Conclusions: how the cultural, spiritual and philosophical underpinnings of sacred natural sites can make conservation in Asia more effective and sustainable

Throughout its chapters, ‘Asian Sacred Natural Sites, Philosophy and Practice on Protected Areas and Conservation’ has enquired to what extent the cultural, spiritual and philosophical underpinnings of sacred natural sites form the backbone of protected areas in Asia. Although it is clear that across Asia many protected areas have been established on ancient sacred natural sites their role in the conservation of biological and cultural diversity is often not explicitly recognised. In most instances it is clear that sacred natural sites make a critical contribution to protected areas and conservation. For example, Glémet et al. (Ch. 8) show that compliance with traditional rules and regulations centred within sacred natural sites is stronger and more effective than compliance with national law. In other cases, however, the governance of sacred natural sites by indigenous and religious custodians is obstructed through incompatible policy frameworks and inadequate planning that fails to take these sites into account (see Rai & Jana, Ch. 7).