- Sacred groves, climate change, environmental problem
Abstract
Sacred groves signify the practice of conserving biodiversity with strong beliefs, customs and taboos and are treasure house of rare and endemic species. Everything within these groves is under the protection of the reigning deity of the grove and the removal of any material, even dead wood or twig is a taboo (Gadgil and Vartak, 1976). Such groves still exist in many parts of the world and represent relict vegetation of the locality, preserved in its original form with minimal disturbance. Preservation of these groves, though on the pretext of religious beliefs, is of importance for conserving germ plasm that is otherwise under threat from human interference (Khiewtan and Ramakrishnan, 1989). Among the sacred groves along the coastal sector centering Pondicherry (90km x 50 km) on the east coast of India, Puthupet (28ha), Senthirankillai (15ha), Thoppaiyankulam (10.5ha), Kotthatai (6.15ha) and Karukkai (5.2ha.) were larger groves, the smaller being Sedrapet, Ramanathapuram and Kumalam, each measuring ca.0.2 ha. Of late, ecologists evince interest in the potential of biodiversity in carbon -‘C’ sequestration and storage. In some selected groves, the biosequestered atmospheric carbon (C) values ranged from 47.7 to 120.5 Mg ha-1. The quantum of C-storage in a sacred grove, however small it may be, and its implied role in mitigating the climate change, is now confirmed. These groves which have rich, varied and valuable biodiversity conserved in them can also contribute to tackling climate change, which is another most serious environmental problem facing the humankind.