Sacred Groves: Traditional Way Of Conserving Biodiversity

Since time immemorial humans have been worshipping the nature and conserving biodiversity, and as its part certain areas of nature’s landscape incorporating biodiversity have been left undisturbed and protected as sacred living temples. The conservation of environment and protection of life supporting systems are deeply embedded in Indian culture and tradition. Sacred groves are tracts of virgin forest with rich diversity which have been protected by local people for centuries for their cultural and religious beliefs and taboos that deities reside in them and protect the villagers from different calamities. Each sacred grove carries its own legends, lore and myths which form the integral part of the sacred grove. An inextricable link between present society and past in terms of biodiversity, culture, religious and ethnic heritage exists in sacred groves. However with the passage of time and the change in the socio-economic aspect, considerable changes have taken place in the extent of sacred groves, in their vegetation structure, people perception towards them and the religious beliefs and taboos. Therefore a understanding of the current status, structure and function of sacred grove is essential for assessing their ecological role and formulating strategies for their conservation. This paper briefly reviews the studies on sacred groves in India in particular highlighting that the tradition of sacred groves could provide a powerful tool for ensuring biodiversity conservation through community awareness and participation.

Introduction

India is one of the world’s top 12 megadiversity countries with rich variety of biological community types that includes coral reefs and alpine meadows, rain forests and desert scrub. Many traditional societies all over the world value a large number of plant species from the wild for a variety of reasons, for food, fibre, shelter or medicine. The practice of nature conservation is a very ancient tradition. The people of Garhwal Himalaya have a rich tradition of nature conservation through socio-religious constraints on profligate use of common property resources. The ancient ethics changed by rejection and replacement of traditional practices under the influence of western cultures and by the advent of modern industry. Sacred groves are one of the first instances of traditional conservation. Increasing threats to biodiversity loss, demands new conservation approaches enabling fair share of the wider values of conservation to the local communities and positive local attitudes towards conservation goals. Nature worship has been a key force of shaping the human attitudes towards conservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources. Such traditional practices have been invariably operating in different parts of India.

Sacred groves are the repositories of rare and endemic species and can be regarded as the remnant of the primary forest left untouched by the local inhabitants and protected then due to the belief that the deities reside in these forests. Many people have described sacred groves in different ways. However, there is an evident fact that wherever sacred groves existed, indigenous traditional societies have spiritual relationships with the existing physical environment sustained them. The role of sacred groves in the conservation of biodiversity has long been recognized. Religious beliefs, traditions and customs of Indians bear an allegiance in restricting the exhaustive use of natural resources.

Background

Sacred groves can be defined as undisturbed patches of vegetation on the outskirts of villages and towns or in the plains or a part of forested areas that are dedicated to local folk deities or ancestral spirits. They are fine examples of in-situ conservation. They vary in size between 05 – 500 hectares. Hunting, logging and other developmental activities are strictly prohibited within the sacred groves. Besides, the sacred groves serve to maintain the precious age old religious and cultural practices, beliefs and customs that might otherwise have been lost in this era of globalization and mass culture. Types of sacred groves Sacred groves may be classified into five categories as mentioned below:

• Local village sacred groves, which are managed by the entire village, although the village may be composed of several tribal communities and ethnic groups.
• Regional sacred groves, which are managed by a temple trust, and which are visited by people from several districts (e.g. Sabarimala sacred grove at Kanjikkuzhi, Alappuzha district Kerala).
• Pan-Indian sacred groves, which are large and are managed by a temple trust, where people from many parts of the country visit and worship the deity, (e.g. Garhwal Himalayas).
• Sacred groves as the abode of ancestral spirits, which are both a burial ground and location of deity and ancestor worship.

Ecological Significance of sacred groves

Being a unique unit in the rural landscape, the sacred grove performs several ecological functions, which can directly or indirectly help in the maintenance of ecosystem health of all interacting landscape units. According to Rajendraprasad (1995), sacred groves with their complex array of interaction, influence the flora and fauna of the region as well as the microclimate of that locality. The soils of sacred groves show high porosity and low bulk density compared to the soils of the vicinity. The thick litter cover and channels created by soil macro fauna together enhances water retention, root system development, gaseous exchange, and heat conductance. The role of sacred groves as micro watersheds has been recognized by several workers. According to Rajendraprasad (1995), most of the sacred groves in Kerala are associated with freshwater ecosystem, and to certain extent, these water bodies meet the water needs of the local communities. The vegetative cover of the sacred groves improves the soil stability of the area and also prevent soil erosion.

Environmental Importance of Sacred Groves

The luxuriant vegetation of the groves spreads at different levels capturing maximum sunlight and leading to the optimum level of biomass accumulations, thereby keeping the carbon dioxide and oxygen balance stable. The dense canopy release large quantities of water vapors through transpiration resulting in a cool climate in the surrounding areas. The thick vegetation with its different layers also reduce the raindrop impact, and thereby, the rainwater reaches the soil system very slowly. Because of the high humus over the soil system, the water gradually penetrates to the ground and stored as ground water in underground aqua ducts, ponds or wells associated with the groves, thus facilitating the harvesting and distribution of water to the adjoining area. The organic matter consisting of dry leaves, stems etc. accumulated on the ground are degraded by soil organisms which permeates into the nearby agricultural land and enhance the soil fertility. In addition, as the kavus are the nesting place of the many birds, their droppings, which are rich in phosphorus enrich the nearby phosphorus deficient soil. Kavus also act as centres of biological control in agriculture due to the existence of complicated food web, regulated by balanced predator-prey organisms such as snake-rat, owlrat, insects, etc. This, in turn, helps to increase the production in agriculture. Kavus are also abode of many pollinating agents like insects, bees, birds etc. of many economically important plants of the region. As sanctum sanctorum of many rare endemic and endangered plants, these hold gene pool of many wild relatives of cultivars offering genetic materials for crop improvement programmes. These are also a source of many medicinal plants used by local health practitioners. Sacred groves located in urban areas help in mitigating air pollution by controlling free movement of dust and other air pollutants.

Threats to Sacred Groves

In many parts of the country, during the past three decades, sacred groves have started deterioration both in terms of cultural and biological integrity, though the nature and extent of threats and pressures are often regional and even grove-specific. The change in the socio-economic aspect is one of the major threats to the existence of sacred groves in Kerala. The magnitude of these threats varies from region to region as well as from one type of grove to another. The major threats to sacred groves can be grouped under the following heads.

1. Commercial Forestry: Over the past two centuries, the local people have lost their customary rights of forest management in many parts of the country, due to government regulations. Hence, many sacred groves have been destroyed due to commercial forestry operations.
2. Development Projects: Some of the sacred groves that fell under government vested lands were destroyed when townships grew. Railroads and highways have also taken their toll of many sacred groves, and some of them have been inundated by big dam projects. Thus increase in the demand for land has also resulted in encroachments in the groves. Such activities have resulted in shrinkage of some of the largest kavus in Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Kannur districts.
3. Sanskritization: In many places, local folk deities have been replaced with Hindu Gods and Goddesses. This has resulted in the erection of temples in the sacred groves leading to their fragmentation and destruction.
4. Pilgrimage and Tourism: The integrity of many groves with regional or pan-Indian character has suffered deterioration due to the influx of large number of pilgrims and tourists.
5. Removal of Biomass: In many sacred groves, anthropogenic activities like removal of biomass, firewood and cattle grazing was permitted and continuation of these practices over generations has resulted in the dwindling of the groves and adversely affecting the functioning of these ecosystems.
6. Encroachment: Since the location of these virgin ecosystems are in the midst of highly populated areas many instances have been reported, where the groves have been encroached by local communities as well as by people migrating from outside for settlements and agriculture.
7. Fragmentation: Many of the sacred groves have been fragmented by roadways, extension of power lines, reclamation of land for agriculture, and illegal encroachment may lead to fragmentation of the grove and consequently loss of biodiversity and disruption of ecological functions.
8. Socio-cultural causes: Religion had an overwhelming influence on the preservation of forest patches as sacred groves, in addition to the ecological and economic values attributed to them, a notable feature of Indian culture is the continuation of many prehistoric religious practices, despite the growth of dogmatic religions along with them. A cultural transformation and changing worldview of nature among the people of the Western Ghats are among the causes for the decline of the sacred groves.
9. Cutting of trees and Ecotourism: Promotion Cutting of trees for temple renovation and construction inside the grove is another major threat to the groves. Recently, ecotourism without proper management in the large sacred groves of Kerala has adversely affected the existence of flora and fauna.
10. Natural calamities: Natural causes that are a constant threat to the groves include destruction of vegetation due to calamities such as lightning, floods, and windblasts etc. These accelerate the encroachment of exotic weeds and suppress the growth of original flora of the groves. The lianas such as Acacia insigna and Mikania sp. grow above the upper canopy of the trees and prevent light from reaching canopy, and thereby arresting the growth of the trees.

Recommendations

The rapid march of modernization over the past century has depleted India’s sacred groves and altered the traditional social systems that have protected them. For providing necessary protection to the SGs and maintain their natural identity and sanctity it is imperative that cooperation of the people is extended. The surrounding village communities need to be educated and guided for sustaining the sanctity of existing grove and strengthening them. Legislation by the state government against cutting of such important trees need to be in place as is existing against cutting of khair (Acacia catechu) in state of Himachal Pradesh, where severe punishment is awarded for violation of the directions. Several other steps to conserve Sacred Groves are:

1. Capacity building of woman regarding importance of SGs land planting by forest department for immediate multiplication of such plants for release in different villages.
2. Appointing contact persons in villages on monthly basis if not on regular basis as in case of water carriers in school for maintenance of identified SGs specially near village and place of worship.
3. Involvement of school children for creating awareness and augmentation of SGs.
4. Regular visits by forest staff for guidance and maintenance of SGs.
5. Scientific management of water bodies around SGs.

Conclusions

The sacred groves can be justly described as the “lungs” of the country. The sacred groves are inextricably linked with the cultural and economic life of the local communities. The age old cultural and religious traditions of various groups of people have helped to preserve and protect these hotspots of biodiversity and ensure that they do not fall prey to the insatiable demands of industrialization, urbanization and the need to create infrastructure. The sacred groves, on their part, have fulfilled their role by sustaining the economic, medicinal and religious needs of the local communities who depend upon them. They abound in rich biodiversity and are home to various rare and endangered plant and animal species that have great medicinal value. These green oases of trees, shrubs, herbs and climbers play a vital role in maintaining the ecosystem and ecological balance. Many species that have become extinct in other parts of the country are well preserved in these groves. These areas also provide natural habitat, water, and nesting sites for many species of wildlife and birds. They also act as a gene bank of various plants and animals, thus ensuring that these species do not become extinct. In short, one may conclude that these groves are a vital part of the life support system of our planet, since they ensure that we get clean air to breathe, wholesome food and medicinal supplies and clean water to drink not only for human beings but also for the innumerable species that abound on this earth.