Endangered cultures are cultures that are significantly threatened by the loss of cultural integrity, loss of habitat, and environmental quality. Wade Davis in his Ted Talk “Cultures at The Far Edge of The World” discusses endangered cultures. A point he makes is that cultural diversity is dying in the world, and an example of such is how there was once 6,000 languages spoken on this planet at one point, and now half of these 6,000 languages are gone. These dead languages represent how cultural diversity is dying, and therefore we must protect cultures that are endangered. Wade points out that when an endangered culture “dies”, the knowledge, the lessons, the stories, the wisdom, the diversity, the individuality, also dies. I agree with Wade that it is extremely important to protect endangered cultures, just like it is important to protect endangered species. I believe that cultural diversity helps the world and people in this world learn to further appreciate each other and the differences we all have with one another. Examples of endangered cultures are the five most endangered cultures in the world right now. They are the Tsaatan of Northern Mongolia, Kalash of Chitral, Pakistan, the Huaorani of Ecuador, the Drokpas of Ladakh, India, and the Loba of Mustang, Nepal.
As a result of climate change, Greece is being affected by endangered culture, due to Greek Culture Monuments being threatened by climate change. The threat of the destruction of cultural monuments in Greece come from all forms of climate change such as, wildfires, erosion, flooding, heat and humidity, and rainfall changes. One example of such endangered cultural monument was the site of Olympia, which is the home to first Olympic Games was threatened by a wildfire. Another example was the Lion Gate, which is an entrance to citadel of Mycenae was slightly damaged by a wildfire. Because of such important culture monuments being at risk to climate change, the Greek culture is also becoming endangered because much of the cultural history in Greece lays in these sacred monuments. The growing climate change also affects Greece’s loss of biodiversity.
Sources:
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/373beb63-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/373beb63-en
https://greekreporter.com/2022/07/08/ancient-cultural-monuments-threatened-climate-change-greece/