Latest Reader on Gender and Forestry

Latest Reader on Gender and Forestry

A new book amalgamates 30 years of accumulated knowledge on gender and forestry into one volume. 

A new book amalgamates 30 years of accumulated knowledge on gender and forestry into one volume. 

The Earthscan Reader on Gender and Forests is a new book that compiles over 30 years of scholarship on a topic that is gaining increasing attention worldwide: gender and forestry. Covering a spectrum of disciplines, the book includes a range of articles compiled by the scientists Carol Colfer and Bimbika Sijapati Basnett from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Marlène Elias, Gender Specialist at Bioversity International and Susan Stevens Hummel from the Forest Service at the United States Department of Agriculture.

While ignoring gender issues can be detrimental for resource management and livelihood outcomes, simply adding women to interventions is not the answer. Climate change, market integration, large-scale land acquisitions, migration and the like have major consequences for those living in and off the forests in rural areas and present greater risks to groups that are already more vulnerable, but can also open up opportunities for gender-inclusive changes. This book presents how gender influences these processes of change and how to gear them towards greater gender equality.

A single volume that brings together all this information and is made available both in print and on the CIFOR website will provide a real service to students and researchers living in developing countries who are not always able to retrieve the myriad of online journal articles not available in open access format.

The Reader is useful to both those wanting an introduction to the topic and those who are working to improve forests and the lives of rural women and men but are looking to better grasp the key issues, approaches and debates. According to Elias, its chapters will encourage researchers and practitioners "to constantly question what they do and be sensitive and innovative in their approaches."

Find out more and see the interview with the editors on CIFOR's blog Forests News.

Further reading

Can local participation in community forestry foster social inclusiveness and gender equity?

Why a gender approach is important for conservation: a case study in Sarawak, Malaysia

This research is part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry and is supported by CGIAR Fund Donors.

Photo: Women are vital tenants of both livelihoods and landscapes. Credit: CIFOR