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biodiversity in a landscape dominated by coffee plantations and rice cultivation (Bhagwat
et al. 2014). The groves range in size from less than 1 ha to over 100 ha and protect threatened
tree species like
Actinodaphne lawsonii
,
Hopea ponga
,
Madhuca neriifoli
, and
Syzygium zey-
lanicum
(Bhagwat et al. 2005). Outside of sacred groves, fossil pollen evidence shows a grad-
ual decline in tree cover over the past 1,000 years, associated with the presence of crop grains
and suggesting anthropogenic deforestation. Burning, soil erosion, and changes in monsoon
intensity are all implicated in forest decline (Bhagwat 2012). In contrast, inside the groves,
tree density has been slowly increasing for the past 400 years (Bhagwat et al. 2014). Passive
recovery by land abandonment and seed dispersal from nearby forests might have played a
role in the recovery of tree cover in sacred groves, but changes in land tenure were probably
important. About 400 years ago, the Vijayanagara Empire fell, and shifting agriculture was
replaced by more formal allocation of land use. Local chieftains demarcated parcels of land,
separated by deep trenches, which may have helped to physically separate the groves from
surrounding, more intensive land use, and would also have raised awareness of their status
and value, leading to enhanced social buy-in and contributed to 'cultural revitalisation'
(Bhagwat 2012). Erosion of religious and cultural values can threaten sacred groves: for exam-
ple, if landowners expand their plantations or plantation workers from elsewhere do not
share the same beliefs as local people. However, the relatively recent recovery of forest cover
in sacred groves suggests opportunities for revitalizing the sociocultural connections that are
central to conservation at the landscape scale (Bhagwat et al. 2014).
Sacred groves and forests can provide core conservation areas, enhance landscape connec-
tivity, and provide restoration benchmarks. For example, Ankodida in Madagascar is a
community-managed protected area, which builds on local motivations for conservation,
including its importance as the former home of a pre-colonial king and the spirits that are
believed to shelter there. It builds on local resource use rules and cultural values, including
locally agreed rules over the use of forest resources, the importance of sacred spaces for rituals,
respect for ancestors, and enforcement of taboos (
fady
) (Virah-Sawmy et al. 2014). Six commu-
nity associations run different territories within the reserve and the core area is governed by
representatives from all of the committees as well as other local stakeholders. The World Wide
Fund for Nature (WWF) are involved, but have the long-term goal of building capacity to the
extent that the reserve will be entirely locally run (Virah-Sawmy et al. 2014). Building on cul-
tural and spiritual values can provide a nexus for biodiversity conservation and sustainability
that that integrates local, national and international conservation aspirations, while adhering
to the good governance principles of legitimacy, inclusiveness, fairness, accountability, and
transparency (Graham et al. 2003, Lockwood 2010, Virah-Sawmy et al. 2014).
management
In order to understand and manage ecosystem services, we need to know how they have
responded to environmental change and human impacts in the past and how this might relate
to future environmental and economic scenarios (Figure6.7). This means viewing present
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