Monitoring of Biocultural Diversity in the Biosphere Reserve “Großes Walstertal”

In the Biosphere Reserve “Großes Walsertal” the diversity of wild gathered species, traditionally grown crops and their cultivars is closely linked to local peoples’ culture, profession and preferences. As also requested by the Sevilla Strategy (1996), the aims of this project are to document in the Biosphere Reserve with state of the arte interdisciplinary methods through a period of 35 months (including at least 16 months of ethnobotanical field research): - the diversity of plant species gathered by local people - the diversity of traditional crops and their cultivars grown by local people - the diversity of local uses, habits and preferences related to these elements of biodiversity - to make visible the role of women as users and managers of biodiversity and their distinct forms of attitudes and traditional knowledge - to actively support various local initiatives and the Biosphere Management in their efforts for sustainable conservation and use of Biosphere resources. The research process will be linked from the beginning to local actors and initiatives through stakeholder workshops, involvement of local people in data collection and analysis and through participatory assessment and dissemination of results at local level, incl. schools, libraries and art festivals.