The book collects a selection of the papers presented at the meeting
held in the context of the Joint Programme on the Links between
Biological and Cultural Diversity (JP-BiCuD). Recognizing the
inextricable link between biological and cultural diversity, the United
Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and
the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) joined
forces, and in 2010 launched the Joint Programme on the Links between
Biological and Cultural Diversity (JP-BiCuD). The first meeting for the
implementation of the JP-BiCuD was held in Florence (Italy) in April
2014 and produced the UNESCO-sCBD Florence Declaration, which highlights
the concept of biocultural diversity. The European rural territory is
predominantly a biocultural, multi-functional landscape, providing a
crucial and effective space for integration of biological and cultural
diversity, suggesting the need to revise some of the current strategies
for the assessment and management of biodiversity.