Sacred Natural Sites: Monastic Communities Conserving Nature

Document prepared by the Task Force on Cultural and Spiritual Values in Protected Natural Areas of the IUCN and presented at the 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya (Japan) on 18–29 October 2010.

The document highlights the contribution made by Buddhist and Christian monastic communities, in the past and the present, where self-sufficiency and careful and sustainable management of resources is the rule to the conservation of nature in general and, more specifically, to the safeguarding of biodiversity.