Sacred natural sites and indigenous and community conserved areas (ICCAs) are repositories of biological and cultural diversity, and represent communities’ religious values, customary rules, institutional fabric, traditional knowledge and conservation culture. With changing environments, ICCAs, including sacred sites, face external and internal challenges to their survival, evolution and preservation. As such, ICCAs require recognition on par with the official protected areas managed by governments. Yet despite increasing recognition of ICCAs in international conservation policies, they still largely lack effective and appropriate recognition in national policies and practices. In addition to exploring sacred groves as ICCAs, this article examines the policy and legal instruments that recognize ICCAs at the international and national levels. This article also recommends strategies to enhance the protection of ICCAs, including by shifting the paradigm from government-controlled protected areas to community-controlled conservation areas. National policies and legislation must give more prominence to the customary laws and traditional institutions of the indigenous peoples and local communities managing these conservation areas, as well as acknowledging their rights to self-governance and self-determination.