THE ARGUMENTS BEYOND BELIEF FOR PROTECTION SERIES ARGUMENTS FOR PROTECTION BeyondBelief WWF International Ave. du Mont Blanc CH-1196 Gland Switzerland Telephone: +41 22 364 9111 Fax: +41 22 364 0640 Internet: www.panda.org Linking faiths and protected areas to support biodiversity Alliance of Religions and Conservation conservation 3 Wynnstay Grove Manchester M14 6XG, UK Telephone: +44 161 248 5731 Internet: www.arcworld.org A research report by WWF, Equilibrium and Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) Arguments for Protection Beyond Belief: Linking faiths and protected areas to support biodiversity conservation A research report by WWF, Equilibrium and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC). Written and edited by Nigel Dudley, Liza Higgins-Zogib and Stephanie Mansourian With case studies and input from Sudipto Chatterjee, Josep Mallarach, Martin Palmer, Deborah Rose, Sue Stolton, Iwan Wisbono and He Xiaoxin Published December 2005 ISBN 2-88085-270-6 2005, WWF – World Wide Fund for Nature (Formerly World Wildlife Fund) Cover design HMD, UK Printed on Arctic Paper using FSC Mixed Sources from well-managed forests and other controlled sources. Cover photographs: Top: © WWF-Canon / Mark Edwards (Procession of the "Sacred Gifts for a Living Planet" celebration in the city of Bhaktapur, Nepal, during WWF's Annual Conference, 2000. Bottom: Courtesy of SacredSites.com (Mt. Ararat and the Armenian Christian monastery of Khor Virap). No photographs from this publication may be reproduced on the World Wide Web without prior authorisation. Preface In the far north of Malawi, Nyika National Park extends over 3000 square kilometres and contains the largest “mountain island” in sub-Saharan Africa – a high plateau rising to more than 2,600 metres, which is home to an extremely rich wildlife population including several species found nowhere else on Earth. When the Malawian government extended the park in 1978, it swallowed several sites that remain sacred to local people, including a mountain, lake and waterfall that are all used as places to pray for rain during times of drought. At first, the rules of the park excluded local people from having access to these sites. But Chief Chikulamayembe protested on behalf of his people and regulations were relaxed so that they can now use the sites whenever they need; the latest rain-making ceremony took place in 2004. The needs of this faith community have proved to be in no way incompatible with the protection of a unique ecosystem. Today, the world is losing plant and animal species faster than at any other time in history, largely because of our human actions. The United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is addressing this crisis by encouraging countries to establish and enhance the effective management of protected areas to provide safe havens for wild nature through an ambitious Programme of Work on Protected Areas. Learning to coexist with the rest of nature presents us with a huge challenge, requiring not only technical solutions but more importantly a profound shift in our own attitudes and philosophy. The links between the natural and the spiritual provides a direct means of addressing this change. The CBD has recognised this, amongst other things through its work developing the Akwe Kon guidelines for assessing developments on sacred sites. The World Commission on Protected Areas is also deeply aware of this relationship and has a special Task Force on Cultural and Spiritual Values in Protected Areas, which is drawing up guidelines for sensitive management of such sites. And the faiths themselves have responded through a series of key statements and actions in support of sound environmental management. Governments are also recognising the importance of these issues and for instance Canada’s National Parks Act provides for access for spiritual or ceremonial purposes to aboriginal peoples. This publication is, we think, the first to focus specifically on the links between faiths and the world’s growing protected areas network. We support its call for faiths and conservationists to work together to help achieve the world’s vision of halting biodiversity loss. In turn, as representatives of conservation organisations, we pledge to work with faiths in ensuring that when protected areas overlap with sites of spiritual importance, both these values will be taken into account in management. We hope and believe that both faith groups and conservation organisations can benefit from working in partnership to recognise and to protect the natural world, which provides such inspiration to so many. Nik Lopoukhine: chair of the World Commission on Protected Areas 2 Contents Part 1 7 Introduction Part 2 11 Faith and nature: description of the nature of sacred with respect to conservation issues, links through sacred nature and sacred natural sites and attitudes of mainstream faiths Part 3 34 What are protected areas and why do we need them? Part 4 40 A hundred sacred places within protected areas: a short survey Part 5 72 Sacred sites outside protected areas Part 6 75 Case studies: 14 case studies of specific protected areas with a link to faith groups Part 7 120 Managing for faith and nature Part 8 126 Challenges Part 9 128 Guidance for balancing the needs of faiths and biodiversity conservation: existing guidelines, decisions etc. Part 10 132 Conclusions and Recommendations 3 Acknowledgements This report has benefited enormously from the help and support of people within WWF, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) and the The World Bank and we are grateful to them for their advice, corrections and information. In particular, the following read and commented on part or all of the text or gave other support: Jill Bowling, Paul Chatterton, Nick Cox, Atanga Ekobo, Victoria Finlay, Pauline Gérard, Sedat Kalem, Leonardo Lacerda, Kathy MacKinnon, Sushila Nepali, Gonzalo Oviedo, Lisa Padfield, Thymio Papayannis, Nanie Ratsifandrihamanana, John Smith, Rob Soutter, Katerina Rakovska, Leonard Usongo, Tony Whitten and Ruby Yamuna. A special word of thanks is extended to Martin Gray of SacredSites.com for his many comments and for giving us free use of his photographs. The WWF-Canon photo database, Alexander Belokurov and Grazia Borrini-Feyerabend are also thanked for their photographs. And thanks to the Environment Department of The World Bank for financial support. In addition to the named authors, the following contributed to individual case studies: Anthony Githitho (Mijikenda Kaya sacred forests); Hajj Fazlun M. Khalid of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, UK; Ali Kh. Thani; Sue Wells, environmental consultant, UK (Misali Island Marine Conservation Area); Fady Asmar, Ministry of Environment, Beirut and Joseph Kreidi, UNESCO, Beirut (Qadisha Valley and the Forest of the Cedars of God); Pramod G. Krishnan, Deputy Director of Periyar Tiger Reserve, and his management team; Sudipto Chatterjee and Dr. Manoharan of WWF-India (Periyar Tiger Reserve, Southern India); Iwan Wibisono, WWF National Campaigner, Heart of Borneo and the Dayak communities of Gunung Lumut (Lumut Mountain, Indonesian Borneo). This book has been prepared by WWF working in close collaboration with The Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC). The authors and editors are responsible for the content of this report. Their opinions do not necessarily represent the views of WWF and ARC. 4 Summary Most people in the world follow some kind of spiritual faith, and faiths have enormous impacts on the way that we think and behave, including how we relate to the natural world. Here we look at how faiths interact with one of the main tools of conservation – protected areas. These links come in two major forms: Sacred places – both sacred natural sites and built environments existing in natural or semi-natural areas. These can contribute very directly to global conservation efforts because they are often themselves well-conserved, through traditions that sometimes stretch back for thousands of years; Influence of faiths – through their philosophy, actions and influence, faiths can have a major impact on the way their followers view the protection of nature. Links between faiths and conservation of land and water exist throughout the world and involve every faith system that we have examined. Faiths have been involved in some of the earliest forms of habitat protection in existence, both through the preservation of particular places as sacred natural sites and through religious-based control systems such as the himas system in Islam. Sacred areas are probably the oldest form of habitat protection on the planet and still form a large and mainly unrecognised network of sanctuaries around the world. A proportion of these sites (probably a large proportion) are also highly successful at conserving natural ecology and biodiversity. The nature of these interactions is discussed in some detail. We include a survey of a hundred protected areas around the world which also contain important values to one or more faiths and also describe some sacred sites outside protected areas that have high conservation values. These issues are discussed in greater detail in 14 case studies from Kenya, Tanzania, Egypt, Lebanon, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Mongolia, Europe, Finland, Australia and Colombia. Unfortunately, many sacred natural areas and faith-based land management systems are currently under threat, because of cultural breakdown, pressures on land and resources and poor governance