diversity, and have identified “core areas” of biocultural diversity: regions that are highly diverse in both nature and culture. We now plan to develop an Online Portal on Biocultural Diversity Mapping, to tell the story of biocultural diversity through maps: why biocultural diversity is distributed the way it is, what makes it resilient, what threatens it, where it is persistent, where it is being lost, and why all this matters. The Portal will be a key resource for researchers, educators, and the general public.
• Biocultural Diversity Indicators:
  How do we know what is happening with global biocultural diversity, and particularly with the world’s languages and stores of traditional environmental knowledge (TEK)? How do the trends in persistence or loss of languages and TEK compare with the trends in biodiversity? To answer these critical questions, we first developed a global Index of Biocultural Diversity and then an Index of Linguistic Diversity and a Vitality Index of Traditional Environmental Knowledge. Together, these tools allow for an assessment of the state of biocultural diversity at different scales, from the local to the national to the global. These tools provide critical information for biocultural-friendly policy making and conservation, and can assist local efforts at biocultural revitalization. We are continuing to expand and strengthen these tools through collaborations with research institutions and international organizations, as well as by means of field pilot projects.
• Biocultural Diversity Conservation – Capacity Building in Indigenous Communities:
  How do we conserve biocultural diversity at the local level? Worldwide, the threats to traditional societies, their cultures, their languages, and their environments are severe. Terralingua is working with the indigenous Rarámuri people in the Sierra Tarahumara of northern Mexico on the project Eco-Cultural Health in the Sierra Tarahumara, Mexico, to assist their efforts to continue their way of life in the landscape they have called home for generations. The resilience of both their culture and their landscape is at risk from the increasing pressure from economic, political, and social forces. On the Rarámuri’s request, the initial focus of our joint work was on addressing essential needs for drinking water, hygiene and sanitation, and ecological restoration. Current plans include the development of an alternative education curriculum focused on Rarámuri language and culture and a program to “train the trainers” in eco-cultural health restoration.
  
• Biocultural Diversity Conservation – A Community of Practice:
  How do we conserve global biocultural diversity? Innumerable on-the-ground efforts are underway to maintain and restore biocultural diversity, but most fall “under the radar” for lack of visibility, and the lessons from these projects cannot easily be learned. We wrote down the lessons we learned from studying 45 biocultural diversity conservation projects from all over the world, and have published them in the book Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Global Sourcebook (L. Maffi and E. Woodley, Earthscan, 2010), which make these lessons available to all those who want to learn more about these efforts and their global significance. We also created the companion portal Biocultural Diversity Conservation: A Community of Practice, hosted on our website, which is helping forge a global network of biocultural diversity conservation practitioners, by “connecting the dots” among people on all continents who are involved in biocultural diversity conservation. 
• Biocultural Diversity Policy:
  How do we bring about favorable change for biocultural diversity? The first way in which we work for this is by fostering the development of policies that recognize the vital importance of the diversity of life in nature and culture, and promoting action to implement that recognition at international and national levels. Most recently, as a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Terralingua had a significant presence at IUCN’s 4th World Conservation Congress, held in Barcelona in October 2008, where issues of cultural diversity as relevant for the conservation of biodiversity were on the agenda. We co-sponsored three resolutions: “Integrating Culture and Cultural Diversity into IUCN’s Policy and Programme”; “IUCN Adoption of Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples”; and “Recognition and Conservation of Sacred Natural Sites in Protected Areas”, all of which were adopted by the IUCN Members’ Assembly. We continue to work with IUCN on the follow-up to these resolutions, and in the lead-up to the celebration of the 2010 Year of Biodiversity. 
  
• Education for Biocultural Diversity:
  How do we bring about favorable change for biocultural diversity? The second way in which we work for this is by engaging in educational efforts aimed at the general public and the media . Our first educational project was in collaboration with UNESCO, for which we wrote the educational booklet Sharing a World of Difference: The Earth’s Linguistic, Cultural, and Biological Diversity . Currently, we have undertaken a broad-ranging educational program, which focuses on the development of school curriculum materials in collaboration with elementary and high school students and teachers, the production of both online and print resources, and the use of the arts.

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