This study provides an analysis of the three main approaches used in Natural Resource Governance (NRG). These are Ecofeminism; Women Environment and Development (WED); and Gender Environment and Development (GED). Different approaches tend to link women and the environment: firstly, the involvement of women in activities requiring a high interaction with the environment, like fetching water; secondly, the eco-feminist perspective, which describes this relationship at the biological level; and finally, the role of women in conservation activities (Ellis, 2000). This study contributes to the debate on NRG by advocating for the active integration of women and also acknowledging that due to their position in the community, this integration will only happen and be sustained if men are also integrated into the process. The study also argues that the best way to achieve social justice in NRG is through the GED approach.
Understanding of Natural Resource Governance
Altieri (2012) defines NRG as a responsible and broad-based management of land, water, forest, and biological resource base needed to sustain agricultural productivity and avert degradation of potential productivity. The definition shows the link between the uses of resources for human consumption. He goes further to state that methods used in NRG should include a set of actions that take into account all interactions between humans and natural resources. UNEP (2002) defines NRG as the management of interactions between people and natural landscapes, which brings together land use planning, water management, biodiversity conservation, and the future sustainability of industries like agriculture, mining, tourism, fisheries, and forestry. The definition goes on to state that people and their livelihoods rely on the health and productivity of our landscapes, and their actions as stewards of the land play a critical role in maintaining this health and productivity.
Definitions of Gender
Arora-Jonsson (2014) defines gender as an analysis of power relationships and the practices through which what is a ‘man’ or ‘woman’ get defined and made to appear as natural in different environmental contexts. Douma (2002) argued that by taking gender and environmental contexts into account, when resources are freely available, women have access to and control over them.
Men and women have gender-differentiated interests in NRG through their distinctive roles, responsibilities, and knowledge. Gender is therefore a very important aspect in shaping processes of ecological change, viable livelihoods, and the prospects for sustainable development. However, relational perspectives on gender give greater emphasis to the dynamics of gender, emphasizing power relations between men and women over resource access and control, and their concrete expressions in conflict, cooperation, and co-existence over environments and livelihoods.
Douma (2012) indicated that gender plays a very important role in the socio-economic activities in most rural areas. It is therefore a source of social injustice. Gender should therefore be integrated into NRG as a matter of human rights and ensuring social justice. This is essential for the sustainable use and management of natural resources. In most rural areas women are in the best position to ensure the guardianship of biodiversity since they are mostly small-scale farmers and provide food security and water for their families and communities. Women are the most knowledgeable and most likely to re-invest most of their income in sustaining their family (90% compared to 30-40% for males). This is because of their understanding of the natural resources on which they depend (Douma et al., 2002). Despite this expertise, control over resources lies in the hands of men in most rural communities. In most cases, women are poorly represented at the decision-making level. Their power is also limited even in situations where they participate in discussions about NRG due to the social and cultural settings (Douma et al., 2002).
NRG occurs in a social context, where differences in culture, norms, and power relations regulate the systemic functioning of natural resource management (Mohanty, 1991; Mohanty, 1998; Gururani, 2002a; Ojha et al., 2009). Women’s participation in NRG such as forests often involves complex and interrelated parameters. This complexity stresses the need for an embracing concept that allows careful analysis of the extent of women’s participation in forest management while taking into account the power relations in a given social context. In this perspective, the concepts of Feminism and Gender are discussed as approaches for understanding the division, role, knowledge, and influence of women and men in environmental decision-making.