International Journal of Mol. Ecol. and Conserv 2015, Vol.5, No.6, 1-4
9
many small areas have a high percentage of endemic
species.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The sacred forest is a traditional forest reserve (TFR)
meant to fulfill not only the cultural needs but also
specific functional needs of the community and the
management of their environment which, is similar
functions as government-declared protected area. The
spiritual values attached to these sites result in
restrictions of access and collection of flora and fauna
products in these sites therefore resulting in a natural
or near natural ecosystems and biotopes devoid of
alteration. In all the studied sacred forests, it was
observed that they were still stocked with important
tree species and the evident or presence of secondary
species/colonizers, which is encourage by human
activities were minimal within the sacred forests. Thus,
there is hope arising from the tree composition and
dbh distribution of the tree species in the sacred
forests as they are likely to prove most valuable (when
compared with other forest settings) in ensuring
indigenous species production, a potential gene pool
for biodiversity, restoration of other degraded
environment and reduction or sequestration of carbon
dioxide to reduce global warming. This study
therefore suggest or recommend that as effort is being
made to increase the total areas of the country’s forest
reserves, the sacred forest should be studied to unveil
the socio-cultural matrix of traditional belief systems
that has helped conserve such sites or how to integrate
them into existing protected area networks to help
safeguard them without affecting rights, wishes and
traditional practices of traditional owners.
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