Paper short abstract:

As an ecologist working in Oaxaca, I realized that as a team, we needed a different approach to study biodiversity. We are moving from a purely biological study to include the social part. To clarify if biodiversity loss can lead to the loss of indigenous words, legends, and traditional knowledge.

Paper long abstract:

A biogeographical study with an evaluation of biodiversity in two communities of Oaxaca, Mexico started in 2017. The first approach for this project was based on bioindicator beetles. While doing this research, we involved the community and started a close relationship with some musicians. It is then that we came across the name of the female band "Ka'ux", which means green macaw, and is an unknown word for many of the young members of the community. Although we do not have anthropological training, we use an ethnographic approach with loosely structured interviews among key members of the community. We analysed the theory that biodiversity loss is linked to indigenous languages and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) loss. We found that certain words in Mixe are used to refer to animals that are no longer observed in the community, are not known by young people, as is the case of Ka'ux. Although my team has a biological background, now we are getting into anthropological and linguistic problems, that we consider as fundamental to carry out the conservation measures, we hope to achieve. We have realized that more importantly than an evaluation, as we pretended, we must first work with the community, learn how they see nature and known about their TEKs, in order to be able to continue with our research. In order to achieve integral sustainable development, we need to adopt a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, we include in our team anthropologists and linguists who can address research questions from various perspectives.