Describe how communities have conserved and protected forests and wildlife in India?

Conservation strategies are not new in our country.

(i)Nature worship is an age old tribal belief based on the premise that all creations of nature have to be protected. Such beliefs have preserved several virgin forests in pristine form called Sacred Groves (the forests of God and Goddesses).

(ii)These patches of forest or parts of large forests have been left untouched by the local people and any interference with them is banned. Certain societies revere a particular tree which they have preserved from time immemorial.

(iii)The Mundas and the Santhal of Chhota Nagpur region worship mahua (Bassia latifolia) and kadamba (Anthocaphalus cadamba) trees, and the tribals of Orissa and Bihar worship the tamarind (Tamarindus indica) and mango (Mangifera indica) trees during weddings.


(iv)To many of us, peepal and banyan trees are considered sacred. Indian society comprises several cultures, each with its own set of traditional methods of conserving nature and its creations. Sacred qualities are often ascribed to springs, mountain peaks, plants and animals which are closely protected.

(v)We would find troops of macaques and langurs around many temples. They are fed daily and treated as a part of temple devotees. In and around Bishnoi villages in Rajasthan, herds of blackbuck, (chinkara), nilgai and peacocks can be seen as an integral part of the community and nobody harms them.