I believe what he said is the truth. Biodiversity is described by science in terms of the metals, rock, sand, water and so on, the things that the scientists themselves can explain. On the other hand, an indigenous person's explanation of the biodiversity of a river, sea, coral reef, island or waterfall has a fullness in that it also includes the biodiversity of a village, both in the world where humans live and in the world where spirits live. If we don't know how to respect the indigenous laws, the relation of the culture to the environment, man, and spirit which must be maintained at all times will be upset. If the relation is not maintained harmoniously, then things go wrong with biodiversity.
Indigenous people know a great deal about what is going wrong.
If we can link biodiversity to the spiritual aspect, things will change. In the past we saw spirits in every tree. But now, with Christianity coming in, things are changing. It was easy for we Solomon Islanders to accept Christianity because we believe that God lives everywhere. It was just that we had different names for such things in the past.