Focus on Sacred Groves & Ethnobotany

Sacred Groves - hottest spots for biodiversity conservation and Ethnobotany - documentation of tribal knowledge about many unfolded secrets of plants have immense role in the era of biotechnology, bioinformics and bioprospecting. As a tribute to Dr. V.D. vartak, a pioneer in both these fields, national seminar on Ethnobotany and Sacred Groves : role in conservation strategy of India. was held at Agharkar Research Institute, Pune. The objectives to bring together biological scientists as well as nature lovers and to know present status of research on various aspects on Sacred Groves and Ethnobotany were achieved through this seminar. The book has Dr. Vartak's initial work on Sacred Groves and Ethnobotany depicting history of these special botanical fields as Part I. these are rare research papers. Besides value of Sacred Groves as traditionally preserved virgin forest patches, they are more valuable for screening novel and non-conventional plant resources as well as conservation sites for rare as well as endemic species. Likewise tribal knowledge about use, value of natural resources, so far remained hidden from civilized eyes, has tremendous potential for bioprospecting in coming years. researchers have focussed on some such issues. The contents have been divided into two parts viz Dr.Vartak's contributions towords Sacred Groves and Ethnobotany as Part I and contributions by delegates as Part II. Part II focuses on variety of aspects ranging from simple listing of Sacred Groves and diversity therein, enumeration of Ethnobotany valuable species to validation of ethno - claims using modern tools. The book is very well received all over the world as being the first of its kind at least on Sacred Groves and unique in having combination of history and new dimensions on the concerned subjects. Useful for Bio-diversity and Conservation strategy.