Welcome to Terralingua — Your Hub for Biocultural Diversity.

Did you know? Biocultural diversity is the diversity of life in nature and culture. It’s a living network made up of the millions of species of plants and animals and the thousands of human cultures and languages that have evolved on earth. And you are a part of it!

Think of it as biodiversity, cultural diversity, and linguistic diversity all bound together — interconnected and interdependent. That “inextricable link” has arisen over time through coevolution and through the myriad ways in which people around the globe have interacted with the natural environment.

We at Terralingua came together around the idea of “biocultural diversity” 25 years ago. In fact, we coined that term! We recognized that diversity in both nature and culture is vital for the thriving of life on earth, and since then we’ve been promoting understanding, appreciation, and support of biocultural diversity worldwide.

If you, like us, believe that sustaining biocultural diversity is essential for a healthy, just, and resilient future of life on earth, you’ve come to the right place! We’re your hub for learning more about biocultural diversity, then read stories, find resources, watch videos and listen to podcasts, and more.

Featured Updates

Read Stories from our Current Issue

Read a new story every week about how the Indigenous principles of Reverence, Respect, and Reciprocity can help build a just, equitable, sustainable world in which biocultural diversity can thrive. Read our current issue.

Indigenous Youth Storytellers Circle

Explore inspiring first-person stories from Indigenous youths worldwide! We started our Indigenous Youth Storytellers Circle in 2019 as an official project of the UN’s International Year of Indigenous Languages. The project was such a great success that we are continuing to gather and publish Indigenous youth stories. Learn more.

Donate to Support Terralingua’s Mission

Yes, it’s that giving time of year! We’re reaching out to remind our supporters of the mission we’ve pursued passionately for 26 years: to “promote understanding and appreciation of the vital value of the world’s biocultural diversity for the thriving of all life on earth.” If you believe that our mission is crucial to a better world, both for ourselves and for our loved ones — the generations that follow — please Donate Now.

Buy our Special Anniversary Issue of Langscape Magazine

For our 25th anniversary, we assembled some of the most memorable and colorful stories we’ve ever published, chosen by our team and our readers. Enjoy them in a new, inspiring context and with a stunning design. Buy now.

Langscape Magazine

Unique stories celebrating the bounty of diversity in nature and culture. Indigenous and non-Indigenous voices and viewpoints. Stunning pictures, videos, and art. Discover Langscape Magazine, our flagship publication — thought-provoking, inspiring, and always ad-free.

Explore

Greek Orthodox Monastère de Solan in France

Protected by Prayer: Reverence, Respect, and Reciprocity at the Heart of Sacred Natural Sites in the Mediterranean

Spiritual values are the key to a harmonious relationship with the earth. Liza Zogib and Sandra Spissinger-Bang Protecting lands, territories, and the gifts of nature has been a human endeavor for millennia. That endeavor still exists, best exemplified by Indigenous Peoples around the globe and by other communities and individuals who maintain an

Language, Culture, and Land: Lenses of Lilies

At a pond’s edge, a woman muses about waterlilies as metaphors for mother-tongue languages and their power to anchor story, wisdom, and heritage. Dawn Wink . Waterlilies hold a special place in my heart. I did not grow up with them, though. I grew up on a remote ranch amid the sand, rocks, cacti, and

Featured Projects

No Native Bones

A young Ghanaian muses about his Indigenous identity, traditional values, and biocultural diversity. Abraham Ofori-Henaku “Ouch!” I exclaimed, after hitting my pinkie toe against the leg of a table that stood idle in my path. I’d been busy brainstorming ideas for this piece, and while at it I paced the corridors of my apartment,

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Indigenous Youth Storytellers Circle

Explore inspiring, first-person stories from Indigenous youth worldwide — and share your own! Our Indigenous Youth Storytellers Circle (IYSC) provides a global platform for Indigenous youths to share their unique perspectives online and/or in print via Langscape Magazine, Terralingua’s flagship publication.

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News & Views

Send A Story for Our Next Issue of Langscape Magazine

We’re inviting Expressions of Interest on the theme of “Rights to Responsibilities: Toward a Biocultural Resurgence” for Langscape Magazine, to be published in 2023 For this issue, we ask some thought-provoking questions: Can we have rights without responsibilities? Is today’s predominant focus on rights distracting us from paying attention to the other side of the

Send Your Story to the Indigenous Youth Storytellers Circle

We’re calling for stories from young Indigenous people from around the world. If you’re a young Indigenous person up to 35 years old, we invite you to join the Indigenous Youth Storytellers Circle! Your story can be about any of the following four areas, or any combination of them. We are interested in hearing how

Celebrate & Support Biocultural Diversity this May

This month, the UN celebrates Cultural Diversity Day (May 21) and Biological Diversity Day (May 22). We at Terralingua would like to take that a step further and recommend that Cultural Diversity Day and Biodiversity Day would be better combined into Biocultural Diversity Day! Cultural diversity and biological diversity are inextricably interlinked; both give vitality

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