Study finds non-English language science may save biodiversity
Jan 15, 2022
Washington [US], January 15 : According to recent research, non-English language science may hold untapped information which might be crucial for the conservation of global biodiversity.
The research has been published in the 'PLOS Biology Journal'.
Few studies to date have quantified the contribution of science written in non-English languages to scientific communities and the application of science. These researchers scrutinized over 400,000 peer-reviewed papers in 326 journals published in 16 languages, identifying 1,234 studies that provided scientific knowledge on saving species and ecosystems.
Importantly, the number of such non-English-language studies being published is increasing, particularly in geographic areas and for species where English-language knowledge is scarce, including Latin America and other regions where conservation is needed the most.
These findings have important implications for global efforts to tackle the biodiversity crisis, where lack of evidence is an issue commonly faced when trying to implement evidence-based conservation. The authors demonstrated that incorporating non-English-language studies can expand the availability of scientific evidence on species and ecosystems into 12-25 per cent more areas and 5-32 per cent more species.
"This can be a game-changer," said Dr Tatsuya Amano at the University of Queensland, Australia.
Most global studies and assessments on biodiversity reported significant gaps in the availability of scientific knowledge, quite often without having explored science written in non-English languages.
The findings of this research indicated that making the best use of non-English-language science can be a quick, cost-effective approach to filling such gaps, facilitating a wider application of evidence-based conservation globally.
"When English alone is clearly not providing us with sufficient scientific evidence for making effective conservation decisions, we cannot afford to be overlooking any evidence out there as we try to tackle this urgent issue," Dr Amano said.
This research also sheds light on how linguistically and culturally diverse scientific communities can maximize the contribution of science to addressing urgent global challenges.
"This research would not have been possible without the tremendous contribution from our 62 collaborators, who are collectively native speakers of 17 languages," stressed Amano, who is a native Japanese speaker himself.
"This clearly showcases why it is important to nurture culturally-diverse scientific communities. Global challenges call for contributions from diverse communities from every corner of the globe," Amano added.
