Sacred Natural Sites: Conserving Nature and Culture

337 Pages·2010·5.389 MB·English

by  Bas Verschuuren, Robert Wild, Jeffrey McNeely and Gonzalo Oviedo

Sacred Natural Sites
CONSERVING NATURE & CULTURE
EDITED BY
Bas Verschuuren • Robert Wild
Jeffrey A. McNeely • Gonzalo Oviedo
Sacred Natural Sites

Sacred Natural
Sites
Conserving Nature and Culture
Edited by Bas Verschuuren, Robert Wild, Jeffrey McNeely and Gonzalo Oviedo
First published by Earthscan in the UK and USA in 2010
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Copyright © International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources 2010
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ISBN: 978-1-84971-166-1 hardback
ISBN: 978-1-84971-167-8 paperback
Typeset by Composition and Design Services
Cover design by Andrew Corbett
Cover photos by Bas Verschuuren. Top image: Dressed Shinto statue and Buddha statue in the Sensoji (Buddhist) temple
forest garden in Asakusa,Tokyo. In Tokyo, temple forest gardens still exist despite the increasing market value of the land.The
Ginkgo Biloba tree (here shown in the background) is classified on IUCN's Red List ofThreatened Species as 'endangered'.
Ginkgo has been reintroduced into the wild from monastery gardens and some populations survived that were tended by
Chinese and Japanese monks.
Bottom image: Santa Maria Volcano (3772m), named Gagxanul in the local K'iche' language, is an active volcano in the
Western Highlands of Guatemala, close to the city of Quetzaltenango. A large area of the mountain has been declared
a protected area, which has helped to secure the cultural and spiritual use of this sacred natural site. Traditional Mayan
ceremonies are carried out on the mountain as well as many Catholic rituals that fuse with traditional Mayan spirituality.
The lead up to these ceremonies is a pilgrimage from the surrounding villages onto the mountain's summit.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sacred natural sites : conserving nature and culture/edited by BasVerschuuren .. [et al.].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84971-166-1 (hardback) - ISBN 978-1-84971-167-8 (pbk.) 1. Natural areas. 2. Protected areas. 3. Sacred
space. I.Verschuuren, Bas.
QH75.S2342010
333.95'16-dc22 2010015465
CONTENTS
List of Figures and Tables ix Chapter 5
The Enchanted Earth: Numinous
About the Authors xiii
Sacred Sites 53
Foreword by Julia Marton-Lefèvre,
Denis Byrne
IUCN Director General xix
Preface xxi Chapter 6
Arguments for Developing Biocultural
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations xxiii
Conservation Approaches for Sacred
Glossary xxv Natural Sites 62
Bas Verschuuren
Chapter 1
Introduction: Sacred Natural Sites
SECTION TWO
the Foundations of Conservation 1
Sacred Natural Sites:
Bas Verschuuren, Robert Wild,
Mutual Learning, Analysis,
Jeffrey McNeely and Gonzalo Oviedo
Planning and Management 73
SECTION ONE
Chapter 7
Towards the Science and Spirituality
Nature Saint and Holy Island,
of Sacred Natural Sites 15
Ancient Values in a Modern Economy:
The Enduring Influence of St Cuthbert
Chapter 2
and Lindisfarne, United Kingdom 77
Conservation of Biodiversity in Sacred
Robert Wild
Natural Sites in Asia and Africa:
A Review of the Scientific Literature 19
Chapter 8
Nigel Dudley, Shonil Bhagwat,
Tourism Meets the Sacred:
Liza Higgins-Zogib, Barbara Lassen,
Khumbu Sherpa Place-based
Bas Verschuuren and Robert Wild
Spiritual Values in Sagarmatha
(Mount Everest) National Park
Chapter 3
and Buffer Zone, Nepal 87
Sacred Mountains and Global Changes:
Jeremy Spoon
Impacts and Responses 33
Edwin Bernbaum
Chapter 9
The Road to the Future? The
Chapter 4
Biocultural Values of the Holy
Falling between the ‘Cracks’ of
Hill Forests of Yunnan Province,
Conservation and Religion: The Role
China 98
of Stewardship for Sacred Trees
Pei Shengji
and Groves 42
Edmund G.C. Barrow
vi Sacred Natural Sites
Chapter 10 Chapter 17
Uncovering the Intangible Values Wetland Cultural and Spiritual Values,
of Earth Care: Using Cognition to and the Ramsar Convention 180
Reveal the Eco-spiritual Domains Thymio Papayannis and Dave Pritchard
and Sacred Values of the Peoples
Chapter 18
of Eastern Kham 107
Sacred Natural Sites, Biodiversity and
John Studley
Well-being: The Role of Sacred Sites
Chapter 11 in Endogenous Development in the
Ancestral Beliefs and Conservation: COMPAS Network 188
The Case of Sacred Sites in Bandjoun, Freddy Delgado, Cesar Escobar,
West Cameroon 119 Bas Verschuuren and Wim Hiemstra
Sébastien Luc Kamga-Kamdem
Chapter 19
Chapter 12 Sacred Natural Sites in Technologically
The Crocodile is our Brother: Sacred Developed Countries: Reflections from
Lakes of the Niger Delta, Implications the Experience of the Delos Initiative 198
for Conservation Management 129 Josep-Maria Mallarach and Thymio
E.D. Anwana, R.A. Cheke, A.M. Martin, Papayannis
L. Obireke, M. Asei, P. Otufu and
Chapter 20
D. Otobotekere
Developing a Methodology and Tools
for Inventorying Sacred Natural Sites
Chapter 13
of Indigenous Peoples in Mexico 209
How African-based Winti Belief Helps
Mercedes Otegui-Acha, Gonzalo Oviedo,
to Protect Forests in Suriname 139
Guillermo Barroso, Martín Gutiérrez,
Tinde van Andel
Jaime Santiago, Bas Verschuuren
Chapter 14
Chapter 21
Seeking and Securing Sacred
Culture-based Conservation of Sacred
Natural Sites among Jamaica’s
Groves: Experiences from the North
Windward Maroons 146
Western Ghats, India 219
Kimberly John, Collin L.G. Harris and
Archana Godbole, Jayant Sarnaik and
Susan Otuokon
Sameer Punde
SECTION THREE
SECTION FOUR
Sacred Natural Sites: International
In Our Own Hands: Living Culture and
Recognition, Global Governance
Equity at Sacred Natural Sites 229
and Field Action 157
Chapter 22
Chapter 15 Community-based Ecotourism at
Sacred Natural Sites, Cultural Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary,
Landscapes and UNESCO’s Action 161 a Sacred Natural Site in Ghana 233
Thomas Schaaf and Mechtild Rossler Alison Ormsby and Craig Edelman
Chapter 16 Chapter 23
Synergies and Challenges for Legal Sacred Valley, Conservation Management
Protection of Sacred Natural Sites and Indigenous Survival: Uch Enmek
in the South Pacific 170 Indigenous Nature Park, Altai Republic,
Erika J. Techera Russia 244
Joanna Dobson and Danil Mamyev
CONTENTS vii
Chapter 24 Chapter 27
Towards a Sustainable Management Conclusions: Sustaining Sacred Natural
and Enhanced Protection of Sacred Sites to Conserve Nature and Culture 280
Marine Areas at Palawan’s Coron Robert Wild, Bas Verschuuren and
Island Ancestral Domain, Philippines 254 Jeffrey McNeely
Arlene G. Sampang
Annex 1
Chapter 25 A Statement of Custodians of Sacred
Culture, Conservation and Co-management: Natural Sites and Territories 292
Strengthening Soliga Stake in Biodiversity
Conservation in Biligiri Rangaswamy Annex 2
Temple Wildlife Sanctuary, India 263 A Preliminary Strategy and Action Plan
Sushmita Mandal, Nitin D. Rai and for the Conservation of Sacred
C. Madegowda Natural Sites 297
WCPA Specialist Group on the Cultural
Chapter 26 and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas
The Devi as Ecofeminist Warrior:
Reclaiming the Role of Sacred Natural Index 300
Sites in East-Central India 272
Radhika Borde and Alana Jules Jackman

List of Figures, Tables and
Boxes
Figures 3.1 Pilgrimage to Ausangate Glacier 36
3.2 St. Catherine’s Monastery at foot
0.1 Indigenous Ranger Marlangaj
of Mount Sinai 39
Yunupingu presents Julia Marton-
4.1 The Fever Tree 44
Lefèvre with a Yidaki at the launch of
4.2 Tree planting ceremony near
the Sacred Natural Sites Guidelines
Badrinath, India 48
at the IUCN World Conservation
5.1 Pre-Christen sacred ‘well’ and
Congress, Barcelona 2008 xx
pilgrimage destination in
1.1 Karamat of Shaykh Hohamed Hassen
Westerhoven,
Ghaibie Shah al-Qadiri at Lion’s Head,
Southern Netherlands 54
Signal Hill within Table Mountain
5.2 A spirit (phi) shrine at Chiang Saen,
National Park (Cape Town is ringed
northern Thailand 56
by a Holy Circle of Islamic Shrines) 3
6.1 The ruins of Tikal are situated in
1.2 The goddess Jomo Miyo Lang Samba
the World Heritage Site and national
from Pangbuche Monastery who
park ‘Peten’ in Guatemala 64
lives on Mount Everest 4
6.2 Galapagos, Stained glass window
1.3 The ‘Tagyl’ is a stone ritual altar used
celebrating Galapaganian diversity
for group prayer meetings held twice
from the Church of St Francis,
a year at the beginning of the summer
Puerto Ayora, Galapagos World
‘green leaves’ and in the autumn,
Heritage Site 66
‘yellow leaves’ 6
II.1 The mountain (5761m) is home to
1.4 Framework for the conservation of
the protector deity Khumbu-Yul-Lha
sacred natural sites 8
and is flanked by Tengbuche
1.5 World map and legend linking the
Monastery in Nepal 75
approximate location of sacred natural
7.1 Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve
sites to the chapters in this book 10
I.1 Mt Kailas in the Himalayas is sacred with Holy Island at centre 79
to millions of Buddhists, Hindus and 7.2 Political divisions of northern Britain
Bonn shamans 17 indicative of St Cuthbert’s era 80
2.1 The Chewa Graveyard Forests of 7.3 St Mary’s Church on the site of St.
Malawi are often the only remaining Aidan’s Church next to the ruins of
woody vegetation in an otherwise the abbey also showing the edge
cleared landscape 20 of the village 82
2.2 Elders of Kaya Kinondo (one of 11 7.4 Pilgrims crossing the sandflats
biodiverse sacred forests recognized of the Pilgrims Way 84
as outstanding universal value as the 8.1 Map of Sagarmatha (Mount Everest)
Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests National Park and Buffer Zone
World Heritage Site) 24 (Khumbu and Pharak) 88