Sacred forests and conservation on a landscape scale

In the matrix of land uses beyond protected areas, people protect nature in a myriad of ways, and have, in some cases, for millennia. With the growth of global databases of Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas and Territories (ICCAs) and registries of sacred natural sites, opportunities are emerging for conservationists to engage custodians of sacred forests beyond protected areas. As conservation expands beyond protected areas, successful engagement emerges from unities in the perspectives of conservationists and custodians of sacred forests. This thesis aims to identify unities for conservationists’ engagement with custodians of sacred forests on a landscape scale. The thesis geolocates sacred forests and assesses the implications for conservation in four diverse landscapes in the Gambia, Ethiopia, Malaysia and Japan. The scale of inquiry varies across the papers, from the sub-district level to a national scale. This research indicates that while sacred forests may be overlooked by conservationists due to their small size and autonomous management, when they are considered in concert on a landscape scale, opportunities for conservation engagement become apparent. This thesis demonstrates that sacred forests can be prevalent in diverse landscapes, persist over time, and provide ecosystem services due to their spatial distribution.