Sacred groves are patches of forests protected and used by people for cultural and religious reasons. India has more than 100,000 sacred groves as a result of its high cultural, geographic, and ethnic diversity. Sacred groves can be valuable in conserving biodiversity and in providing ecosystem services. Although numerous sacred forests from biodiversity-rich regions of India, such as the Western Ghats and Himalayas, have been studied, the sacred groves of eastern India are not well documented. We analysed the available literature on the sacred groves of Odisha, a densely forested state in eastern India and home to many indigenous tribal communities that are dependent on forest resources for their livelihoods. There are an estimated 2166 sacred groves across the state of Odisha, concentrated largely in tribal districts. Most of these groves are small, many under one hectare. We conclude that traditional indigenous tribal cultural practices have conserved natural areas in Odisha, but that these areas and practices are under increasing pressure from industrialization, exploitation of valuable forest resources, and expanding agriculture.

中文翻译：

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通过传统知识进行保护：印度奥里萨邦圣树林研究回顾

圣林是人们出于文化和宗教原因而受到保护和使用的森林。由于其高度的文化、地理和种族多样性，印度拥有超过 100,000 座圣林。圣林在保护生物多样性和提供生态系统服务方面很有价值。尽管已经研究了来自印度生物多样性丰富地区（例如西高止山脉和喜马拉雅山脉）的众多圣林，但印度东部的圣林并没有得到很好的记录。我们分析了关于奥里萨邦圣树林的现有文献，奥里萨邦是印度东部一个森林茂密的邦，是许多依赖森林资源维持生计的土著部落社区的所在地。据估计，奥里萨邦有 2166 座圣林，主要集中在部落地区。大多数这些小树林都很小，许多不到一公顷。我们得出的结论是，传统的土著部落文化习俗保护了奥里萨邦的自然区域，但这些地区和习俗正面临来自工业化、开发宝贵的森林资源和扩大农业的越来越大的压力。