Sacred Natural Sites: Guidelines for Protected Areas Managers Task Force on the Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas in collaboration with UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme Edited by Robert Wild and Christopher McLeod Peter Valentine, Series Editor

Foreword One of the most salient forms of culture-based conservation has been the identification and protection of sacred natural sites, which often harbour valuable biodiversity and protect key ecosystems. Indigenous, local and mainstream cultures and spiritual traditions with their respective world views created protected areas long before the advent of the Yellowstone National Park model on which current protected area legislation, policy and practice is mostly based worldwide. Sacred natural sites are indeed the oldest protected areas of the planet. Yet, unfortunately, many sacred natural sites are at risk. They are subject to a wide range of pressures and threats, external and internal, such as illegal extraction of timber and wildlife, impacts from extractive industries’ operations, encroachment by outsiders, disrespectful tourism, poverty and population dynamics, degradation of neighbouring environments, reduction of the availability of lands and resources for traditional peoples and so on. Sacred natural sites have also been inadvertently integrated in legally declared protected areas by governments, without recognition of the local community values and of the traditional beliefs, practices, skills and knowledge that have sustained the associated locations, cultures and resources. At times, management direction has prevented access to and use of these areas by traditional communities, resulting in violation of indigenous rights, the creation of mistrust and animosity and a lack of local support for the effective management of such sites and areas. Action is needed for culturally appropriate sacred natural site protection and management. Current conservation agencies and local traditional communities should receive the support they need to work together to face the threats affecting sacred natural sites. Local and indigenous traditional communities should be supported with economic and other resources to assist in their efforts in preserving the environment. Protected area agencies should recognise the cultural and spiritual dimension of sacred natural sites included within their designated boundaries, and recognise the rights and interests of the communities concerned to continue using and managing those sacred sites as places for their cultural and spiritual realization and reverence. National and international organizations should also recognise the skills and knowledge that local and indigenous communities have in managing the resources and areas associated with sacred natural sites. Furthermore, effective action in support of the preservation and effective management of sacred natural sites will have a large impact on enhancing biodiversity conservation, as well as on the long-term vitality of the cultures that have cared for them. These guidelines are a contribution from the IUCN Task Force on the Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas and UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme to support the efforts of a wide spectrum of faith groups and indigenous and traditional peoples of the world for the long-term conservation of their sacred natural sites. The guidelines are the result of an international workshop held in Kunming, China in 2003. They were extensively discussed and revised at the World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa in 2003, and at the International Symposium on “Conserving

Cultural and Biological Diversity: The Role of Sacred Natural Sites and Cultural Landscapes”, in Tokyo, Japan in 2005. Subsequently to this meeting the guidelines have been restructured and supporting material added to achieve their current format. After four years of field-testing they will be re-evaluated and revised.

Introduction Natural areas that are held to be sacred by peoples are found all across the Earth. This is a widespread phenomenon to be found in almost every country. There are considered to be many thousands of distinct belief systems around the globe and many have ethics related to conservation. Links between faiths and the conservation of land and water were found in every belief system examined by Dudley et al. (2005). In these guidelines, those areas have been called Sacred Natural Sites and are defined as “areas of land or water having special spiritual significance to peoples and communities”. For many peoples, sacred natural sites are areas where nature, connection to the greater universe, and collective or individual recollections come together in meaningful ways. Sacred natural sites can be the abode of deities, nature spirits and ancestors, or are associated with hermits, prophets, saints and visionary spiritual leaders. They can be feared or they can be benign. They can be areas for ceremony and contemplation, prayer and meditation. For people of no particular faith they often inspire awe and can induce a sense of well-being. They can also hold secular values for history, culture, relaxation and enjoyment. Sacred natural sites can be important places of reference for cultural identity: for an extended family, a clan, a tribe, a religious faith or entire nations that may root their identity in a specific place in nature. In many societies, traditional sacred natural sites fulfil similar functions as legal protected areas. Due to the spiritual values attributed to these sites, restrictions on access and use often apply, and many such sites remain in a natural or near-natural condition. Here, human disturbance has been reduced or prevented, or careful management has taken place, often for long periods of time, with resulting high levels of biodiversity. At some sacred natural sites, the human influence is greater and these sites may be semi-natural or even heavily modified, but often in ways that retain high levels of biodiversity. Examples of the latter are the globally important ingenious agricultural heritage systems, many of which are attributed spiritual values by the communities that have shaped them.[footnote: Koohafkan and Boerma, 2006.] Thus, while many sacred sites have restricted use, others are used on a frequent and on-going basis. Some receive large numbers of visitors which can swell to thousands and, in some cases, millions during pilgrimages.[footnote: E.g. Motonaka, 2005; Wickramasinghe, 2005.] Clearly, human communities have often not conserved nature, but sacred natural sites represent one example where people generally have done so. Many of these sites have survived environmental degradation because they are deeply embedded in local cultural values and belief systems. They often provide sanctuary to rare or endangered species. For a number of species, their survival is heavily dependent on sacred natural sites. These important places can, therefore, play an significant role in biodiversity conservation by preserving gene pools needed to restore degraded environments. Natural and semi-natural ecosystems cannot be understood, conserved or managed without recognising how human cultures have influenced and, in some cases, shaped them. Many seemingly untouched ecosystems have actually been the subject of sophisticated management regimes. It is increasingly recognised that biological and cultural diversities are mutually reinforcing and interdependent.[Footnote –This is well recognised for example for Aboriginal fire management in Australia, (Rose, 2002, and Szabo and Smyth, 2003) and increasingly more widely (Tucker and Grim, 2001).] Together, therefore, cultural diversity and biological diversity hold a critical key to ensuring resilience in both social and ecological systems – a critical asset in an era of dramatic global change. Sacred natural sites are significant due to their dual character in conserving cultures

and protecting nature. Commonly, these sites are rich in biodiversity because they are held sacred, not in spite of it. Thus, if nurtured, these special places can contribute meaningfully to both the conservation of biological diversity and the maintenance of cultural identity. Sacred natural sites can be contained within legally protected areas or they can lie outside legally designated protected area systems. In some cases, protected areas are a small part of a wider sacred landscape. In all of these situations, sacred natural sites pose particular challenges with regard to their recognition, conservation and management. It must be acknowledged that many protected areas have been superimposed over the traditional use areas of local communities, indigenous and traditional peoples, and mainstream faiths. In setting up protected areas around the world, the values and importance of sacred places and traditional uses have often been ignored, thus affecting the fundamental rights of local cultures. This situation, sometimes based on opposing world views, has many times led to conflict and mistrust, and created obstacles to the development of constructive relationships and cooperation between indigenous or traditional peoples, local communities, faith groups and conservation agencies. Where sacred places occur outside protected areas in the wider countryside, or in rural or urban landscapes, they may be jeopardised by a whole range of pressures ranging from land-use change, poverty, urbanization, demographic movements and growth, mining, agriculture and forestry. Additional threats include overuse, inappropriate visitation, vandalism and neglect. Protected areas are usually created to protect valued landscapes, wildlife and biological diversity. They are commonly based on Western scientific models that discriminate against local cultures and traditional knowledge. Sometimes people are even relocated to create new parks. Sacred natural sites, therefore, may not be on the agenda of the political and environmental agencies that establish the protected areas and develop management plans. The purpose of these guidelines is to correct those oversights by suggesting management options and procedures that involve local people in protecting sacred natural sites in protected areas.

Increasingly, the cultural and spiritual values of protected areas are being recognised as an important overall function of protected areas. In the Durban Accord, a statement from the 3,000 participants of the Vth IUCN World Parks Congress, protected areas are described as: “Those places most inspirational and spiritual, most critical to the survival of species and ecosystems, most crucial in safeguarding food, air and water, most essential in stabilizing climate, most unique in cultural and natural heritage and therefore most deserving of humankind’s special care” (Durban Accord 2003 and in Brown et al., 2005). Sacred natural sites themselves demonstrate that humankind’s special care is not new and the inspiration and spiritual values that certain places evoke were recognised hundreds if not thousands of years prior to the modern conservation movement. The care and protection afforded to many sacred natural sites by indigenous, local communities and mainstream faiths have over the last century been reconfirmed by national protected area authorities, by overlaying the sacred sites with protected area systems. Unfortunately, this process has, in many cases, been at the expense of the traditional custodians and it has disrupted traditional management. Sacred natural sites remain outstanding assets of the whole of humanity, and due to the threat of on-going degradation and loss, are deserving of urgent support. The purpose of these guidelines, therefore, is to increase that support by providing guidance based on the shared experiences of field practitioners, protected area managers and traditional custodians.