Abstract
A large number of Green discourse blames humans as a species for the current ecological crisis. However, this description serves to conceal the role of humans, in both past and contemporary pre-industrial societies, as custodians of biodiversity. Indigenous societies are known to conserve their natural resource base for posterity, by instituting cultural norms against exhaustive resource use. In addition, pre-industrial societies also increased biodiversity on species and genetic levels, by domestication of wild species. While Darwin gave much importance to the process of domestication of plants and animals by means of artificial selection, modern science and agriculture curricula tend to neglect this aspect of the history of human civilization. The novel species, created in the process of domestication, are characterized by many morphological and behavioural traits never found in the wild progenitor species. Further selection of favourable traits by of the new species created an abundance of distinctive crop landraces and animal breeds.
An unfortunate consequence of agricultural modernization is the erosion of on-farm genetic diversity of crop and livestock species worldwide. Most of the modern farmers, predominantly dependent on the industrial supply of crop seeds, have forgotten the methods of genetic purity maintenance, resulting in the rapid loss of the hundreds of crop landraces with distinctive properties, which were selected centuries ago for diverse agronomic, gustatory, and aesthetic qualities. A recognition of the value of the custodian role of humans in creating and conserving biodiversity will likely promote biodiversity conservation ethos in modern societies, and the value of genetic purity of the extant crop landraces.