Landscapes, soils and cultures

In recent years there has been renewed interest in the study of local ecological knowledge held by the indigenous and small farming communities of our planet. This emergent academic effort has allowed scientists to recognize why the bulk of the biocultural memory of our species is situated in territories that have been inhabited for generations and which has resulted in symbolic, cognitive, and practical adaptations of nature, whose legacy is the maintenance of biological, cultural, and agricultural diversity worldwide. This legacy has been demonstrated in the conservation of landscapes, cultures, and natural resources over time. This book is dedicated to highlighting the importance of local knowledge with an emphasis on the variety of ways in which traditional societies appropriate natural and landscape resources in the world, and in Mesoamerica, one of the world''s regions of biocultural megadiversity. Ideas expressed here are directed towards specialists that are preoccupied with creating solutions to the current global environmental problems and to a wider public interested in learning how non-Western agrarian societies have survived for more than 10,000 years.