Sacred Forests: Their Ecology and Diversity

Indigenous and local communities all across the globe have conserved thousands of sacred sites and sacred forests for millennia for spiritual, cultural, economic and aesthetic purposes. More recently when the species are getting extinct at faster rate all over the world, sacred forests have attracted the attention of biologists for their value in the conservation of biodiversity including rare, endemic and threatened plant and animal species and species of medicinal and economic importance. Besides biodiversity conservation, sacred forests play important role in the life of local communities by providing essential environmental services and economic benefits to them. This book, besides giving an overview of sacred forests in India, provides comprehensive synthesis of the results of researches carried out at NEHU on the sacred forests. It is a significant addition to our knowledge on the sacred forests, in particular about species composition, community characters, tree regeneration, litter and fine root dynamics, microbial and nutrient dynamics in soil system, and evaluates the impact of anthropogenic disturbances on the above characteristics of the sacred forests. The book also identifies factors threatening the existence of sacred forests in the country and suggests measures for their conservation. The research findings presented in the book further reinforces scientific reasons for conserving sacred forests. The book will inspire young researchers to carry out further studies on sacred forests covering socio-cultural and biological dimensions. The book will be of immense use to the forest ecologists, conservationists, foresters, NGOs, and local communities interested in the conservation of sacred forests in the country.