Sponsored by UNESCO, this is state-of-the-art volume on a critical evaluation of the `sacred' groves from a variety of perspectives: ecological, social, anthropological, and cultural attributes of the sacred groves; spatial dimensions of the 'sacred', leading to species to landscape level analysis; ecological/ social interphase of conserving the 'sacred', determining ecosystem/ landscape level functional attributes; the whole issue of managing the 'sacred' in the contemporary context of declining natural resources, land degradation and rehabilitation ecology; and management related policy implications.