RAS question
Sacred groves are examples of:
Correct answer: (B) Community-based in-situ conservation.
Sacred groves are examples of community-based in-situ conservation, where local communities protect forest patches in their natural setting through religious and cultural traditions.
Explanation
Sacred groves are not artificial enclosures or laboratory-led conservation projects; they are forest patches kept protected by communities because local belief systems attach religious and cultural value to them. That is why they fit community-based conservation. They are also in-situ conservation because the biodiversity remains within the original forest habitat, rather than being removed to a zoo, garden or other off-site facility. FAO, Center for the Conservation of Biodiversity describes sacred groves as forest patches left untouched through social fencing by local people and protected traditionally by local communities. Sacred groves also have in-situ value for conserving wild plant species, including rare and threatened species. Examples include Dev Van in Rajasthan, Kan in Kerala and Devarakadu in Karnataka.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Zoo-based conservation keeps animals in zoological facilities, while sacred groves are protected forest patches maintained by communities in the landscape itself.
- (C) Ex-situ conservation removes threatened plants or animals from their natural habitat, whereas sacred groves conserve biodiversity within the original forest habitat.
- (D) Scientific conservation may involve formal expert-led methods, but sacred groves are primarily sustained by community belief, taboo and cultural protection rather than by a purely scientific programme.
Concept
This tests the biodiversity-conservation distinction between in-situ and ex-situ methods. It recurs in RAS because sacred groves connect ecology with Indian community traditions and Rajasthan-linked examples.