Women in forest governance policy: analysis and empirical studies from Latin America and Asia

A6a: Women and Forest: promoting gender equality connecting research, public policies and forest management in the tropics

Artikel aus einer Zeitschrift

9087

200206852

A search for the words women and gender in the Draft National Forest Policy, 2018 – which governs the formulation of all laws and schemes related to forestry – returns zero results. While terms like wood, economic or timber appear all over the 10-page draft policy released by the Indian government in March. Likewise, the policies on forest in Latin America’s Colombia shows the challenge of integrating women’s active role in collective forest governance, particularly in agro-forestry. This paper makes a comparative analysis between Latin America and Asia in understanding the role of women in forest policy. The two countries Mexico and Colombia from Latin America while India and Indonesia from Asia will be used as empirical case study. The study uses primary and secondary data to show how recent forest policies impact women from rural and indigenous areas. The findings indicate that forest policy rarely uses the words ‘women’ or ‘gender’ to ensure women’s active role in forest governance. The first challenge is to overcome the challenge is for the environment ministry to acknowledge that the draft policy fails to discuss gender integration and women’s issues in the management of forests, trees, agroforestry and afforestation. The next step will have to be to open up the dialogue for social and gender inclusion, and to ensure that environmental defenders, including women, are protected through India’s forest policy. With these measures in place, this paper indicates a chance of saving India’s forests and the communities who depend on them.