Expanding the historical baseline: using pre-modern archives to inform conservation from ecological and human perspectives

Abstract Conservation practitioners are increasingly aware of historical biodiversity change and the importance of environmental archives, which include both specimen-based and document-based materials spanning a range of resolutions and contexts. The incorporation of written records into conservation planning typically involves documents with a biological focus from the modern and early modern periods (sixteenth century onward, and mainly the nineteenth and twentieth centuries). Extensive older pre-modern document-based archives are not traditionally used as conservation evidence. However, this data type can provide unique insights into past human–environment interactions, including biotic states and change, cultural interactions with nature, and human dimensions of social–ecological systems that involved rural communities closely dependent on biodiversity. Multicentury archives can also track the long-term consequences of human activities. Incorporation of pre-modern baselines into conservation is hindered by conceptual and logistical barriers, and increased interdisciplinary collaboration between environmental sciences and the humanities is needed to promote awareness and use of conservation-relevant insights.