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Women play a key role in managing and preserving biodiversity, water, land and other natural resources, yet their importance is often ignored or exploited.  Last week we highlighted some key impacts, such as poor health and reduced access to employment and education, which are caused by gender inequalities in natural resources management.  So how can we recognise and tackle gender prejudices for the benefit of the environment?  Over the next two weeks we shall look at this question in the context of topical environmental issues in Swaziland.

Gender, Biodiversity and Protected Areas
Biodiversity is essential for securing livelihoods and reducing poverty, and gender can determine people’s roles in the use, conservation and management of biodiversity.  Rural women in particular have an intense interaction with natural resources, given their heavy involvement in collecting and producing food, fuel, medicinal remedies and necessary raw materials. 

Gender implications are particularly noticeable when communities are excluded from their traditional lands by poor management of game parks and protected areas: women’s opportunities for gathering wild products are limited; their crops are damaged by marauding game; and some men, driven by poverty and hunger, risk brutal violence by venturing into park in search of their next meal.  Such marginalisation causes other impacts on gender balance, as young people, especially men, are forced to embark on seasonal or permanent migration. This puts a sharp strain on those left behind, very often the women, who are required to take on an even greater burden of work.

Gender and Traditional Knowledge of Biodiversity
Both men and women acquire traditional environmental knowledge, which stems from years of living in close contact with nature.  Gender-related differences in terms of labour, property rights and decision-making processes shape knowledge systems, so men and women end up with varying forms of expertise.  Men may know a great deal about trees used for timber, for example, while women are authorities on those providing fruits, medicines and fodder.  Women’s knowledge about wild food enhances food security in many communities during unfavourable situations such as famine and epidemics.  The preservation of this knowledge is crucial for maintaining biodiversity and promoting sustainable development.

Certain official development approaches actually threaten to turn women’s local knowledge against them.  There is a real danger that indigenous knowledge will be extracted, patented and sold for the benefit of industry, undermining women’s autonomy and their access to and control over vital resources. The dangers of this "biopiracy" are made even more acute by the fact that current patent systems are effectively inaccessible to indigenous peoples.

The large-scale modernization of agriculture and the destruction of biodiversity, through large-scale logging, for example, and biotechnology are also eroding women’s knowledge and status. 

More needs to be done to achieve the full and active participation of women in biodiversity decision-making, assure their access to services (including education) and resources, and open the door to equal sharing of benefits.  Awareness on the potential wealth of women’s contributions should be raised in all forums and institutions dealing with biodiversity.  Above all, conservation efforts need to draw from the principles of social justice, equity and equality.

Watch this column next week for a look at issues of gender in relation to desertification and land degradation.

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