In this CIFOR-hosted session of the 2014 IUFRO World Congress, experts examined the implications of forest and land tenure reforms in Nicaragua and elsewhere (in Asia, Africa and Latin America) with emphasis on local institutions, governance, livelihoods, and gender dynamics.
Women's participation in communal forests: experience from Nicaragua's indigenous territories
1. Women’s Participation in Communal
Forests: Experience from Nicaragua’s
Kristen Evans*, Selmira Flores# and Anne Larson*
October 9, 2014
Salt Lake City, Utah
IUFRO
*CIFOR, #Nitlapan-UCA
Indigenous Territories
2. Background: Why this research?
Little research exists on indigenous women’s participation in
forest use and management in communal lands in Latin
America.
In Nicaragua, women theoretically (by law) have equal
rights to forest resources and decision making.
However, empirical evidence points to important inequalities
in access and rights.
Who will decide the future of communal forests?
3. Research questions
How are indigenous women “participating” in decision-making
about forests and forest resources?
What are the constraints and opportunities to equitable
participation by Miskitas and Mayangnas in decision-making?
What strategies can improve the participation of these
groups of women?
4. Study site: Northern Caribbean
Autonomous Region (RACN)
Majority indigenous: Miskitu (57%)
and Mayangna (4%)1
Communal land tenure with new
conflicts arising (saneamiento)
43% forest cover2
Subsistence livelihoods
complemented with periodic cash
sales of forest products and wage
labor
1 INIDE 2005 VIII Population Census, Managua, Nicaragua.
2 INAFOR 2008. Inventario Forestal 2007-08. Instituto Nacional
Forestal, Managua, Nicaragua.
5. Methods
Methodology Results/Outcomes
Household surveys
300 surveys of men and women (50%
each) about participation in use, sale and
decision-making with regard to the
forest.
Quantify nature of participation in
decision-making and provide baseline.
How do women participate?
Adaptive collaborative management
Participatory action research methods to
open up decision-making spaces to
women at the community level.
Strengthen participation through shared
activities; identify constraints and
strategies to broaden participation in
public spaces.
How can women’s participation at the
community level be improved?
Semi-structured interviews
Interviews with community leaders and
members (men and women)
Identify the driving forces, attitudes and
interactions in both the public and
private sphere that limit or encourage
participation.
What are the obstacles to women’s
participation at the community level?
6. Perceptions on participation (1)
Women are involved in forest-related
decision making at the following levels…
% of respondent type who
agreed
Male Female
Household*
88.7 80.5
As a member of a community group
80.9 75.5
In local council meetings
78.7 73.6
In meetings with other stakeholders eg.
NGOs, researchers etc.
76.6 62.9
* Difference is significant
Source: Survey of 300 households in 9 communities
7. Perceptions on participation (2)
% of respondent type
who agreed
Statement Male Female
Women are
adequately included
in local forest
management decision
making
70.9 66.0
Women’s
participation in forest
management
decisions is good or
very good (in terms of
quality and capacity)
26.2 25.8
9. Forest product sales and
control of income
Of those hh selling,
% who sells
Of those hh selling,
% controlling the money
Resource
Percentage of
households
that sell Man Woman Both Man Woman Both
Wood 33.3 55.6 37.4 7.0 28.3 20.2 51.5
Posts 12.0 58.3 38.9 2.8 38.9 16.7 44.4
Firewood 5.7 35.3 23.5 41.2 17.6 11.8 70.6
Animals 16.7 40.8 26.5 32.6 20.4 22.4 57.1
Fruits 12.7 23.7 36.8 39.5 13.2 39.5 47.4
Artisan
materials 5.3 25.0 62.5 12.5 6.2 59.2 37.5
Herbs 3.7 36.4 45.4 18.2 18.2 54.6 27.3
Honey 3.0 44.4 44.4 11.1 22.2 55.6 22.2
10. If women are participating so much, is there a
problem?
Many agree women are participating, but what is the nature of
“participation”?
34% of women stated that women’s inclusion is NOT adequate
75% (men and women) said women do not have the capacity
to participate so perhaps apparently “adequate” participation is
based on this perception?
Though control over income appears more equitable than
expected,
1) it is not clear that this is so true in practice and
2) this is only one type of forest decision-making on communal
lands (focused at the hh level where men and women agree
that women participate much more)
What about larger scale issues such as conservation, climate
change, resilience or food security as these relate to forests -
decisions that tend to take place in spheres beyond the
household?
11. ACM Activities
To explore the nature of women’s
participation in decision-making
and facilitate involvement of
women in decision-making about
their communal forest in the public
sphere.
Workshops and field activities in
planning and implementing a small-scale
forest-related project designed
and developed by the community:
tree nurseries, reforestation,
governance training.
Participatory monitoring activities to
open spaces for discussion and
reflection about participation
12. Findings: Constraints at the
household level limit participation
“In order for women to
participate, they have to find a
way to negotiate with and
convince their husbands.”
– community woman
Pressure by spouses limits
participation
Sanctions can include domestic
violence
Childcare concerns
13. Findings: Constraints at the
community level limit participation
Weak community governance and conflict
Traditional community leaders control participation (of
both men and women):
• Not everyone is invited to meetings and “participation” may be
limited to “presence”
Lack of support for women’s organizations and conflict
among women
Overt strategies to discourage the participation of
women
Social problems that break down the community
fabric: drugs, crime, youth pregnancies, domestic
violence
14. Gender and decision-making
Macro
Political
Cultural
National
Global
Meso
Community
Territorial
Local economy
Micro
Household
Forest
Community
Organization
Laws requiring representation/
granting rights
Selling
forest
products
Level of participation (Agarwal 2001)
Deciding
use of $
(Colfer 2013)
Nominal Passive Consultative Activity-specific Active Interactive
15. Conclusions
Women make decisions about natural
resources at the household level.
However, women’s participation in decision-making
in the public sphere is challenged by
tradition, household influences, and overt
efforts to limit it by leaders.
Weak community governance and internal
conflicts limit women’s potential to organize
and participate actively.
Statistical survey data only gives us part of
the story.
Difficult issues like gender cannot be
addressed only in the public sphere: the
private sphere matters too.
16. Recommendations
Build leadership and governance capacity with women.
Strengthen community governance, including organization
systems, advocacy, participatory mechanisms,
administration, gender and equity, and forest management.
Strengthen the organization of women and encourage the
development of political agendas that include a short and
long-term vision.
Boost alternative mechanisms that contribute to and
guarantee that women contribute actively in decision-making
spaces such as assemblies and meetings.
Promote communication between leaders and community
members to involve them in various levels of participation.
Address the pervasive incidence of domestic violence.
what happens inside communal areas? Many of Nicaragua’s tropical forests are now inside titled indigenous territories. We know that forests in Nicaragua’s indigenous territories have increasingly become seen as arenas for timber and therefore also arenas for men. Historically this was not the case.
There are three important issues to note here:
A high portion of men and women agree that women are participating in forest-related decisions at all levels
Men’s estimates are consistently higher than women’s though this difference is only significant at the hh level
Women’s participation declines from the household to arenas that are increasingly “public” or formal
Key question #1: What does “involvement” or participation mean?
Key question #2: What is “adequate” participation? Do 66-71% agree that participation is “adequate” because they don’t think women should be involved?
The prevailing wisdom on gender and forest products is that men extract timber and women extract firewood and NTFPs. Our data concurs with a new study on the Poverty and Environment Network findings that this does not hold true in Latin America. In our study sites, indigenous women are extracting very few products from the forest.
Previous slide: women are not extracting much at all yet perhaps surprisingly they participate substantially in sales.
In comparison to women, men more often sell the timber resources and fauna and women other non timber products
Though men still more often control the income from timber products, 44 to 71% interviewed report that both control the income (this is an important finding. However, it needs further inquiry, as other studies (reporting the same result in Nicaragua) reveal a different story when more detailed questions are asked.
Women are more likely to control the income from the products they sell (statistically significant finding across Uganda and Nicaragua)
If you want more information on ACM, come to the book launch tomorrow at 12!
-World Economic Forum Gender Gap ranks Nicaragua as #10
-Colfer, C.J.P., 2013. The gender box: a framework for analysing gender roles in forest management (Occasional Paper). Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia.
-Agarwal, B., 2001. Participatory Exclusions, Community Forestry, and Gender: An Analysis for South Asia and a Conceptual Framework. World Development 29, 1623–1648