Topic Overview

After having knowledge of key biodiversity in Asia, in this topic, you will learn about history of conservation in Asia particularly how it has been evolved over time with concrete example of ancient civilization of China, India and Middle East. Further, you will also learn about the concept of indigenous knowledge, use and conservation approaches of biological resources and discuss about their ramification on global biodiversity conservation with case studies.

Learning objectives

• Describe ancient thinking of interaction between human and nature in Asia.
• Describe and analyze environmental history of China through Mark Elvin’s book, “The Retreat of the Elephants”.
• Describe traditional knowledge, practice and use of wildlife products and analyze consequences for global biodiversity.
• Describe ethnobotanical concept and apply for research.

Required & Optional Readings

Required Readings

• Swan, K., & Conrad, K. (2014). The conflict between Chinese cultural and environmental values in wildlife consumption. Routledge Handbook of Environment and Society in Asia, 321-335. (Chapter 19) Links to an external site.
• Links to an external site.Karki, Madhav, Rosemary Hill, Dayuan Xue, Wilfredo Alangui, Kaoru Ichikawa, and Peter Bridgewater. “Indigenous and Local Knowledge and Practices Related to Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Asia Links to an external site.,” 2018, 214. (Chapter 2) 
• Liu, Yanchun, Zhiling Dao, Chunyan Yang, Yitao Liu, and Chunlin Long. “Medicinal Plants Used by Tibetans in Shangri-La, Yunnan, China.” Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 5, no. 1 (May 5, 2009): 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/1746-4269-5-15 Links to an external site..

Fundamental Concepts

PPT Presentations:

• Topic 1.3 History of Conservation and Traditional Knowledge of Biodiversity in Asia.pdf Download Topic 1.3 History of Conservation and Traditional Knowledge of Biodiversity in Asia.pdf
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Self-test Quiz (For certificate learning only)

After viewing lecture PPT presentation for this topic, take 10 minutes to take this self-test quiz. It is intended to serve as a quick check points of your learning progress about the factual content for this topic. Immediate feedback or answer key will be provided after your attempt. Click Self-test Quiz 1.4 to start.

Online Discussions (For certificate learning only)

Each week you will participant in the topic discussions of the week. The purpose of these discussions is to enable you to critically discuss and apply the core concepts you learned each week. Each online weekly topic discussion will include two parts: 1) your initial response to topic discussion questions posted by the instructor; and 2) your peer comment on other peer posts. Instructor will post one or two discussion questions related to the assigned module and topic every week. Response to these online discussion question and subsequent peer comment on these responses is mandatory. By doing this, you will enhance your knowledge through multiple perspectives posted by your peers. These questions will be focused on the most important aspect of the assigned module and topic and reflection on how you can apply these concept and tools from the assigned module and topic in your own context. For detailed requirements and grading rubric go to Online Discussions page.

To join the online topic discussions for this week go to Self-test Quiz 1.4. 

Graded Assignment for the Week (For certificate learning only)

NA.