Paper short abstract:

The rapid decline and disappearance of sacred groves compels us to be sensitive to their role in sustainable landscape management and recognise their historic role in promoting social fencing and biodiversity conservation among indigenous people.

Paper long abstract:

Sacred groves represent an important traditional and indigenous tradition of conserving specific land areas that have cultural, religious, and historical significance for communities and specifically indigenous groups (Scheduled Tribes) in India. There is considerable documentation emerging on the role that sacred forests and sacred groves can play in conserving the community forests, furthering social bonds, and the promotion conservation of nature (landscape, habitat, wildlife residing in the sacred grove, water sources and so on). My review of relevant literature and ethnographic research in the Indian Himalayas indicates how construction of temples and religious conversion of tribal communities has adversely impacted the fate of the existing sacred groves, which in several locales have also been associated with preserving critical community water resources. The rapid decline and disappearance of sacred groves compels us to be sensitive to their role in sustainable landscape management and recognize their contribution in biodiversity conservation measures.