What is true of the natural and biological heritage is also the case with cultural diversity: efforts to conserve national languages, rites and traditions are swept along by the rising tide of globalization. But at the same time fashions come and go, buildings rise out of the ground, theories are constructed, new techniques result in hitherto unknown lifestyles. The cultural patchwork is like a shifting kaleidoscope. Of course this does not prevent losses from seeming to accelerate more rapidly than new creations, so that laws have become necessary to put a brake on these destructive developments.