Gender and Natural Resource Management


Book Description

This book is about the gender dimensions of natural resource exploitation and management, with a focus on Asia. It explores the uneasy negotiations between theory, policy and practice that are often evident within the realm of gender, environment and natural resource management, especially where gender is understood as a political, negotiated and contested element of social relationships. It offers a critical feminist perspective on gender relations and natural resource management in the context of contemporary policy concerns: decentralized governance, the elimination of poverty and themainstreaming of gender. Through a combination of strong conceptual argument and empirical material from a variety of political economic and ecological contexts (including Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam), the book examines gender-environment linkages within shifting configurations of resource access and control. The book will serve as a core resource for students of gender studies and natural resource management, and as supplementary reading for a wide range of disciplines including geography, environmental studies, sociology and development. It also provides a stimulating collection of ideas for professionals looking to incorporate gender issues within their practice in sustainable development. Published with IDRC.




Social and Gender Analysis in Natural Resource Management


Book Description

Documents and reflects on the steps that researchers are taking to implement social and gender analysis, including questions of class, caste, and ethnicity, into their everyday work. Combines both learning experiences and scientific results, representing academic and nonacademic sectors, a variety of research organizations, and a number of natural resource management questions, including biodiversity conservation, crop and livestock improvement, and sustainable grassland development. The learning studies, from China, India, Mongolia, Nepal, and Viet Nam, illustrate challenges, opportunities, successes, and disappointments, and highlight the different methods used and adapted in the diverse contexts of South and Southeast Asia. Concludes with a comparative analysis of the learning studies, which highlights common issues and challenges.




Gender Research in Natural Resource Management


Book Description

The aim of this book is to highlight the role that gender research can play in understanding natural resource management and rural development issues in the Middle East and North Africa region and how hands-on training and mentoring can be used as a capacity enhancement approach. It presents findings of four research teams, working in three countries, Algeria, Lebanon and Morocco. The approach was to build the capacity of national teams through hands-on field research, mentoring and technical support, which is different from traditional training. The chapters present the results of the case studies used as learning platforms for the teams and reflections on this approach. The case studies demonstrate the capacity and skills that the teams have acquired. These teams were multi-disciplinary and included social scientists as well as specialists in water management, livestock production and rangelands and agronomy. The book provides grounded empirical examples for MENA academics, practitioners and development students concerned about ensuring gender-balanced rural development.




Genderscapes


Book Description

Even in a realm that would seem to be as far removed from issues of gender as natural resource management, gender bias is pernicious and persistent, especially in India. "Genderscapes" looks at the reasons for this bias from a number of angles, including the socialization of attitudes, the shaping of community ideologies, and the construction of disciplines and research methodologies. Sumi Krishna puts forward the novel concept of genderscapes to reflect the totality of women s life worlds, and she builds her use of the concept on a group of rich case studies, including the caring practices of forest-dwellers, women s knowledge of biodiversity, and their widespread responsibility for farming and food production. Women s economic needs cannot be separated from their sociopolitical interests, Krishna showsand only by looking at them as a whole can we solve the problem of discrimination."







Advancing Gender Equality Through Agricultural and Environmental Research


Book Description

"Advancing Gender Equality through Agricultural and Environmental Research: Past, Present, and Future stands to become the new go-to resource on gender in agriculture. Bringing together contributions from more than 60 authors who expertly straddle gender research and agricultural science, it offers important insights for the wider agricultural research and development communities. A comprehensive synthesis of CGIAR gender research to date, it not only illuminates what we know - and what we don't yet know - about the contributions of gender research to development outcomes, but also, and especially, investigates the contribution of agricultural development to gender equality outcomes. The lessons emerging from this synthesis have important implications for work that supports countries to achieve their national development objectives, as well as for our collective approach to meeting global targets such as the Sustainable Development Goals"--




The Power of Women's Informal Networks


Book Description

Too often, editors Bandana Purkayastha and Mangala Subramaniam have found, marginalized groups in rural or impoverished areas are overlooked by the international economy of knowledge. The Power of Women's Informal Networks describes and evaluates social organization among poor women in South Asia and West Africa as attempts to challenge marginalization. The discerning editors and contributors explicitly consider the situated contexts within which women work together to improve their lives, with a primary focus on international women's agencies.




Environmental Security and Gender


Book Description

Over the past 20 years scholars, policymakers, and the media have increasingly recognized the links between both traditional and non-traditional security issues and the changing condition of the global environment. Concepts such as 'environmental security' and 'resource conflict' have been used to hint at these significant linkages. While there has been a good deal of scholarly work conducted that seeks to identify the ways that actors link these concepts, there has been little examination of the intersection between approaches to environmental security and gender. This book explores this intersection to provide an insight into the gendered nature of both global environmental politics and security studies. It examines how the issues of security and the environment are linked to theory and practice, and the extent to which gender informs these discussions. By adopting a feminist environmental security discourse, this book provides crucial redefinitions of key concepts and offers new insights into the ways we understand security-environment connections. Case studies evaluate if, and how, environment and security discourses are being used to understand a range of environmental issues, and how a feminist environmental security discourse contributes to our understanding of security-environment connections. This multidisciplinary volume draws on literature from the environmental sciences, security studies and sociology to highlight the complex human insecurities that often accompany environmental change. As conceptualizations of security continue to shift and broaden to include environmental issues and concerns, it is imperative that gender informs the debate.




Managing Natural Resources for Development in Africa


Book Description

The complex and dynamic interlinks between natural resource management (NRM) and development have long been recognized by national and international research and development organizations and have generated voluminous literature. However, much of what is available in the form of university course books, practical learning manuals and reference materials in NRM is based on experiences from outside Africa. Managing Natural Resources for Development in Africa: A Resource Book provides an understanding of the various levels at which NRM issues occur and are being addressed scientifically, economically, socially and politically. The book's nine chapters present state-of-the-art perspectives within a holistic African context. The book systematically navigates the tricky landscape of integrated NRM, with special reference to Eastern and Southern Africa, against the backdrop of prevailing local, national, regional and global social, economic and environmental challenges. The authors' wide experience, the rich references made to emerging challenges and opportunities, and the presentation of different tools, principles, approaches, case studies and processes make the book a rich and valuable one-stop resource for postgraduate students, researchers, policymakers and NRM practitioners. The book is designed to help the reader grasp in-depth NRM perspectives and presents innovative guidance for research design and problem solving, including review questions, learning activities and recommended further reading. The book was developed through a writeshop process by a multi-disciplinary team of lecturers from the University of Nairobi, Egerton University, Kenyatta University, the University of Zimbabwe, the University of Malawi, Makerere University and the University of Dar es Salam. In addition, selected NRM experts from regional and international research organizations including the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF), the Africa Forest Forum, RUFORUM, IIRR and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) participated in the writeshop and contributed material to the book.




Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook


Book Description

The 'Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook' provides an up-to-date understanding of gender issues and a rich compilation of compelling evidence of good practices and lessons learned to guide practitioners in integrating gender dimensions into agricultural projects and programs. It is serves as a tool for: guidance; showcasing key principles in integrating gender into projects; stimulating the imagination of practitioners to apply lessons learned, experiences, and innovations to the design of future support and investment in the agriculture sector. The Sourcebook draws on a wide range of experience from World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and other donor agencies, governments, institutions, and groups active in agricultural development. The Sourcebook looks at: access to and control of assets; access to markets, information and organization; and capacity to manage risk and vulnerability through a gender lens. There are 16 modules covering themes of cross-cutting importance for agriculture with strong gender dimensions (Policy, Public Administration and Governance; Agricultural Innovation and Education; Food Security; Markets; Rural Finance; Rural Infrastructure; Water; Land; Labor; Natural Resource Management; and Disaster and Post-Conflict Management) and specific subsectors in agriculture (Crops, Livestock, Forestry, and Fisheries). A separate module on Monitoring and Evaluation is included, responding to the need to track implementation and development impact. Each module contains three different sub-units: (1) A Module Overview gives a broad introduction to the topic and provides a summary of major development issues in the sector and rationale of looking at gender dimension; (2) Thematic Notes provide a brief and technically sound guide in gender integration in selected themes with lessons learned, guidelines, checklists, organizing principles, key questions, and key performance indicators; and (3) Innovative Activity Profiles describe the design and innovative features of recent and exciting projects and activities that have been implemented or are ongoing.