http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16724420.htm
Sacred sites key to protecting species - U.N.
17 Mar 2006 21:00:26 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
NAIROBI, March 18 (Reuters) - From skull caves in southern Kenya to
Mexico's searing Chihuahuan desert, preserving sacred sites is key to
slowing the loss of animal and plant species, environmentalists said
on Saturday.
Experts have pinpointed a string of religious sites across the globe
as pilot ecosystems where local customs have helped safeguard troves
of biological richness.
A new $1.7 million U.N.-led initiative aims to help protect those
sites by documenting species, conducting surveys with local
communities and assessing potential for ecotourism.
"There is clear and growing evidence of a link between cultural
diversity and biodiversity," Klaus Toepfer, U.N. Environment
Programme (UNEP) executive director, said announcing the plan.
"Sadly, sacred sites are also under threat and there is an urgent
need to help local, indigenous and traditional peoples safeguard
their heritage which in turn can do much to conserve the biological
and genetic diversity upon which we all depend."
The project will look at sites such as south Indian forest groves
linked to agricultural and artistic traditions, and the ritual site
of Mount Ausangate in Peru, UNEP said.
BRAZIL MEETING
Also targeted is the Boloma-Bijagos archipelago in Guinea-Bissau,
where beaches and mangroves are used for rituals and are home to
fish, crocodiles and hippos.
According to strict local community rules, certain areas are off
limits and burials, shedding of blood and construction of permanent
settlements are banned in some places.
"These traditional practices ... assist in the preservation of the
sites for flora and fauna," said Gonzalo Oviedo of the World
Conservation Union.
Other sites listed include the Taita skull caves in southern Kenya,
where the bones of male members of the tribe are placed. Taboos
surrounding the caves have led to small but important relics of
indigenous forest surviving.
Wirikuta in Mexico's Chihuahan desert, where locals believe the sun
was born, is home to around two-thirds of birds and mammals of the
desert.
But it is under threat from uncontrolled tourism, agriculture,
hunting and illegal trafficking of wildlife.
Communities managing such sites had made efforts locally but global
action had been woefully inadequate, said Oviedo.
The "Conservation of Biodiversity Rich Sacred Natural Sites"
initiative will be formally unveiled at the Convention on Biological
Diversity in Brazil on March 20-31.
The meeting will review a world goal of slowing drastic acceleration
of biodiversity by 2010, set at a summit in Johannesburg in 2002.
"Conserving sacred sites and their biological richness can play a
major role in achieving the 2010 target and perhaps act as beacons
from where good and sustainable management practices can be exported
to nearby areas and beyond," Toepfer said.
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