Morphometric studies of Terminalia bellirica from Sacred Groves of Sangmeshwar Tahasil

“Western Ghats region of India is a biodiversity hotspot with highly endangered and endemic species of fauna and flora.” (Archana, Jayant, & Rahul). The region harbors varied types of forest and biodiversity but today Western Ghats are threaten by several human activities like mining, urbanization, agriculture…
The present study was carried out in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra state, India, located in the Northern part of the Western Ghats, and have concerned particularly sacred groves. Sacred groves are fragmented areas the more they are reduced the more they are vulnerable. Modifications of sacred groves will implicate an ecological and environnemental impact, (Bennett, 2003).
The Applied Environmental Research Foundation (AERF) is a non-government organisation (NGO) which is working on environnemental projects. AERF is the only organization that has been involved in documenting sacred groves and shifting agriculture practices from the region (Archana, Jayant, & Gokahle, K, 2002).
Today deforestation is the first threat for forests. With the use of forests’ resources we can save forests. AERF’s project is a good example. Indeed villagers cut trees to increase their cultures areas and to sell trees as fuel woods. So to stop these practices we have to valorize forests. Terminalia bellerica’s fruits could be commercialized and so these trees become more interesting for villagers. If they get involved in this work forests can be saved and villagers could increase their incomes.