Forests and Women
Women play an essential role in forest conservation. Depending on the context, they fulfill specific tasks inside forest-dependent communities and have a special relationship with the forest. In a world dominated by patriarchal societies and cultures, forest destruction caused by “development” projects such as industrial tree plantations, mining and oil extraction have severe and differentiated impacts on women, even more serious than those affecting men, disempowering and impoverishing women. Women have little influence on forest conservation and management. While forest-dependent communities most often only have customary and no legal land rights, often the role of women is still a secondary one in the struggles for recognition of these rights, and therefore deserves more attention and support.