News

Mountains Revered, Indigenous revival and the conservation of sacred sites

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Practitioners, scientists, and Indigenous community members from ten different countries met at the University of Georgia to share their work on indigenous revival and the conservation of sacred sites (5-7 April 2012). As part of the inauguration of the Neothropical Montology Collaboratory led by Fausto Sarmiento, most of the work focused on sacred mountains with […]

Managing Sacred Sites in North Australia’s IPAs

Rainbow Cliff in Dhimurru Indigenous Protected Area is part of a network of sacred sites that is partly contained in and managed by the Dhimurru Rangers.
Indigenous Protected Areas deliver significant biodiversity, social and cultural benefits and constitute 27% of Australia’s National Reserve System. In the spirit of “both ways” learning and management the Dhimurru and Yirralka’s Indigenous Rangers joined hands with the Sacred Natural Sites Initiative. This approach helped bring Aboriginal knowledge and contemporary conservation approaches together during a workshop on sacred sites management.

Conservation Experience: The Sacred Natural Sites of Kham

Shaman Kham
The Sacred Natural Site Initiative regularly features “Conservation Experiences” of custodians, protected area managers, scientists and other’s. This time we are featuring the experience of Dr. John Studley who is a Fellow of the (British) Royal Geographical Society. He has spent most of his life in high Asia working as an ethno-forestry consultant. Click here for […]

Grant helps CIKOD to conserve sacred groves in the face of gold mining threats

Source: Peter Lowe
The Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Organisational Development, CIKOD in Ghana has been awarded a grant from the New England Biolabs Foundation, NEBF, in support of their community conservation efforts of sacred groves in North West Ghana. CIKOD’s Mission is to strengthen the capacities of communities through traditional authorities (TAs) such as and local institutions […]

What is a sacred natural site? European perspectives

Experiencing the forest in Vilm
In this video, the Sacred Natural Sites Initiative asked twelve people in twelve minutes what they think a sacred natural site is and what it means to them.

The spirit of nature soars over Vilm

Josep Maria Mallarach at the Vilm Workshop
From 2 – 6 November 2011, some 30 Europeans participated in a workshop on the Spiritual Values of Protected Areas of Europe.