Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary: Nature-Culture Linkages in a Sacred Landscape in Indian Himalayan Region

Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary is among the largest protected areas in Western Himalaya. The vast variability in climate, geology, and topography results in a rich biological diversity with varied floral and faunal assemblages. The landscape has many sacred elements, which includes the famous Kedar circuit, comprising of five Shiva temples and many other Hindu shrines. Forest patches, alpine meadows, and trees associated with shrines or local deities are also considered sacred. The landscape has around 172 villages with local communities holding traditional rights of phyto-resource use from the area; 12 villages are located inside the Sanctuary. In recent decades, various natural and anthropogenic challenges have been threatening the nature-culture mix that forms the foundation of sacredness of the landscape. It becomes imperative that policies and action programs to enhance ecological sustainability are appropriated and local cultural beliefs, with embedded conservation ethics, are integrated in the environmental governance and management of the landscape