Sacred Groves for Forest Conservation in Ghana's Coastal Savannas: Assessing Ecological and Social Dimensions

Campbell, Michael

doi:10.1111/j.0129-7619.2005.00211.x

Cited by 45 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…These results align with those of previous studies which have suggested that sacred forests in West Africa act as important refuges for biodiversity (Bosart et al, 2006;Campbell, 2004Campbell, , 2005Decher, 1997;Kokou et al, 2008;Kokou & Kokutse, 2007). Kokou et al (2008) explain that sacred forests in Togo are generally composed of typical forest affinity species, host high levels of biodiversity, and provide habitat for numerous species found nowhere else in the country.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Comparison of the Ecological Value of Sacred and Nonsacred Community Forests in Kaboli, Togo

Lynch

Kokou

Todd

2018

Tropical Conservation Science

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Despite Togo's naturally low forest cover and high rates of deforestation, remnant forest patches play an important role in conserving biodiversity and ensuring the well-being of the country's human population. Many of these remnant forest patches are sacred forests, ecosystems that are increasingly threatened because of changes in belief systems which have accompanied westernization. This study compares the ecological value and level of degradation of two sacred forests with an otherwise similar control forest that does not contain a sacred site based on characteristics including tree cover, vegetation composition, biodiversity, and biomass. The sacred forests had a significantly higher percentage of tree cover, higher biodiversity, and a greater biomass than the forest that did not contain a sacred site. In addition, dominant species within the sacred forests were associated with deciduous dry forest ecosystems while dominant species within the forest not containing a sacred site were introduced plantation species and species associated with savanna ecosystems. These results indicate that sacred forests in Kaboli, Togo, have a higher ecological value and are less degraded than similar community forests that do not contain a sacred site. This important role of sacred sites in forest conservation suggests that feedback loops exist between social and ecological systems, and that both need to be considered together to achieve effective development of forest conservation strategies.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Comparison of the Ecological Value of Sacred and Nonsacred Community Forests in Kaboli, Togo

Lynch

Kokou

Todd

2018

Tropical Conservation Science

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“…The spiritual importance of mangroves was so strong in this instance that it was taboo for people to touch (and presumably cut) the trees. Religion has been shown in other examples to be an important driver of forest conservation, either through taboo or sacred edicts [62]. The mangrove forest was also incorporated into fears of inter-tribal war, which were common in Melanesian culture [63].…”

Section: Cultural Ecosystem Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem Services and Disservices of Mangrove Forests: Insights from Historical Colonial Observations

Friess

2016

Forests

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Ecosystem services are now strongly applied to mangrove forests, though they are not a new way of viewing mangrove-people interactions; the benefits provided by such habitats, and the negative interactions (ecosystem disservices) between mangroves and people have guided perceptions of mangroves for centuries. This study quantified the ecosystem services and disservices of mangroves as written by colonial explorers from 1823-1883 through a literature survey of 96 expedition reports and studies. Ecosystem disservices were most commonly discussed (60%), with settlers considering mangroves as reservoirs of diseases such as malaria, with wide-ranging implications, such as the global drainage of wetlands in the 19th-20th centuries. Multiple ecosystem services were discussed, especially provisioning services for export, representing colonial views of new lands as ripe for economic use. Interestingly, regulating services of mangroves such as erosion control and sediment accretion that are a focus of much contemporary research were recognized as early as 1865. This study shows that the ecosystem service paradigm has a long history in mangroves. We should not underestimate mangrove ecosystem disservices, and how contemporary perceptions of mangroves may be influenced by such historical viewpoints. Archival materials provide a rich resource to study human-environment interactions, and how they change through time.

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“…A crucial function of the cultural commons is also sustaining forests against logging, farming and climate variance. Physical activities such as tree planting, dumping of organic waste and fire protection all contribute (Campbell, 2005). Our informants tell us that the forests which provide Badie tree bark are protected because of their utility, but other forests in the area are protected for spiritual reasons.…”

Section: The Present and Future Of Generative Justicementioning

confidence: 99%

Of Marx and Makers: an Historical Perspective on Generative Justice

Eglash

2016

TEKN

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In Marxist frameworks "distributive justice" depends on extracting value through a centralized state. Many new social movements-peer to peer economy, maker activism, community agriculture, queer ecology, etc.-take the opposite approach, keeping value in its unalienated form and allowing it to freely circulate from the bottom up. Unlike Marxism, there is no general theory for bottom-up, unalienated value circulation. This paper examines the concept of "generative justice" through an historical contrast between Marx's writings and the indigenous cultures that he drew upon. Marx erroneously concluded that while indigenous cultures had unalienated forms of production, only centralized value extraction could allow the productivity needed for a high quality of life. To the contrary, indigenous cultures now provide a robust model for the "gift economy" that underpins open source technological production, agroecology, and restorative approaches to civil rights. Expanding Marx's concept of unalienated labor value to include unalienated ecological (nonhuman) value, as well as the domain of freedom in speech, sexual orientation, spirituality and other forms of "expressive" value, we arrive at an historically informed perspective for generative justice. KEYWORDSGenerative justice; peer-to-peer; maker; DIY; indigenous; queer ecology. RESUMENEn términos marxistas, la "justicia distributiva" depende de la extracción de valor a través de un estado centralizado. Muchos de los nuevos movimientos sociales centrados en la economía peer to peer, el activismo fabricante, la agricultura comunitaria, ecología queer, etc., toman el camino contrario: mantener el valor en su forma alienada permitiendo que circule libremente desde abajo hacia arriba. A diferencia del marxismo, no existe una teoría general de abajo hacia arriba sobre la circulación del valor no alienado. Este artículo examina el concepto de "justicia generativa" a través de un contraste histórico entre los escritos de Marx y las culturas indígenas en que se basó. Marx llegó a la conclusión errónea de que, mientras que las culturas indígenas tenían formas enajenadas de producción, sólo el valor de la extracción centralizada podría permitir la productividad necesaria para una alta calidad de vida. Sin embargo, las culturas indígenas ahora proporcionan un modelo sólido para la "economía del don" que sustenta la producción tecnológica de código abierto, la agroecología y las aproximaciones de restitución de los derechos civiles. Ampliando el concepto del valor del trabajo no alienado de Marx para incluir el valor no alienado ecológico (no humano), así como el dominio de la libertad de expresión, la orientación sexual, la espiritualidad y otras formas de valor "expresiva", llegamos a una definición de la justicia generativa.

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Sacred Groves for Forest Conservation in Ghana's Coastal Savannas: Assessing Ecological and Social Dimensions

Cited by 45 publications

References 41 publications

Comparison of the Ecological Value of Sacred and Nonsacred Community Forests in Kaboli, Togo

Comparison of the Ecological Value of Sacred and Nonsacred Community Forests in Kaboli, Togo

Ecosystem Services and Disservices of Mangrove Forests: Insights from Historical Colonial Observations

Of Marx and Makers: an Historical Perspective on Generative Justice

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