from UNESCO: Culture
Cultural Pluralism
http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=12321&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Conservation can be controversial. Why do we do what we do? A decision may appear more acceptable to one but less appealing to another. Understanding a culture perhaps could be one good way in first learning to comprehend and empathise the whys.

"People invent, refine and embellish their cultures through contact with and by borrowing from other cultures. Cultures are ways of living together".