Conserving biodiversity through traditional beliefs in sacred groves in Uttarakhand Himalaya, India

Abstract

India's biodiversity encompasses a wide spectrum of habitats that include tropical rainforests, alpine vegetation, temperate forests, and coastal wetlands. Traditional societies have paid a great deal of attention to the study of nature conservation. Although Himalaya accounts for 18% of the total area in India, it covers more than 31.05% of India's forest cover and 40% of the species endemic to the Indian Sub-continent. Many mountain societies hence maintained a holistic view of the socio-ecological system. An expression of this relationship is represented in the form of sacred landscape which is a concept identified by many traditional societies and often protected by cultural and religious values. Many protected areas contain sites of importance to one or more faiths. These include both sacred natural sites and built monuments (such as monasteries, temples, shrines, and pilgrimage trails). Enforcement in these protected areas has created a lot of conflicts between the local people and protected area managers, due to the restrictions enforced by these managers against the traditional usufruct rights of the local people. These conflicts tend to act as major hurdles to achieving biodiversity conservation. Conservation of biological resources through religion and belief has a long history in Garhwal Himalaya. This article aims to document the different ethics enshrined within the Hindu community that have an inherent role in the conservation of biodiversity in Uttarakhand Himalaya.