From religion to conservation: unfolding 300 years of collective action in a Greek sacred forest

Govigli, Valentino Marini; Efthymiou, Anthoula; Stara, Kalliopi

doi:10.1016/j.forpol.2021.102575

Cited by 11 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…In many countries, sacred groves exhibit characteristics that qualify them as "spiritual/sacred commons" (Rutte, 2011;Samakov and Berkes, 2017). In general, only a few studies have applied Ostrom's principles for common pool resources management to sacred grove systems (Marini Govigli et al 2021;Ostrom, 1990;Rutte, 2011;Samakov and Berkes, 2017). Sacred groves have been shown to exhibit most of the design principles that Ostrom found in well-governed common-pool resource systems (Rutte, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Samakov and Berkes (2017) have referred to sacred groves as "commons with a difference" because they sometimes lack the elements of "excludability and subtractability". 1 As commons, sacred groves are often shared resources managed by local communities through rules, prohibitions, and punishment of unauthorized access (Marini Govigli et al, 2021;Samakov and Berkes, 2017). The operation and management of these sacred groves are closely linked to enduring religious beliefs and complex socio-cultural associations with deities (Aniah and Yelfaanibe, 2016;Mgumia and Oba, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Drivers of Biodiversity Conservation in Sacred Groves: A Comparative Study of Three Sacred Groves in Southwest Nigeria

et al. 2022

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Globally, sacred groves represent a traditional form of community-based conservation, recognized as areas of cultural and religious importance to local people. In some cases, the entire community guards against the desecration of, or unauthorized access to, such sites, either by its members or outsiders; in others, non-recognition of customary rights is linked to degradation. This paper uses the case study of three sacred groves in southwest Nigeria to examine the extent to which perceived socio-economic and religio-cultural benefits contribute to biodiversity conservation in sacred groves with different scales of governance. Using mixed methods approaches, we found that the long-term preservation of sacred groves and their biodiversity depend on collaboration between: i.) customary institutions (community-based conservation through a system of established traditional norms and prohibitions), and ii.) formal government legislation and management. The recognition of sacred groves as national monuments and UNESCO World Heritage Site has paved the way for biodiversity protection, increasing cultural tourism, socio-economic rewards and the preservation of religio-cultural values. We present local peoples' assessments of the benefits of sacred groves and offer suggestions to improve community engagement and protect the biodiversity within sacred groves in Nigeria.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of Biodiversity Conservation in Sacred Groves: A Comparative Study of Three Sacred Groves in Southwest Nigeria

et al. 2022

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“…The study area is in the north of the Epirus region (northwestern Greece), within the local administrative units of Zagori and Konitsa (Figure 1). In this area, recent studies have unveiled a large network of sacred forests (Avtzis et al., 2018; Marini Govigli et al., 2020; Marini Govigli et al., 2021; Stara et al., 2016). These forests were established during the early period of the Ottoman occupation (15th–17th century) through a number of different forms of governance from strict religious regimes to community agreements resulting in overlapping and varied restrictions ranging from controlled use to strict prohibition of trespassing (Stara et al., 2016).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Assessing socio‐ecological resilience in SNS is extremely relevant to shed light on the social processes that influence ecosystem recovery or degradation (e.g. traditional religious taboos; Marini Govigli et al., 2021), with implications for forest management and nature conservation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring spatial and temporal resilience in socio‐ecological systems: Evidence from sacred forests in Epirus, Greece

Marini Govigli,

Healey,

Wong

et al. 2024

People and Nature

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Socio‐ecological resilience is the capacity of a system to adapt to changing ecological and social disturbances. Its assessment is extremely important to integrate long‐term management of ecological and social features of natural ecosystems. This is especially true for Sacred Natural Sites, such as sacred forests and groves, where it can reveal the influence of social processes in ecosystem recovery or degradation. Using tree ages determined through dendrochronology and tree population size‐class distributions collected in five sacred forests in Epirus (NW Greece), we explore spatial and temporal dynamics of resilience in a socio‐ecological system, identifying which cultural and social elements characterize resilience in space and time. Our main results show that over past centuries sacred forests in Epirus underwent periods of varying tree establishment rate, depending on the intensity of human activities and historical disturbance events. We also identified strong evidence of the role of the social component (i.e. the church and associated cultural praxis) in determining the spatial extent of the forests' current recovery phase, and thus the overall resilience of the system. Policy implications. Appreciation of the ways sacred forests' ecological resilience is linked to changing socio‐cultural praxis over both temporal and spatial scales is crucial for guiding conservation and restoration strategies. We argue that greater attention should be paid to the role of the social component of socio‐ecological systems and specifically for sacred natural sites that provide both a nucleus of established forest habitat and the conditions necessary for forest recovery and restoration. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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“…Also, studies contended that risk attitude could predict willingness to change behavior (O'Connor et al, 1999;Yazdanpanah et al, 2014). Furthermore, MN is self-administered moral rules or values that are motivated by anticipated self-administered rewards or penalties (Chang, 2010;Commerçon et al, 2021;Marini Govigli et al, 2021). Individuals who identify as typical conservationists are more likely to conserve resources than individuals who do not (Chang, 2010;Valizadeh et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Clustering Residents' Intention and Behavior Toward Forest Rehabilitation Initiative: A Case Study in the Upstream of Central Java, Indonesia

Manto¹,

Nugroho²

2022

jtfm

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The success of forest rehabilitation initiatives depends on community engagement; thus, it is important to understand community opinions toward forest rehabilitation initiatives. However, the available literature is sparse, as most research focuses on forest rehabilitation research, frequently only on planting performance. We scrutinized residents' opinions of the forest rehabilitation initiative using the extended Theory of Planned Behavior framework variables, i.e., behavior (B), behavioral intention (BI), attitude toward behavior (ATB), perceived behavioral control (PBC), subjective norm (SN), moral norm (MN), perceived risk (PR), and self-identity (SI). Those factors were used to cluster residents into various groups using the k-means clustering method. 307 completed questionnaires were obtained. We found that residents were clustered into two distinctive groups: active supporters (AS) and passive supporters (PS). PS was dominant in the community (61.9%). They were characterized by less agreement in perceiving the adverse impacts of forest degradation, less intent and engagement in forest rehabilitation programs. In contrast, AS was more receptive to forest rehabilitation initiatives. These results confirm that residents are heterogeneous in opinions and interest in forest rehabilitation initiatives. Therefore, forest managers should design effective policies and alternative approaches to ensure the success of forest rehabilitation programs based on those distinctive groups.

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From religion to conservation: unfolding 300 years of collective action in a Greek sacred forest

Cited by 11 publications

References 50 publications

Drivers of Biodiversity Conservation in Sacred Groves: A Comparative Study of Three Sacred Groves in Southwest Nigeria

Drivers of Biodiversity Conservation in Sacred Groves: A Comparative Study of Three Sacred Groves in Southwest Nigeria

Exploring spatial and temporal resilience in socio‐ecological systems: Evidence from sacred forests in Epirus, Greece

Clustering Residents' Intention and Behavior Toward Forest Rehabilitation Initiative: A Case Study in the Upstream of Central Java, Indonesia

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