INDIAN KNOWLEDGE TRADITION AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: CO-EXISTENCE WITH NATURE

Abstract

India has a long record of environmental traditions such as sacred groves, taboos on killing certain animals, seasonal limits on hunting and harvest, mobile herding, village management of ponds and springs, folk veterinary knowledge and ritual protection of animals. These customs shape the way people use land, water and wildlife. The present study examines these traditions from the standpoint of animal ecology and asks two questions: how culturally rooted knowledge can lead to conservation results that can be observed and measured, and where an idealised reading of tradition becomes scientifically weak. The study reviews research and government reports on biodiversity conservation, animal ecology, human–wildlife coexistence, sacred natural sites and community resource management. Five main ways in which tradition supports wildlife are identified: protection of habitat refuges, reduced killing of animals, control over extraction, maintenance of varied landscapes, and the passing of ecological observations from one generation to the next. Sacred groves are especially important because they can keep small but species-rich habitat patches, protect streams and local microclimate, and shelter fauna in landscapes dominated by people. At the same time, traditional systems are not always protective and do not remain unchanged. Commercial pressure, weakening of customary authority, habitat fragmentation, population change and exclusion of communities from formal conservation can reduce their value. Building on the idea of sacred ecology developed by Berkes (2009), the study suggests a biocultural approach to co-existence in which local ecological knowledge is recorded with the prior consent of its holders, examined with zoological field methods and included in joint management with communities. Such an approach can improve species monitoring, reduce conflict, support climate adaptation and extend conservation beyond protected areas, while respecting knowledge holders and preventing misuse of their knowledge.