ICSRF 2025: GeoSanskriti Digital Platform to Protect Kerala’s Sacred Groves

During Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham’s ICSRF Global conference 2025, held at the Amritapuri Campus, it was a proud moment to unveil the centralized knowledge hub designed to protect Kerala’s sacred groves.

Dr. Amritesh from the Amrita School for Sustainable Futures explained how the software can protect 200 sacred groves, apart from capturing a range of details–ownership, frequency of cultural activities, patterns of shrinkage, including the invaluable and tangible benefits they bring to the communities.

With its integrated and interactive interface, GeoSanskriti empowers governments, researchers, communities and policy makers and conservationists to share data seamlessly and enable evidence-based conservation policies for the sustainable management of sacred groves and other cultural sites.

The goal is to preserve the ecologically, culturally and spiritually important landscapes for future generations while strengthening the communities that safeguard them.

GeoSanskriti, The Geospatial Platform for Intangible Cultural Heritage, was thus inaugurated. The platform celebrates and safeguards the living traditions of Kerala, documenting over 240 sacred groves. Designed as a co-created open system, it blends community knowledge, socio-cultural practices and ecological data to digitally map and monitor sacred landscapes.