Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Roy A. Rappaport. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.536 pp.

Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity

Sacred Natural Sites: Conserving Nature and Culture

The range and use of ecosystem services provided by urban sacred sites has hardly been considered in studies of urban ecology, sustainability and human wellbeing. This paper examines the perceived ecosystem services supplied by green spaces or gardens associated with places of religious worship and appreciated by worshippers in a mid-sized town in South Africa. A questionnaire with open, closed and Likert scale questions was administered at 30 places of worship (25 with gardens and five without). Respondents identified a wide diversity of ecosystem services provided by gardens, with social ones being more recognized than ecological, and economic services the least. Approximately two-thirds of respondents visited a sacred site garden weekly or more often. The majority of respondents (96%) felt that a garden was necessary because it added to their feelings of connection with God, or helped them relax and so be better able to concentrate, and 54% stated that a garden enhanced their overall spiritual experience. Regression analysis revealed that aesthetic appreciation of a garden was significantly related to woody plant species richness, number and basal area in the garden. On the other hand, spiritual experience was positively related to woody plant basal area, but not species richness nor tree number. Neither size of the garden, nor number of years the respondents had been vising a particular sacred site had any influence on the rated spiritual or aesthetic experiences. These results reveal the widely appreciated ecosystem services provided by urban sacred spaces and their centrality in enhancing spiritual satisfaction for some.

Aesthetic and Spiritual Ecosystem Services Provided by Urban Sacred Sites

Developed nations intervened in conservation policy across Africa during the 20th century to address needs to protect species and biodiversity that were based on their own perceptions and priorities. In the 21st century, conservationists in Africa have revised these perceptions and begun the process of identifying conservation priorities from an African perspective and in consideration of Africans’ priorities. Although foreign conservation interveners struggled to identify mechanisms to which local people would respond, African conservationists are now demonstrating how to integrate the continent's unique socioeconomic circumstances into efforts to protect biodiversity. In Africa effective conservation policy must include the generation of wealth, reduction of disease and hunger, and support of traditional land-use practices.

Integrating top-down with bottom-up conservation policy in Africa.

Conservationists have been criticized for failing to protect nature in the face of mounting threats including overexploitation, species loss, habitat destruction, and climate change. Resource managers and scientists have yet to fully engage a major segment of the global population in their outreach efforts to protect the environment: religious communities. The world's religions have been recognized as a surprising driver of support for conservation of biological diversity, and numerous examples demonstrate religious and conservation groups working together to achieve conservation outcomes. However, many conservation organizations do not effectively engage religious groups. When conservation organizations do engage religious groups, efforts to do so are often ad hoc and such partnerships may wane over time. A more systematic approach is needed that directly engages religious communities, develops effective partnerships, supports and sustains dialogue aimed at finding common ground despite potentially diver...

Why Conservation Needs Religion

Biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa is under enormous pressure International economic actors and the desire of those living in poverty to escape it are causing the ongoing conversion of land to human uses and the direct destruction of habitat and wildlife The resulting urgency and challenge of conserving Africas biodiversity demands a multidimensional approach Conservation biologists must transcend perceived disciplinary boundaries and connect with new allies (excerpt)

The role of religion in the HIV/AIDS intervention in Africa: a possible model for conservation biology.

It has been close to half a century since Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published— a book that marked the beginning of the modern environmental movement—yet the biodiversity crisis has increased to staggering proportions The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that the current species extinction rate is between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than natural rates (IUCN, 2011) According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005, forests have disappeared in 25 countries and deforestation clears about 12 million hectares annually, including six million hectares of primary forests in Latin America, South-East Asia and Africa (FAO, 2006) Twenty percent of coral reefs have been destroyed and 30 percent damaged due to destructive fishing practices, pollution, disease, coral bleaching, invasive alien species and tourism (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005; Wilkinson, 2008) Driven by habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, human overpopulation and over harvesting (all human-centred activities), the global loss of biodiversity is advancing at an unprecedented rate with an extinction of 150 species occurring daily (Chen, 2003; Sigmar, 2007) The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that the natural systems that support the world’s economy are at risk of collapse due to increasing biodiversity loss: declining fish stocks, deforestation and soil erosion (Murray, 2010) However, response to the crisis has been slow For instance, the Convention on Biological Diversity’s target to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 was missed (Butchart et al, 2010)

/pdf/global-efforts-to-bridge-religion-and-conservation-are-they-55i6dxe9mz.pdf

Global Efforts to Bridge Religion and Conservation: Are They Really Working?

In their Letter “Limits to religious conservation efforts” (9 November, p. [740][1]), B. Gong et al. caution conservation practitioners that there are limits to the effect that Buddhist influence alone can have in reducing environmental degradation caused by economic development. They cite

/pdf/mobilizing-religion-and-conservation-in-asia-3gybje4uzj.pdf

Mobilizing religion and conservation in Asia.

Background: Examination into the origin of SARS-CoV-2 has shed further light on opportunities for broader zoonotic pathogen transmission stemming from the trade in living wildlife and animal parts, and in associated practices. In certain parts of the world (e.g., Africa), various bird species are illegally captured for both subsistence and non-subsistence purposes such as for belief-based use. The latter practice includes rare and declining vulture species and arises from the (relatively recent) belief that directly ingesting certain vulture body parts may impart powers of clairvoyance or bring good fortune. Among a variety of capture methods used by hunters, pesticide-poisoned or nicotine-laced baits are prevalent. In 2020, a mass mortality incident in Guinea Bissau involving over 2000 Critically Endangered Hooded Vultures was linked to belief-based practices, and to the use of a carbamate pesticide. This was to date the highest reported number of vultures killed by pesticide poisoning within a single event. Such deliberate, indiscriminate poisoning is now widely acknowledged within conservation sectors as posing evident threats to vulture species and populations. However, the potential human health repercussions arising from the possibility for zoonotic pathogen transmission (e.g., anthrax, avian H5N1 influenza), and for secondary exposure to the range of toxic substances used to capture and prepare individual birds – whether to hunters, procurers and traders of vulture parts or to consumers – have remained unexplored.Objectives: Our aims are to 1) generate awareness of these practice within human health risk assessment sectors; and 2) generate interest within the human health sector in examining the potential for zoonotic pathogen transmission and toxicity or poisoning risks to people that may stem from these practices.Discussion: We briefly describe human behaviours associated with this belief-driven practice as they relate to potential exposure, and issue a plea for examination of the associated health risks, in collaboration with ongoing conservation and wildlife forensics efforts.

/pdf/exposure-to-pesticides-and-zoonoses-during-procurement-trade-hdcjkw87.pdf

Stephen M. Awoyemi

Papers

The role of religion in the HIV/AIDS intervention in Africa: a possible model for conservation biology.

Global Efforts to Bridge Religion and Conservation: Are They Really Working?

Mobilizing religion and conservation in Asia.

Exposure to pesticides and zoonoses during procurement, trade, and consumption of vulture parts: an unexplored threat to human health.

Religion and Nature Conservation