Disappearing Cultures Project
Unfortunately worldwide there is a dramatic environmental change. On the one part the deforestation, on the other part illegal logging. These processes not only cause damage the nature itself, but also are dangerous to the life of some ethnic groups, who living in the forests since ages. Furthermore the governments are forces most of them to get settled in villages, so they have to give up their original, nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
THE GOAL OF MY MOST IMPORTANT PROJECT IS TO BRING ABOUT AWARENESS BY COLLECTING STORIES AND IMAGES OF THE DISAPPEARING CULTURAL HERITAGES BEFORE THEIR WAY OF LIFE IS LOST FOREVER.
We must recognize that not only plant and animal species, but several thousand year old cultures, languages can be lost due to the ever growing energy and raw material demand of the profit oriented western civilization. Rainforests felled for massive rubber tree and oil palm plantations, where biodiversity is completely lacking. Oil and gas drilling disrupts wildlife habitat and the air and water pollution hurt local communities. Only our joint efforts can stop this incredibly harmful processes in which means severe losses for humanity.
“Without biodiversity, there is no future for humanity”
The rainforests are now replaced by plantations.
Deforestation has real consequences for animals and plants and also the indigenous and other local communities.
Southeast Asia is known for its vast rainforests which constitute about almost 20 percent of forest cover with the richest biodiversity in the world. What the region is also known for is its alarming rate of deforestation. The region has the highest rate of deforestation of any major tropical region followed by Latin America and Africa.
The situation is dire. It’s time to start connecting the dots.
People and nature can live in harmony. If we want to ensure the survival of the planet’s remaining forests, we must follow the evidence and protect the lands of the tribal and indigenous peoples that live there. Deforestation and climate change will affect us all, but none more so than those who call the forest home.
TED talks about societies and endangered cultures
Why do societies fail? With lessons from the Norse of Iron Age Greenland, deforested Easter Island and present-day Montana, Jared Diamond talks about the signs that collapse is near, and how — if we see it in time — we can prevent it.
With stunning photos and stories, National Geographic Explorer Wade Davis celebrates the extraordinary diversity of the world’s indigenous cultures, which are disappearing from the planet at an alarming rate.
“The greatest and most endangered species in the Amazon rainforest is not the jaguar or the harpy eagle,” says Mark Plotkin, “It’s the isolated and uncontacted tribes.” In an energetic and sobering talk, the ethnobotanist brings us into the world of the forest’s indigenous tribes.
In this gorgeously photo-filled talk, join Jimmy Nelson’s quest to understand — the world, other people, himself — by making astonishing portraits of the world’s vanishing tribes and cultures.
Last Natural Paradises
European Nature Reserve Lower River Inn, Germany
My goal to photograph the natural elements such as landscape, wildlife, plants and the cultural landscapes of this area.
Cultural landscapes are a legacy for everyone and reveal aspects of our origins and development as well as our evolving relationships with the natural world.
The Nature Reserve stretches across the border 55 kilometres of river from the mouth of the Salzach near the village of Haiming, downstream to the mouth of the Rott near Neuhaus/ Schärding. It consists of water areas, mud banks and islands in an area of about 5500 ha.
