ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses challenge of creating digital access to bio-cultural collections and giving equal weight to different knowledge systems, including those of the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities and Indigenous knowledge. Focusing on bio-cultural collections amassed by 19-century botanist Richard Spruce in Amazonia, the project is funded by the British Academy Knowledge Frontiers program. Two years ago, on 2 September 2018, a fire devastated the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, destroying millions of rare and irreplaceable museum objects, an entire archive of Brazilian natural history, culture and science. While much of the Amazon’s life is still unknown to science, making bio-cultural collections more widely available can unlock their potential to protect the Amazon today: ancestral culture and knowledge provides the key to Indigenous identity, security and sustainability.
