The way to conservation……

Our need of food, water, clothes, medicines, houses, even our modern equipments all of them, have their origin in nature. There is no doubt that in past few years we have over utilized our natural wealth; in fact we have exploited the nature without thinking about our future. And we are facing the consequences for all our wrong doings – for instance the prices of petrol, diesel, food items, and things as such have raised so high making it difficult for a common man to survive. Conservation of our natural resources has become a critical issue as far as survival of all living world is concern. Many countries (almost all of them) have taken legal steps in protecting the natural wealth. Even in India we have very strict rules and regulations.

In ancient India when there was nothing called as ‘Ministry of Law and Justice’ this natural wealth was preserved through strict rules (sometimes strange beliefs). Almost every village had a sacrosanct patch of forest dedicated to a deity, which was left untouched by villagers. Even today, these forests are protected by religious sentiments of the people and are found throughout India. Although the degree of sanctity of the sacred forests varies from one grove to another, ex. the Garo and the Khasi tribes of northeastern India completely prohibit any human interference in the sacred groves. Even dry foliage and fallen fruits are left untouched. Where as, the Gonds of central India prohibit the cutting of a tree but allow fallen parts to be used. This fact is now well recognized by the ministry of Environment and Forest, which has already documented Sacred Groves (S.G.) all over the country which possibly hold some of the last treasures of biodiversity.

Sacred groves are broadly divided in to three types – 1. Traditional Sacred Groves – these do not have a properly built temple. The deity could be represented by any kind of symbol such as stones, tree etc. 2. Temple Groves - Which have a properly built temple, 3. Groves around the burial or cremation grounds.

SGs act as a gene pool. i.e. The sacred groves are important repositories of floral and faunal diversity that have been conserved by local communities in a sustainable manner. They are often the last refuge of endemic species in the geographical region. The groves are often associated with ponds, streams or springs, which help meet the water requirements of the local people. The vegetative cover also helps in the recharging the aquifers. The vegetation cover of the sacred groves improves the soil stability of the area and also prevents soil erosion. So, basically when you conserve a sacred grove you are conserving biodiversity, helping aquifers to recharge and conserving soil.

These sacred groves still exists in almost all states of India. The maximum number of SGs are present in Himachal Pradesh (nearly 5000) and the minimum are in Uttarakhand (around 22). Kerala has around 2000 of them. Sacred groves are called by varied local names according to the states. In Maharashtra, it is called as Devrai, Jharkhand – Sarana, Kerala - Sara kavu, Tamil Nadu - Koilkadu etc. But, all of them are not preserved properly rather many of them are on the verge of getting vanished. There are several threats to them. Such as, disappearance of the traditional belief systems; rapid urbanization and developmental interventions, invasion by exotic weeds; pressures due to increasing livestock and fuelwood collection. Many groves are suffering due to ‘Sanskritisation’ or the transformation of the primitive forms of nature worship into formal temple worship.

While pursuing my M.Sc. Botany from Mumbai University, I did a project on a SG which is in Lanja Taluka, Ratnagiri dist, - my native place in Maharashtra. This Sacred Grove is facing all the threats that are mentioned above but still ‘existing’; there are certain plants that are only found in this area and nowhere in rest of the village. The local ‘Grampanchayat’ has put a ban on cutting of these trees from last two years and there is a hope for better future. Later I had been to a SG in Kudawale village of Chiplun Taluka, Maharashtra. This remarkable SG holds a magnificent variety of flora with the locals protecting it. Although there are less religious sentiments attached to this SG, they have understood the importance of it in sustaining their life... the sacred grove holds a perennial water stream and villagers get potable water supply throughout the year. As an education officer with WWF-India, I arranged a camp to the Konkan region in the past year.  It was during our Konkan camp, we came across a person who owns a patch of land which also holds the sacred grove. What pleased us was that he is preserving the grove as it is, instead of just cutting it and planting some cash crops. On his land one can experience the pristine forest even though it is surrounded by agricultural land.

You may agree that, it really doesn’t matter which profession you belong to you can help in conservation even though you are staying in the city. Remember, when you don’t waste paper, water, also when you switch off non-essential lights and electronic equipments you are taking your small steps in conserving the nature. One just has to respect the nature and use all the resources carefully. Ultimately it depends a lot upon us whether to conserve the natural wealth or just go on using the resources until we finish them all.

More readings:
 http://www.sahyadrica.com/2012/09/barefoot-in-kurne.html