The “3Hs” conceptual framework of the biocultural ethic values the vital links among unique life habits of co-inhabitants. To address Anthropocene’s challenges, the “3Hs” framework provides a heuristic approach to understand complex socio-ecological problems at global, regional, and local scales. However, Chinese scholars and policy-makers, nor international ecologists, have realized the potentials of the biocultural ethic 3Hs framework. Particularly for China, the biocultural ethic offers a holistic approach to examine the national ecological security, which is of vital concern in the context of five decades of rapid economic reform, urbanization, and industrialization. In this paper, we examine two case studies grounded on two contrasting nature reserves in China. The first case study involves nature reserves in the temperate region of Qinling Mountains, a geological formation that divides north- and south-China. It encompasses sharp altitudinal gradients, and is located close to the city of Xian. The second involves the Xishaungbanna Biosphere Reserve in southwest China, containing the country’s largest tropical forest and richest biodiversity, along with agroforestry and indigenous ecological practices and knowledge. Based on these contrasting case studies, we use the biocultural 3Hs conceptual framework to address challenging, core tasks demanded by China’s ecological security, and redefine its scope.
Results/Conclusions
In the first case study of Qinling Mountains, an application of biocultural ethic shows the necessity of strengthening biological and cultural conservation practices, and value its unique biocultural heritage to promote ecological security. It also shows how biocultural conservation practices are consistent with some traditional Chinese cultural practices and values. In the second case study of Xishaungbanna Biosphere Reserve, it illuminates the significance of integrating the indigenous ecological thinking of local communities into the practice. Both case studies help to visualize the interrelations between the homogenization of habits and habitats and the consequences it has for the well-being or the displacement of human and other-than-human co-inhabitants. They demonstrate the strength of biocultural ethic in safeguarding national ecological security. The strength lies on the situational processing in handling the global and regional ecological crisis, mitigating biocultural homogenization, and reflecting the European-centered narrative of modernity. The “3Hs” framework facilitates understanding about how some life habits that are being globalized can lead to homogeneous habitats with detrimental consequences for many human and other-than-human co-inhabitants. The biocultural ethic framework provides valuable insights to reorient the currently prevailing pathways of biocultural homogenization toward pathways of biocultural conservation, thereby more effectively addressing China’ ecological security goals.