3.6B Cultural erosion

• Cultural erosion = the process of a culture losing many of its core elements e.g. language, food , music, etc
• Papa New Guinea cultural erosion:

  • Britain and Germany colonised in 1905, became independent in 1975.
  • This causes political, social and economic integration
  • Missionary activities causes the spread of religion and western ideologies and education
  • Discovery of copper caused many countries to fight over ownership of profits causing conflicts to arise
• cultural erosion affecting the natural environment:

  • Ecosystem de-valued as sustainable shifting-cultivation abandoned for sedentary village life.
  • Employment for logging companies or hunting of animals, e.g. tree kangaroo (now endangered), for sale as bush meat in villages or Jayapura town.
  • Natural environment viewed as a resource for economic growth and higher income.

  -> resulting in over exploitation of resources