Evaluating the effectiveness of vegetation conservation on a sacred mountain in western China

Sacred natural sites, as probably the oldest form of habitat reserve for religious or cultural causes worldwide, are suggested to have an important role in conserving vegetation; however, there are insufficient data supporting the detailed implications of such sites for vegetation conservation. Thus, we evaluated the effectiveness of vegetation conservation on a Tibetan sacred mountain in Yajiang County, Sichuan, China, by investigating species richness and the structural attributes of higher vascular plant communities on and around the sacred mountain from April to June 2009. The results showed that the number of tree species on the sacred mountain was significantly higher than that in the surrounding area, but there were no notable differences in the numbers of shrub and grass species between the two sites. The sacred mountain harbored a greater number of small, short trees compared with the surrounding area, wherein the low-shrub and grass understory was relatively dense. We conclude that the sacred mountain has a positive impact on indigenous vegetation protection, but disparities in the management of the allowed uses of such sites could reduce their conservation effectiveness.

Participatory Conservation of Sacred Natural Sites: A Study of Haritha Poonkavanam Project of Sabarimala, Kerala, India

Biodiversity and the environment are inextricably linked to human cultural diversity. Traditional cultures have frequently preserved or kept untouched portions of their natural surroundings. Most of these civilizations regard some locations as holy, prohibiting most or all human activities. As evidenced by the sacred mountain environment and sacred vegetation, traditional culture plays an important role in biodiversity conservation. Sacred forests are part of a long-standing practise of protecting certain geographical regions with cultural and religious importance. A number of studies have shown that sacred forests are significant refuges for biological variety, particularly medicinal plants, amid highly anthropogenic environments, in addition to their cultural value. While sacred natural sites have been effective conservation sites in the past, there are various dangers to these ecosystems now, ranging from demands for the use of timber and other forest products to agricultural clearance and general changes in cultural practises as well pilgrimage to these sacred areas. The significance of natural sacred sites, particularly sacred groves, is gaining attention in international conservation organisations such as UNESCO and the IUCN, and has significant implications for the implementation of Article 8j of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which emphasises the utilisation of traditional knowledge and practises for conservation and long-term usage. Keywords: Sacred natural sites, Cultural diversity, Biological diversity, Vana Samrakshana Samithi.

Himalaje Sikkimu własnością ludu Lepcza

Lepchas are an indigenous people inhabiting the foothills of the eastern Himalaya. Their myths and narratives provide evidence that they belong to this land, and had not migrated from any other region. Presently the Lepchas reside in remote Himalayan valleys, where they were gradually driven by successive waves of immigrants from Tibet, Nepal and West Bengal. Lepchas are intrinsically devoted to nature. The rivers, lakes, rocks, forests and all animals seem to be sacred to them. They worship the Himalayan peaks towering over their villages. Every clan has his own sacred mountain and lake. The most important goddess is the mighty eight-thousander peak of Kangchenjunga that is clearly visible from every Lepcha village. Lepchas believe that their ancestors were created from the snows of the Kangchenjunga. Now, they are living together with gods in the Mayel Lyang — the mythical paradise hidden somewhere on the slopes of the mountain, inaccessible for mortal beings. Over the generations, the Lepchas have accumulated an extraordinary amount of knowledge about the climate, meteorological phenomena, geography of the region, and agriculture on steep slopes. These people fulfil their needs with natural resources as well as the help of hard work, and have great care for nature. Lepchas know all the animals and wildly growing plants there, and their rich language has names for even the smallest of them. The most impressive is their adaptation to life in extremely difficult geographic and climatic conditions with the constant risk of earthquakes, floods and landslides caused by heavy rainfalls of the monsoon season. Their farms are small and modest, but well adapted to those threats. Family and clan ties are very strong. They help each other with houses construction, sickness care, and agricultural harvest. Lepchas do not care for material goods and despite extremely difficult conditions they are happy and content with their life. Their attitude towards life may be an inspiration for us, inhabitants of the “first world”, addicted to consumerism and materialistic values.

Sacred Mountain, Landscape, and Afterlife

This chapter examines the imagining of the dual “countries” of Tsugaru and Imperial Japan in Tsuruya Ariyo's poetry and prose about the sacred Mount Iwaki and the gods who preside over the peaks. It presents Ariyo's emphasis on the reality of the spirit realm by citing a case of a local samurai facing divine abduction while on the mountain. The chapter introduces Ariyo's Enjoyment Visible and Invisible in which he validated Hirata Atsutane's view that souls of the deceased were active and served “Imperial deity” Ōkuninushi in the spirit realm. It also emphasizes enjoyment as the key to living a meaningful life extending from this world to the afterlife, while his norito reflects his reverence for gods and ancestors. Ultimately, the chapter investigates the impact of Ariyo and Hirao Rosen's works about spirits and the spirit realm on more politically urgent matters in the late-Tokugawa to Restoration years.

The ‘Citadel of Campania’: Growth and Prosperity

This chapter examines Monte Cassino’s long-standing reputation as a sacred mountain. It asks how the abbey conditioned, reinforced, and engendered its place in the history of the Western religious tradition. Its physical location and environment are critical to understanding its history of settlement and inhabitation, time and again, after repeated episodes of destruction and exile. But how exactly did the abbey achieve this sacralised status? And what historical conditions contributed to Monte Cassino’s growth and prosperity beyond a localised influence? As argued throughout this chapter, the abbey’s spiritual and historical allure are defining features of its past, demonstrating formative qualities for understanding the abbey’s identity and sense of its own history, culture, and tradition.

The Sacred Landscape of the Northern Selcups: The Losyl-Lakka Sanctuary on Lozyl-to Lake

The article is devoted to the most famous ancient sanctuary of the northern Selkups – Shaman Mountain Lozyl-lakka on Lozyl-to Lake. The purpose of the study is to combine the information available about it in the scientific literature and in the author's field archive and to find out what this object of the sacred landscape is. The research methods were description, semantic analysis and fieldwork. The result of the study was the conclusion that Lozyl-lakka is a family sanctuary, where sacrifices were made to the spirits-masters of the ancestral fishing grounds, on which the success of members of the clan in the trade "depended". The memory of the sanctuary has survived to this day due to its location in a remarkable natural place. It was also found that the sacred mountain serves as an indicator of the state of the modern ethnic identity of the Selkups. It is characterized by the preservation of faith in spirits and strict adherence to a number of traditions that this belief dictates, therefore, the process of transformation of traditional culture into new modern forms among the Selkups, which is ongoing among the northern peoples today, is hampered by the vitality of some elements of this very traditional culture. A separate comprehensive study of the Lozyl-Lakka sanctuary, including the standpoint of the attitude of modern Selkups, constitutes the scientific novelty of the study. The publication of summary data on the sanctuary preserves it as part of the cultural heritage for future generations of Selkups and replenishes the data bank of ethnographic science.