We strengthen participation of indigenous and rural women in forest conservation and governance and promote women’s rights and gender-responsiveness in forest-related policies from local to global. We strengthen community organisations, women’s groups and their initiatives and their autonomy so they can represent themselves and gain access to land and tenure rights. We gather evidence to show the link between gender (in) equality, drivers of deforestation and forest conservation.

Participation of indigenous and rural women in forest conservation and governance

Deforestation is the world’s second largest source of CO2 emissions. Halting climate change is impossible without protecting the remaining forests. Women, in all their diversities, are disproportionately affected by deforestation. They face multiple forms of discrimination based on gender but also on class, age and ethnicity amongst others. Often land ownership, tenure and resource rights are allocated to men. Valuable traditional knowledge that women hold about forest management and food production is often ignored.