CULTURE PROGRAM

Finding “Common Ground” without losing integrity

Vision: All people have the right to maintain their ethnic, linguistic, and religious identities. The adoption of policies that recognize and protect these identities is the only sustainable approach to development in diverse societies.

“If the world is to reach the Millennium Development Goals and ultimately eradicate poverty, it must first successfully confront the challenge of how to build inclusive, culturally diverse societies,” Malloch Brown writes in his foreword to the Human Development Report 2004, UNDP.

“Florida’s cultural landscape continues to evolve with the arrival of new residents from across the globe” said Florida State Parks Director Mike Bullock. Florida Folk Festival, celebrating its 53rd anniversary. “These new communities bring their rich heritage and traditions to Florida, creating a diversity that enriches and broadens our collective culture.”

UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity unanimously adopted in 2001, that cultural diversity must be considered as a "common heritage of humanity", and its "defense as an ethical imperative, inseparable from respect for human dignity."

Environmental Awareness & Cultural Heritage at Common Ground for Conservation:


• The relationship between environment and people has inspired songs, paintings, stories and other modes of communications. Cultural freedom is essential for the human development of the increasingly diverse societies of the 21st century.
• Culture is not a frozen set of values and practices. To accept, to respect and to understand other cultures has an indispensable role to play in the process to reach the sustainable development.
• Cultural freedom in a multicultural country means expanding individual choices, rather than preserving values and practices with blind allegiance to tradition.
   
  

PROJECTS:

Outreach Efforts

Discovering Cultural Biodiversity Program

Public education regarding the region's distinctive heritage and different cultural resources will be encouraged through this CGC Program. These efforts will be complemented by a continuing broad selection of receptions and Fiestas that celebrate the region's environmental and cultural diversity:

1. Hispanic Connection (Monthly Basis-Spanish Newsletter)

How important are languages when we seek to understand the connection between biodiversity conservation and culture?

How important are languages when we seek to involve people in conservation?

2. Hispanic Heritage Month

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with us! Betewen Septembre 28 and October 1, come and discover Cultural Biodiversity. info

3. Cultural Communication Training Courses


• Seminars may be as short as half-day
• Courses are usually 3 days.
• Evening cultural programs are often part of course instruction.
  

Participants learn about the EPA Policy, implementation guidelines, and the skills required for improved communication and consultation with Hispanic Communities.

Controlling Pesticides Workshop was held in Homestead, Fl. 23 Jan – 25 Jan 2006.