People and the Peepal

Cultural Attitudes to Sacred Trees and Their Conservation in Urban Areas

Growing urbanization and its negative impacts on urban ecology have been felt acutely, the world over. Protecting the ecosystem is a major issue on the global agenda and preserving it is a priority. Conservation of tree biodiversity through sustainable ecosystem management approaches is important to humankind for various reasons. Trees are life supporting systems and are useful to man as providing extractive and non-extractive benefits. Additionally, they also provide intellectual, aesthetic, cultural, religious and spiritual sustenance. Protection of forests as sacred groves through religious belief systems has been in practice since ancient times around the world. The book attempts to understand the religious practices still in fore in urban contexts conserving sacred trees conferring extensive benefits in cities.