Terralingua is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization under U.S. tax law (#38–3291259) and a registered non-profit society in Canada based on Salt Spring Island in Vancouver, British Columbia whose mission is to support the integrated protection, maintenance and restoration of the biocultural diversity of life. Created in 1996, Terralingua's founders Luisa Maffi and Dave Harmon pioneered the concept and field of Biocultural Diversity, building on emergent ideas about the links between biological and cultural diversity.