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Description
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This interdisciplinary project investigates how patches of land protected by virtue of spiritual motives, henceforth named ‘Sacred Natural Sites’ (SNS), can best contribute to the conservation of biological and cultural diversity. The project investigates if the long lasting traditional management practices in SNS in Italy, where the history of such cultural issues is fairly long, is a major determinant of special biodiversity and ecosystem services with a special focus on vegetation, soil and soil biota. Thus, the project proposes innovative policy instruments for sounder integration of these areas into current schemes of land protection. The project intercepts a rapidly growing interest in the relation between faiths and nature conservation, both globally and within Roman Catholicism in particular, and responds to the accruing need for new and more effective conservation strategies |
