SPIRAL: cross cultural study of sustainable management practices of spiritual landscapes was supported by the EUTOPIA Science and Innovation Fellowship Programme and funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 945380.
The SPIRAL project conducts a cross-cultural study of eco-spiritual practices and pluriversal ways of knowing and relating to spiritual landscapes, with a particular focus on sacred forests. Adopting a mixed-methods approach, the project aims to contribute to the development of a holistic, heritage-sensitive policy framework for forest conservation at the global scale.
SPIRAL’s primary objective is to document the global diversity of cosmoecologies and eco-spiritual practices that shape relationships between societies and forests. By integrating ecological knowledge and Indigenous knowledge systems into contemporary landscape planning, the project seeks to inform a heritage-sensitive policy framework that supports plural governance systems, customary law, and Indigenous ways of knowing.
Ultimately, SPIRAL contributes to a paradigm shift in conservation science—one that recognizes sacred forests as political and ecological actors within socio-ecological systems, and acknowledges customary law and Indigenous governance systems as effective mechanisms for achieving global biodiversity targets.
What Are Sacred Forests?
Sacred Forests are unique social-ecological systems (SESs) found across the globe and closely connected to the cultural, spiritual, and ecological traditions of indigenous people and local communities (IPLCS). Often located in some of the planet’s most biodiverse regions, Sacred Forests play an essential role in biocultural diversity conservation, yet they remain underrepresented in global forest governance and landscape ecology research.
These forests serve not only as ecological hotspots but also as cultural and spiritual sanctuaries. They are linked to traditional belief systems, religious rituals, historical events, rites of passage, and burial practices. The SESs of Sacred Forests support community-based adaptation strategies grounded in Indigenous Knowledge and Traditional Ecological Knowledge Systems (TEK) and indigeneity as an entry point to learn the plurality of relational ontologies and ways of knowing and living forests. Such knowledge helps local populations address environmental and social challenges, including water management, health, agriculture, energy access, food security, and settlement planning.
Research Background and Focus
Building on my doctoral research (2018–2022) in Senegal, which examined the dynamics of ecovillage transitions, the SPIRAL project uses a transdisciplinary and comparative approach to study Sacred Forests across different cultural and geographical contexts. Through a series of case studies, SPIRAL investigates how ecospiritual practices and cosmoecologies influence the governance, protection, and resilience of these forests and spiritual landscapes.
You can also explore our related research on biocultural heritage.
Aim and Future Perspectives
The primary goal of SPIRAL is to document the global diversity of cosmoecologies and ecospiritual practices that shape the societies and forests relationships. By integrating ecological knowledge into contemporary landscape planning, the project aims to inspire a heritage sensitive policy framework to sustain plural relational governance systems and indigenous ways of knowing.
Ultimately, SPIRAL contributes to shift the paradigm in conservation science—one that recognizes Sacred Forests as political agents in socio- ecological systems and customary law as effective governance systems to accomplish biodiversity targets.
Hosted by PLACES lab, Financed by EUTOPIA SIF Network of University Grant Agreement 945380
MEDIA CONTACTS
Alessandra Manzini, EUTOPIA-SIF Marie Sklodowska-Curie COFUND Fellow at CY Cergy Paris University web: alessandramanzini.com contact: alessandra.manzini@cyu.fr