F. Francisco^a,b -franciscodomingos11@yahoo.com; A. Sitoe^a - almeidasitoe@gmail.com;

E. Cavane^a -cavaneeu@gmail.com

1. a. Eduardo Mondlane University, Department of Forestry Engineering, Mozambique – Maputo. Email:
2. b. Púnguè University, Department of Biological Sciences, Mozambique – Chimoio.

ABSTRACT

Contextualization: Sacred forests ecosystems play an important role in cultural services. Objective: This paper aims to link the role of beliefs and cultural practices of local communities in sacred forests to the conservation of the local forest species diversity in the Moribane Forest Reserve, Manica - Mozambique. Methodology: The study used a combination of Analytic-Deliberative Method, Field Survey, remote sensing data set, and Google Earth Pro satellite data. The Analytic-Deliberative Method involved a social survey through semi-structured interviews with 149 households living within the reserve, to gather details about the cultural values ​​each sacred forests represents for local communities. The field survey involved 26 rectangular 50mx20m plots, 18 plots were allocated in sacred forests and 8 in the remaining patches belonging to non-SF, to determine the species composition and the structure of woody species. Remote sensing data set (2000 to 2022) and Google Earth Pro satellite data (2007 to 2022) were used for land use and land cover assessment. Results: The results show that there are 13 main Sacred Forests in the Moribane Forest Reserve, where at least 9 tree species are used as places of worship. Among the main cultural practices, requests for: rainfall in cases of prolonged drought stand out; for good production in agricultural campaigns; for the protection of crops against devastation by wild animals, and; for cults against the frequency of wildfires. About 50% of species in non-sacred, and 60% in sacred forests exhibited the highest Importance Value Index and were considered sacred by the local communities. Moreover, 53.84% of the sacred forests present a Good condition of conservation. Conclusion: The sacred forests, driven by cultural practices, exemplify how cultural heritage can promote biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: Sacred Forests, Cultural ecosystem services, Cultural practices, and Forest conservation.