Tropical dry evergreen forests in India protected by religious and cultural beliefs
MongaBay – 9 June 2008
PUDUCHERRY, INDIA: A new study, published in the June issue of Tropical Conservation Science by N. Parthasarathy and colleagues, looks at tropical dry evergreen forest on the Coromandel coast of India where the ecosystem occurs both in patches and as sacred groves or temple forests protected by the local people on religious grounds. Surveying plant diversity and flowering and fruiting events, the researchers classified the state of tropical dry evergreen forest across 75 sites, plants of medicinal value were listed out and their local traditional knowledge documented. The authors recommend forest protection initiatives for diverse sites with limited disturbance and restoration strategies using native plant species in moderately and heavily disturbed areas. Parthasarathy and colleagues suggest that “revitalizing the cultural traditions associated with sacred groves by promoting awareness of the ecological and bioresource values of tropical dry evergreen forest” would help the conservation effort. Read the MongaBay summary…
Parthasarathy N., Arthur Selwyn M. and Udayakumar M. 2008. Tropical dry evergreen forests of peninsular India: ecology and conservation significance Tropical Conservation Science Vol.1(2):89-110
