Sacred Places and Conservation, Research Paper Example

Introduction

What I found interesting about the title was the conservation of the sacred places. These sacred places are always belonging to the cultures. This is the place that many people depend for their survival. The things they do get from the sacred places ranges from the economic things, rituals to medicine. On the other side, the ecology of the societies which are mostly indigenous that comprises of the spiritual aspects, historical and the cultural are based on the biodiversity ecosystem and the land forms of their habitat. Therefore the indigenes which comprises of the 16% of human population are important to consider when it turns to the consideration of exploring the relationships that falls within the sacred places, conservation and the biodiversity. Taking our minds to Africa, there is a group of people who are found on the Zambezi Valley the Northern part of the country Zimbabwe.

This faction of people considers the mountains, the trees, the pools and the rivers to be sacred. In their own believe they consider them as part of things that sustains life since they provide them with rain and the fertility of land. These places are sacred in such away that they are guided with some rules and some taboos. What is interesting is that on these sacred places, deforestation is always lower that other places which are not sacred. The biodiversity strategies conservation that are considered to be cultural are more likely to be helpful than the ones which are under the care of the government and any other international organization.

In Venezuela, there is also another sacred mountain called Sorte. It is believed to be sacred since it associates with the historic personage of the Maria Lionza, which is a creative combination of the indigenous, catholic and the African religion. It is one of the historic sites of the pilgrimages religious and mostly takes place when the state and the religious holidays coincide. Some of the practices that the pilgrims associate with are the vigils, healings and the purification healing. There are a number of the springs and the sacred places, but the one that is believed to have contained the Maria Lionza spirits is the top of the mountain that is found near a lake. The next thing that is much interesting is that the sacred areas are the subject based on the rights of a human and the legal actions together with the basic and the applied research, and if any of the locations with the cultural and the biological diversity is endangered, then others will be also exposed to the danger.

What I found confusing

What was confusing about the reading is that these sacred places may be under a proper protection and management of the government because of their sacredness and the ecotourism destinations. They may also receive much care in terms of funding, recognition and any other support in contrast to any other secular places. But the most worrying part is that these places have not been fully recognized and fully appreciated by the government and the public.

Conclusion

The students should try to look at the systematic research on the various types of the sacred places with admiration to the biological aspects. These might include the size, naturalness, age, biodiversity level as well as the religious, political and the legal matters. There is also need for the comparison among the places which are sacred and the adjacent secular ones and the type of the biotic community so that to help us describe and to asses any of the similarities that might come up as a sacred status. The hypothesis regarding the conservation effectiveness of sacred locations must be given a test quantitatively and empirically instead of basing only on the assertions and the assumptions.