Sacred groves

Sacred groves are woodland areas protected or set apart through religious, cultural, or ecological practices. Their rules and meanings vary among communities.

Sacred natural sites: Places in nature regarded as sacred and protected through religious or cultural traditions. Sacred groves are wooded examples of this wider class of revered places.
Community-based conservation: Conservation in which local communities help govern and manage natural resources. Customary grove protections often depend on community rules and stewardship.
Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove: A sacred forest in Osogbo, Nigeria, associated with the Yoruba goddess Osun and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a prominent, institutionally recognized example of a living sacred grove.
Conservation biology: The scientific study of protecting biological diversity and managing threats to species and ecosystems. Research on grove species and habitats contributes to this broader field.
Nature worship: Religious practice that venerates natural features or forces as divine or sacred. It helps explain why forests may receive ritual protection.
Biodiversity hotspot: A region with exceptional concentrations of endemic species facing substantial habitat loss. Some groves protect locally rare species within heavily altered landscapes.
Khasi sacred groves: Forest patches in Meghalaya, India, protected by Khasi communities through customary religious practices. They illustrate community rules that restrict resource use in sacred forests.
Forest ecology: The study of relationships among organisms and their environment in forests. Grove studies can reveal how small forest patches sustain ecological processes.
Totemism: A system of beliefs and social practices linking groups with particular animals, plants, or natural objects. Some communities connect forest species and places to clan identity.
Forest fragmentation: The division of continuous forest into smaller, more isolated patches. Isolated groves can function as remnants amid fragmented landscapes.

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