Sacred groves: a traditional way of conserving plant diversity in West Midnapore District, West Bengal, India
Main Article Content
Abstract
Sacred groves are forest patches conserved by the local people interwined with their socio-cultural and religious practices. An extricable link between the past and present society in terms of religion, socio-culture, heritage and biodiversity exists in the sacred groves. It is distributed globally where ethnic indigenous communities live. Several animals and plants that are threatened in forests are still abundant and well conserved in such sacred groves. The taboos, religious belief and sacredness play a significant role in promoting sustainable utilization and conservation. In this regard, the study of a sacred grove in the district of West Midnapore in West Bengal highlighting the tradition may provide a powerful tool for ensuring biodiversity conservation through community participation.
Article Details
Authors own the copyright to the articles published in JoTT. This is indicated explicitly in each publication. The authors grant permission to the publisher Wildlife Information Liaison Development (WILD) Society to publish the article in the Journal of Threatened Taxa. The authors recognize WILD as the original publisher, and to sell hard copies of the Journal and article to any buyer. JoTT is registered under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY), which allows authors to retain copyright ownership. Under this license the authors allow anyone to download, cite, use the data, modify, reprint, copy and distribute provided the authors and source of publication are credited through appropriate citations (e.g., Son et al. (2016). Bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera) of the southeastern Truong Son Mountains, Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Journal of Threatened Taxa 8(7): 8953–8969. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2785.8.7.8953-8969). Users of the data do not require specific permission from the authors or the publisher.
References
Anderson, T. (1862). Catalogue of plants indigenous in the neighbourhood of Calcutta with directions for examination and preservation of plants. Calcutta, India.
Anonymous (2010). Medicinal plant resources of south West Bengal, Vol.-2, Research Wing, Directorate of Forests, Government of West Bengal, Kolkata, 124pp.
Berkes, F., J. Colding & C. Folke (2000). Rediscovery of traditional ecological knowledge as adaptive management. Ecological applications 10(5): 1251–1262.
Brummit, R.K. & C.E. Powell (1992). Authors of plant names. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 732pp.
Butler, C. & W. Oluoch-Kosura (2006). Linking future ecosystem services and future human well-being. Ecology and Society 11(1): 1–30.
Cunningham, A.B. (2001). Applied Ethnobotany: People, Wild Plant use and Conservation. Earthscan Publications Ltd., London, 320pp.
Datta, S.C. & N.C. Majumdar (1966). Flora of Calcutta and vicinity. Bulletin of Botanical Society of Bengal 20: 16–120.
Devi, K.A. (2004). Studies on Plant Diversity and Regeneration of A Few Tree Species in the Sacred Groves of Manipur. Unpublished PhD thesis, North Eastern Hill University, India.
Gadgil, M. & V.D. Vartak (1975). Sacred groves of India - a plea for continued conservation. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 72: 314–321.
Ghosh, A. (1997). Paschimbanglar udvid (Vol. 1). Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, 319pp.
Ghosh, A. (1998). Paschimbanglar udvid (Vol. 2). Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, 373pp.
Ghosh, A. (2001). Paschimbanglar udvid (Vol. 3). Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, 399pp.
Ghosh, A. (2005). Paschimbanglar udvid (Vol. 4). Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, 409pp.
Ghosh, A., C. Ghara & S. Murmu (2008). Paschimbanglar udvid (Vol. 5). Botanical Survey of India, Kolkata, 472pp.
Gnanasekaran, G., P. Nehru & D. Narasimhan (2012). Angiosperms of Sendirakillai sacred grove (SSG), Cuddalore District, Tamil Nadu, India. Check List 8(1): 113–129.
Hooker, J.D. (1872–1897). The Flora of British India. Vol. I-VII. Reeve and Co., London.
IUCN (2018). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2018-2. . (Downloaded on 4 February 2019).
Jain, S.K. & R.R. Rao (1977). A Handbook of Field and Herbarium Methods. Today and Tomorrow’s Printers and Publishers, New Delhi.
Karthik, S., M. Subramanian, S. Ravikumar & R. Dhamotharan (2016). Medicinal plants and their uses: a study of twelve sacred groves in cuddalore and villupuram districts, Tamil Nadu, India. International Journal of Educational Research 2(5): 95–102.
Khan, M.L., A.D. Khumbongmayum & R.S. Tripathi (2008). The sacred groves and their significance in conserving biodiversity: an overview. International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences 34(3): 277–291.
Kirtikar, K.R. & B.D. Basu (1935). Indian Medicinal Plants (Vols. 1–4). Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun.
Maji, S. & J.K. Sikdar (1983). Sedges and grasses of Midnapore District, West Bengal. Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 4(1): 233–254.
Mitra, J.N. (1958). Flowering Plants of Eastern India (Vol. I), Monocotyledons. The World Press Private Ltd., Calcutta, India.
Ormsby, A.A. (2011). The impacts of global and national policy on the management and conservation of sacred groves of India. Human Ecology 39(6): 783–793.
Pakrashi, S.C. & Mukhopadhya, S. (Eds.) (2004). Medicinal and aromatic plants of red laterite region of West Bengal (Bankura, Medinipore and Purulia), West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology, Kolkata, 508pp.
Paria, N. (ed.) (2005). Medicinal plant resources of south West Bengal (Vol. 1), Research Wing, Directorate of Forests in collaboration with Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal, Kolkata, 198pp.
Park, C. (2002). Sacred Worlds: An Introduction to Geography and Religion. Routledge, 352pp.
Perez-Luque, A.J., F.J. Bonet, R. Perez-Perez, R. Aspizua, J. Lorite & R. Zamora (2014). Sinfonevada: dataset of floristic diversity in Sierra Nevada forests (SE Spain). PhytoKeys 35: 1–15.
Prain, D. (1903a). Bengal Plants (Vol. 1). Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, India, 487pp.
Prain, D. (1903b). Bengal Plants (Vol. 2). Botanical Survey of India, Calcutta, India, 488–1013pp.
Rajendraprasad, M., P.N. Krishnan & P. Pushpangadan (1998). The life form spectrum of sacred grove and a functional tool to analyse the vegetation. Tropical Ecology 39(2): 211–217.
Sanyal, M.N. (1994). Flora of Bankura District. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun, India, 493pp.
Sen, U.K. (2016). Botanical and socio-cultural studies on some sacred groves of West Midnapore district, West Bengal. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Vidyasagar University, India, 314pp.
Sen, U.K. & R.K. Bhakat (2009). Ecological role of sacred groves in plant conservation, pp211–219. In: Sinha, T.R.C (ed.). Effects of environmental toxicology on human health, National Environmental Science Academy, New Delhi, India.
Sen, U.K. & R.K. Bhakat (2012). Sacred grove and plant conservation: an insight from taxonomy and ecology, pp410–421. In: Maiti, G.G. & S.K. Mukherjee (eds.). Mutidisciplinary Approaches in Angiosperm Systamatics. Department of Botany, University of Kalyani, West Bengal, India
Verschuuren, B., J. McNeely, G. Oviedo & R. Wild (2012) (eds.). Sacred Natural Sites: Conserving Nature and Culture. Routledge, 336pp.
Wild, R., C. McLeod & P. Valentine (2008). Sacred natural sites: guidelines for protected area managers (No. 16), Gland, Switzerland: IUCN, IUCN Publications Services, 106pp.