Nowadays, the world is passing through complex problems like food insecurity, global water deficit and loss of biodiversity from the effects of climate change. Also there are great social and political tensions, the problem of the eradication of poverty, the adverse effects of globalization and so many other problems that can be addressed if we use and protect traditional knowledge of cultural and linguistic diversity as one of the resources to promote and achieve the goals for sustainable development that the United Nations has for global development post 2015.

1. Osterloh Mejia, Maria Isabel
Student of Foreign Trade & International Marketing at Inca Garcilaso de la Vega University.
Trainee at Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion of Peru.
1
Sustainable development is the pathway to the future we want for all.
Ban Ki-moon
Diversity is the magic. It is the first manifestation, the first beginning of the differentiation of a thing and of simple identity. The
greater the diversity, the greater the perfection.
Thomas Berry
CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY AS RESOURCES TO ACHIEVE GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
Since the creation of United Nations, 70 years ago, the world has changed. In the 1940’s after the
second world war, the political, military and economic power were in the hands of the victorious
countries: The United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, who were the most
powerful and the biggest ones, and were appointed as permanent members of the Security Council of
the UN. However this situation has changed completely,” for example, Japan and Germany are bigger
economies than France, United Kingdom and Russia, and also Japan and Germany give more money to
the United Nations than all permanent members of the Security Council except for the United States”.1
There are now new emerging economies like India, Brazil, Mexico and others that can contribute with
their diversity and cultural heritage. Besides it is important to mention that in those days the world
wasn’t aware about the protection of biodiversity, or of cultural and linguistic diversity as the
phenomenon of globalization was in process and we needed not to worry about global warming yet.
Nowadays, the world is passing through complex problems like food insecurity, global water deficit and
loss of biodiversity from the effects of climate change. Also there are great social and political tensions,
the problem of the eradication of poverty, the adverse effects of globalization and so many other
problems that can be addressed if we use and protect traditional knowledge of cultural and linguistic
diversity as one of the resources to promote and achieve the goals for sustainable development that the
United Nations has for global development post 2015.
“Sustainable development has 3 pillars: economic growth, social equality and environmental protection.
Politics and institutions only see this as a short term matter, however it is a long term policy dividend
and intergenerational that needs immediate political decision”.2
In the present essay I will try to explain
the reasons why cultural and linguistic diversity are crucial resources that can help us reach sustainable
development.
“From approximately 6.000 cultures existing now, 4 to 5.000 are indigenous cultures. Moreover three
quarters of the 6.000 languages are spoken by indigenous peoples. The 17 countries that have more
than two-thirds of the biological resources of the earth (Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ecuador,
The United States, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Congo,
1
Aquino Rodriguez, Carlos Alberto. 2015. Reform of the United Nations after 70 years of its creation. Lima. Accessed March 19, 2015.
<http://asiapacifico-carlos.blogspot.com/2015/03/reform-of-united-nations-after-70-years_19.html?spref=fb>
2 United Nations Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (2012). Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A future worth
choosing. New York. Page 13. Accessed March 09, 2015. <http://www.ipu.org/splz-e/rio+20/rpt-panel.pdf>

2. Osterloh Mejia, Maria Isabel
Student of Foreign Trade & International Marketing at Inca Garcilaso de la Vega University.
Trainee at Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion of Peru.
2
South Africa and Venezuela), are traditional lands of most indigenous people” 3
. Looking at the
statements mentioned above, we can see clearly “the correlation between regions that have great
biological diversity and regions of great cultural diversity”.4
Native communities with their cultural and linguistic diversity enrich the world with its laws, customs,
traditional practices, and unique identity, "being beneficial to sustainable development as their values
reflect an adhesion to Earth and their responsibility for preserving traditional lands for use by future
generations”5
, managing the environment properly. That’s why it is important to create legislation, and
include in the existing ones, the protection of cultural and linguistic diversity against the overwhelming
wave of globalization process that gives as a result a society deeply unsatisfied, as seen in many people
in east Asian countries that go through plastic surgery to replace their beautiful oriental features to look
like their favorite western artists, sacrificing its uniqueness and its cultural roots, resulting in a
homogenization and thus a lack of innovation due to less options that diversity has to offer.
Water deficit and food insecurity are consequences of global warming that affects agriculture,
however Cultural diversity of the past has left us a legacy of traditional technology that can be a solution
for this problem. For example, the use of Andenes, terraces dug into the slopes of mountains for
agricultural purposes, used during the empire of the Incas in the XIV and XV centuries. “Built on a
foundation of earth and clay, this technique promotes the optimal use of water resources, prevent soil
erosion caused by heavy rainfall and mitigates the impact of cold winds on crops. It was used to plant
corn, the main source of protein during the Inca period. Also pre Columbian cultures that occupied
Peruvian and Bolivian territories developed techniques like Asoleo to preserve for several years Andean
grains such as corn, quinoa and cañihua toasted and as flour, by exposing them to the sun until it is
dehydrated for their subsequent storage. The preservation of food reduces vulnerability to drought,
irregular rainfall and the loss of crops”.6
The application of this techniques would protect, restore and
promote the sustainable use of soil avoiding its abusive exploitation.
Cultural diversity nurture human capacities and values such peace, tolerance and respect in all its
forms, “therefore it should not only be preserved but enriched through cultural exchange between
countries, in order to allow greater understanding between different people that live on earth, learning
from each other with absolute tolerance, on the basis of equality of the human being, human rights and
respect for minorities”.7
Ancient cultures like the Incas show us the value of solidarity. It was called
“Ayni” (in Quechua language), a form of traditional mutual help, where families in the community
(“Ayllus”), used to get organized in groups to help a family to build a house or in agricultural works.
There was no economic retributions, just mutual help in other Ayni work as payment. In this events
chicha (a juice prepared with purple corn) was served and food given to all participants.
3 United Nations Human Rights. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. “Los Pueblos Indígenas y el medio ambiente”. Booklet No.
10. 2015. Page 1. Accessed March 09, 2015. <http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuideIPleaflet10sp.pdf>
4 Ibid.
5 Ditto. Page 2.
6
Torres, Juan. Soluciones Prácticas. “Contribución del conocimiento y tecnologías tradicionales a la adaptación al cambio climático en las
montañas de América Latina”. Apuntes de Investigación n° 2. 2014. Pages 3, 4 and 6. Accessed March 09, 2015. <
http://www.solucionespracticas.org.pe/Contribucion-del-conocimiento-y-tecnologias-tradicionales-a-la-adaptacion-al-cambio-climatico-en-
las-montanas-de-America-Latina>
7
Bartra, Jacques Isaías. “Manual Para Una Diplomacia Cultural”. Foundation of the Diplomatic Academy of Peru. 2004. Page 51.

3. Osterloh Mejia, Maria Isabel
Student of Foreign Trade & International Marketing at Inca Garcilaso de la Vega University.
Trainee at Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion of Peru.
3
Traditional knowledge can be lucrative if “they are selected to propitiate its economic value and thus
promote economic development for the communities who own them”. 8
A good example is Peru, a
multicultural country that is using traditional knowledge from the highlands and the jungle in its
gastronomy by using its diverse organic products (that before were not considered as important) like
maca, cacao, camu camu, purple corn, kiwicha, yacón, anchovy, etc. and their regional traditional
recipes to make delicious and nutritive dishes that are enormously varied in flavors and colors, valued
internationally like cebiche (“Raw fish filet cut into pieces and marinated in key lime juice, onions, and
limo pepper”)9
, lomo saltado (sauteed beef tenderloin), ají de gallina (spicy chicken stew), etc. It is
important to mention that many of “Peruvian iconic gastronomy products like native potatoes, corn,
quinoa or pepper are produced by farmers who have lived in a situation of poverty, social and cultural
marginalization”10
, so now the major consumption of these products can contribute to eradicate poverty,
promote the inclusion of minorities and indigenous people and their sustainable development.
Linguistic diversity is a cultural expression, a heritage, connected with cultural diversity, having inside
the identity of a nation, reflecting its history and genius. Losing a language means the loss of a way to
see the world, a way to see life, another way to see reality, and the essence of wisdom of a local
community. In other words there is a loss of traditional knowledge that is mainly transmitted to new
generations verbally. It is said that from the 6,000 languages spoken today most of them may become
extinct by 2050 or 2100. This cultural factor should be more appreciated as it is a source of personal
enrichment, which should go hand in hand with international education policies, encouraging countries
to be multilingual. This means that, when it is the case, every person should speak a local, a national and
an international language in order to transfer and keep the identity and diversity of nations. As also has
been demonstrated learning several languages gives a person cognitive flexibility, this means the facility
to adapt to new or unexpected situations, and to understand different cultures, becoming more
respectful and tolerant with diversity.
As many developing countries, Peru has a rich linguistic diversity (there are 60 vernacular languages
spoken by native communities), however like many Latin-American nations monolingualism is
predominant as the 83% of Peruvians speak Spanish. So in order not to lose our linguistic diversity, in
2011 a program was launched by the Ministry of Education proposing and encouraging school directors,
teachers and the community through the appropriate training to develop a curricular education
program according to the own culture and linguistic reality of each region, so it can be taught in the
classrooms a native tongue, Spanish as the official language and English as an international language.
This kind of initiatives brings benefits in the long term, forming future citizens in knowledge, values and
principles needed to govern a multicultural country, eradicating many prejudices against native
communities, leading to better comprehension and understanding when dialogues for policy making are
needed, avoiding social conflicts where many of them are related to the commercial use of the land. A
study made by The Munden Project consulting company, indicates that "local population are an
8
UNESCO. “Hacia las sociedades del conocimiento”. France. 2005. Page 168. Accessed March 10, 2015.
<http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001419/141908s.pdf>
9 Wikipedia. List of Peruvian dishes. Accessed March 10, 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Peruvian_dishes.>
10 CEPLAN. Gastronomía peruana al 2021. Second Edition. Lima, Peru. 2012. Page 12. Accessed March 09, 2015.
<http://www.ceplan.gob.pe/sites/default/files/Documentos/gastronomiaperuana.pdf.>

4. Osterloh Mejia, Maria Isabel
Student of Foreign Trade & International Marketing at Inca Garcilaso de la Vega University.
Trainee at Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion of Peru.
4
unrecognized part of concession agreements”11
as many of the territories awarded for the exploitation
of natural resources by foreign investment in countries with rich biodiversity like Brazil, Colombia, Peru,
Indonesia among others, are inhabited by indigenous communities who not have title of ownership of
the land where they live. Therefore, all this damage and reduce cultural and linguistic diversity,
obligating the local population to migrate to urbanized cities and generating poverty.
I think we should put more emphasis in protecting the invaluable traditional knowledge of indigenous
peoples in relation with the sustainable use of resources in the instruments of international law which
deals with intellectual property. They must count with a tool that allow them to register, utilize and
promote the use of traditional knowledge, for the sustainable economic development of their
communities and therefore eradicating poverty and being inclusive. Besides having at hand this
knowledge, resource management programs would be more sustainable, in a friendly way for our
ecosystems.
In order to preserve biodiversity, restore ecosystems and their resources, title of ownership should be
given to indigenous people and also recognize them in the concession agreements made by the
contracting parties, acknowledging their sacred lands and territories, and the contribution they have
given to mankind.
Besides that, by empowering indigenous peoples and letting them participate in policy making
development (at national and international level), we would avoid social conflicts, and in this way
become a more inclusive and free society.
Furthermore developed countries with experience in providing business value to their cultural heritage
should teach countries with rich cultural and linguistic diversity (which most developing countries have)
through international cooperation programs, so they would know how to manage their own heritage,
creating cultural infrastructure as museums, cultural centers, etc., attracting tourism and in this way
promoting employment.
We have only one world with many cultures and many languages, but all with the same essence. Let’s
propose ourselves to make it sustainable.
11 El País Newspaper.” El 96% del territorio destinado a la explotación en Perú está habitado”. November 5, 2014. Accessed on March 09, 2015.
<http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2014/11/05/actualidad/1415149053_207294.html >

5. Osterloh Mejia, Maria Isabel
Student of Foreign Trade & International Marketing at Inca Garcilaso de la Vega University.
Trainee at Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion of Peru.
5
Peruvian Andenes in Cusco
Photo by Graham Gordon at Flickr
Taken in May 27, 2006
Cebiche
Photo by Marcos Granda at Flickr
Taken in March 16, 2013