This book presents a broad array of global case studies exploring the interaction between religion and the conservation of nature, from the viewpoints of the religious practitioners themselves.
With conservation and religion often being championed as allies in the quest for a sustainable world where humans and nature flourish, this book provides a much-needed compendium of detailed examples where religion and conservation science have been brought together. Case studies cover a variety of religions, faiths and practices, including traditional, Indigenous, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto and Zoroastrianism. Importantly, this volume gives voice to the religious practitioners and adherents themselves. Beyond an exercise in anthropology, ethnobiology and comparative religion, the book is an applied work, seeking the answer to how in a world of nearly eight billion people, we might help our own species to prevent the extinction of life.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of nature conservation, environment and religion, cultural geography and ethnobiology, as well as practitioners and professionals working in conservation.
Part 1: Overview
1. Introduction Part 2: Examples of Faith-Based
Conservation from around the World
2. Caring for the Land, Caring for the
Dharma: The Environmental History of Buddhism at Pemayangtse Monastery,
Sikkim, as a Resource for Contemporary Conservation Initiatives
3. Of
Guardian deities and the wheel of life: How Buddhism shapes the conservation
discourse in the Indian Trans-Himalayas
4. The Borgou and Its Spirits: Nature
and the Traditional Faith Practice of the Baatnu People of West Africa
5.
Reinterpreting beliefs and transforming ritual traditions around the Ganesh
Festival in Pune, India
6. The conservation of Maleku peoples sacred natural
sites in Costa Rica Part 3: Examining Themes in Faith-Based Conservation
7.
Legitimating and Respecting Sacred Groves Important for Human Rights and
Important for conservation
8. Spiritual Values and Ecosystem Services of
Sacred Groves in Karnataka, India
9. Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Forests and Pollination Services across an Agricultural Landscape
10.
Cultivating faith? Exploring the role of faith-based relationships in a
Christian conservation agriculture programme in the Dakatcha Woodland, Kenya
11. Shinto shrine forests and happiness in Japan
12. Spiritual leaders build
common ground: Enacting worldviews through legal pluralism in the face of
neoliberalism Part 4: Broader Perspectives, Applications, and Challenges
related to Faith-Based Conservation
13. International Human Rights Law
Approaches in Support of Faith-Based Conservation Movements
14. Praying in
Brazilian Protected Areas: From Conflicts to Potentials for Alliances between
Nature Managers and Society
15. Faith in the West? Engaging Christian faith
groups in conservation in secular western societies
16. Hima, as protected
area opportunities and challenges in the 21st century
17. Birds as bridges
between religions and people
18. Green Sabbaths: Putting the Anthropocene Era
to Rest (Once a Week)
19. Religion and ecology walk hand in hand to conserve
Greater Adjutants in Bihar, India Part 5: Last Glance
20. Additional
Snapshots of Faith-Based Conservation 20a. A Twist in Central Asian Snow
Leopard Conservation Restoring Ancient Ceremony in support of Modern
Conservation Methods 20b. Biocultural importance of sacred groves in
Kurdistan, Iran 20c: Faith-based environmental action by Protestant churches
in Singapore 20d: Guardians of the Heart of the World: Indigenous Cosmovision
and Conservation of Colombias Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta 20e: Tu BeShvat
The Jewish festival of trees 20f: Case Study of Forest of Grace in Mongolia
20g: Jainism and Nature Conservation 20h: Faith and science directing A
Rochas marine conservation work in Kenya 20i: Faith in Conservation in Papua
New Guinea 20j. Vultures, Grief, and Interspecies Rituals
21. Epilogue
Radhika Borde (PhD) is a Lecturer at the School of Geography, University of Leeds, UK. She has published on sacred natural sites and sustainability and is a member of international professional associations working on these issues. She also supports local communities in India with conservation and sustainability projects.
Alison A. Ormsby teaches Environmental Studies at the University of North Carolina Asheville, USA. She is a human ecologist with 30 years of experience working with people and protected areas, environmental education, and sacred natural sites. She has conducted research on sacred forests in Sierra Leone, Ghana, and India.
Stephen M. Awoyemi is an Independent Researcher and past President of the Religion and Conservation Biology Working Group, Society for Conservation Biology. He holds a PhD from the Central European University (CEU), Austria.
Andrew G. Gosler is a Professor of Ethno-ornithology in the Department of Zoology and School of Anthropology at the University of Oxford, UK. He is the author/editor of multiple books, including Ethno-Ornithology: Birds, Indigenous Peoples, Culture and Society (Routledge, 2011).
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