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In a number of places, sacred forest sites play an important role in conservation and
local livelihoods. This paper examines how Iban hunters and animals alike use sacred
forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. To determine the relative importance of different
sites in hunting, it compares hunting effort, animal species and their numbers
encountered by hunters, and encounters and captures in a variety of forest sites
including sacred groves. The authors relate the results to the role of such sites in the
overall Iban agroforestry system and in the conservation of forest habitat that
professional conservationists deem precious. Such land use practices, while having
social and religious origins, may be important for local economic purposes, but they
may also be valuable in promoting and enhancing the more global goals of biodiversity
conservation.