Mapping sacred sites for their protection
Oct 2011
‘Nature conservationists over the last decade have begun to recognize and document the potential of sacred natural sites for preserving biological diversity. Sacred sites in this context are natural or semi-natural areas protected in the name of spiritual or religious beliefs that also offer special advantages of community-based, long-term resource management.
‘While most studies about sacred natural sites have focused on traditional cultures and animistic beliefs, there is growing evidence that such sites located in Western, Judeo-Christian contexts also convey distinct conservation advantages.’
…says Claudia Rutte, a behavioural ecologist based in Switzerland, who in 2010, together with Shonil Bhagwat, an ecologist based at Oxford University, UK, started SANASI (Sacred Natural Sites), a database-project aiming to provide scientific data on sacred natural sites for research and policy making. The database is also publicly available via the website Mapping the Sacred.
SANASI soon gained the support of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) and the IUCN’s Specialist Group on Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas (see World tree news Sept 2003 and Oct 2010) because it is not just an academic exercise. It is a further strengthening element in the networking of indigenous custodians of sacred natural sites all over the world. ‘Sites’, by the way, does not only mean relatively small places but can just as well refer to a large forest or an extensive mountain side.
On 25 October 2011, SANASI held its first symposium in Zurich, bringing together scientists that have been engaged with various forms of research on sacred natural sites. The goal of this symposium was to assess the field’s state of knowledge, as well as to identify the most promising future research directions.
string: Protecting sacred natural sites worldwide, Sacred Site to be recognised term
