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India’s spiritual geography is inseparable from its ecological one. Across the country, ineffable groves, shrines, caves and pilgrimage routes are located wrong oregon adjacent to protected areas, often successful ecologically delicate habitats. For centuries, content systems helped modulate entree and behaviour, enabling coexistence with nature. Today, however, rising visitant numbers and the increasing commercialisation of pilgrimage routes are placing unprecedented unit connected wood ecosystems. What were erstwhile seasonal, community-embedded rituals have become forms of wide tourism, bringing successful infrastructure that fragile ecosystems cannot absorb. The situation earlier policymakers present is how this intersection betwixt religion and conservation tin beryllium governed without undermining ecological integrity or the rights of forest-dwelling communities.
Major flashpoint
Recent reporting in The Hindu on deliberations of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (SCNBWL) regarding spiritual structures wrong sanctuaries has brought this long-standing hostility into crisp focus. The contiguous lawsuit progressive a connection to grow a spiritual constitution successful a sanctuary successful Gujarat. Though initially approved, citing the beingness of the “establishment of the temples, anterior to the colony of wood rights successful the region”, it was aboriginal withdrawn implicit concerns that it would beryllium the archetypal lawsuit of protected areas being diverted for a spiritual instauration — perchance mounting a precedent for akin demands crossed the country. The Environment Minister, who chairs the SCNBWL, noted that galore ineffable caves and spiritual sites wrong forests are mentioned successful spiritual texts, and suggested the formulation of a Standard Operating Procedure for proposals involving spiritual institutions.
This restraint is good founded. Under India’s ineligible framework, immoderate operation oregon enlargement connected wood onshore aft 1980 is mostly treated arsenic encroachment nether the Forest (Conservation) Act. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and National Tiger Conservation Authority norms licence lone limited, cautiously justified interventions, chiefly to negociate existing pressures oregon mitigate ecological conflict. Unregulated operation fragments habitats, increases human-wildlife conflict, and weakens protected areas.
The question of rights
Yet conservation cannot be pursued successful a taste oregon societal vacuum. India is location to thousands of ineffable earthy sites, galore of which are surviving landscapes stewarded by section communities. Sacred groves function arsenic biodiversity refuges precisely due to the fact that content systems person restricted extraction and disturbance. The Forest Rights Act, 2006 adds a captious ineligible dimension. It mandates the designation of the rights of Scheduled Tribes and different accepted wood dwellers. Any diversion, regularisation oregon regularisation affecting accepted entree oregon practices indispensable beryllium preceded by rights recognition. Ignoring this request risks marginalising communities that person agelong protected these forests.
A broad prohibition connected spiritual enactment wrong forests would truthful beryllium neither constitutionally defensible nor culturally sensitive. At the aforesaid time, allowing caller constructions oregon enlargement nether the guise of religion would acceptable a unsafe precedent. The situation lies successful navigating this mediate crushed with clarity and care.
In 2023, the Ashoka Trust for Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) successful collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) published a acceptable of guidelines connected spiritual tourism wrong tiger reserves that connection a evidence-based pathway and a greenish pilgrimage model. Drawing connected implicit 15 years of on-ground enactment in Kalakad-Mundanthurai, Ranthambhore and Corbett, these guidelines show that spiritual activities successful protected areas are not incompatible with conservation, provided it is managed sustainably.
A greenish pilgrimage model
A wide no-expansion rule is recommended — determination should beryllium nary caller constructions oregon enlargement of existing structures wrong halfway wood areas. At the aforesaid time, the guidelines let for the designation of long-standing sites that pre-date the notification of protected areas, taxable to strict, impact-based regulation. It besides includes caps connected pilgrim numbers, restrictions connected transport specified arsenic bans connected nighttime traffic, and robust controls connected waste, h2o use, and sanitation. Equally important is governance. Multi-stakeholder mechanisms involving wood departments, temple authorities, section governments and communities, and conservation organisations should beryllium encouraged.
In aviator areas, wherever guidelines person been implemented, measures specified arsenic restricting backstage vehicles, managing discarded done temple trusts, and engaging spiritual leaders person led to measurable reductions successful roadkill, integrative contamination and h2o contamination, without denying entree to worshippers oregon displacing forest-dependent communities. Such guidelines if taken up by the National Board for Wildlife would be beneficial.
India’s spot lies successful its quality to integrate ecological extortion with taste continuity. A principled attack would impact zero tolerance for caller encroachments, rigorous case-by-case valuation of existing sites, mandatory colony of wood rights, and adoption of proven greenish pilgrimage absorption models backed by continuous monitoring.
Sanjana Nair, Policy expert astatine the Centre for Policy Design, Ashoka Trust for Research successful Ecology and the Environment (ATREE); M. Soubadra Devy, Senior chap astatine Suri Sehgal Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, ATREE
