Revisiting debates on the role of gender in the governance of trees and forests in the context of climate change
Revisiting debates on the role of gender in the governance of trees and forests in the context of climate change
wca2014-1435 Bimbika S. Basnett 1,* 1Governance, Center for International Forestry Research, Bogor, IndonesiaThere exist a long-standing debate among researchers and practitioners on the role of gender in environmental governance including of trees and forests. While some point to the synergies between women’s interests and the goals of good governance, others suggest that such relationships need to be examined in specific social and historical contexts and cannot be pre-determined. The importance of revisiting this debate is all the more important in light of recent attempts to integrate gender in climate change policies in the forestry and agroforestry sector. Informed by the aforementioned debate, women are portrayed as “victims” of climate change and “agents of change” in designing and implementing climate change policies while others see women as “perpetrators” and suggest including them might risk jeopardizing efforts to adapt to and mitigate against climate change. This presentation will critically review these debates and suggest that the role of gender in forestry and agroforestry in the changing context of climate change needs to be understood from a relational and rights-based perspective, and it will highlight some of the implications for such a change in perspective for policies and practice.