•  Gender equity in protected areas
•  Dakar workshop on equity (June 2007)
•  High level workshop on equity (April 2008)

Gender equity in protected areas

IUCN and FIBA are currently developing a regional project on equity in protected areas.

Over the past years, there were many accomplishments in favour of a participatory approach in protected areas. However, we notice that efforts have often been focused on men (more available and accessible) and that minority groups have paradoxically been marginalized (women, youth). Women have often been excluded from protected areas consultation and decision-making procedures, and this has had serious consequences.

The observation that women were left aside led to financing projects in favour of women. This was all the more justified as experience showed, in Côte d'Ivoire for example, that increasing women participation to household income would reduce the money spent for alcohol and cigarettes and would increase the money spent for food. But such projects have had their limitations: women have been reduced to marginal activities (for example micro credit) and men exclusion revealed to be unsettling for societies.

For more information :

- See the documentary « En quête d'équité » realized in 2008 by PAPACO.
- Download the equity book jointly realized with FIBA.

Dakar workshop on equity (June 2007)

From 30th May to 1st June 2007, a workshop was held in Dakar under the theme of equity within the sub-region protected areas. Jointly organized by IUCN and FIBA, this workshop showed that women are not enough taken into account in protected areas management processes. They are not recognized as producing, using and maintaining natural resources in protected areas; they are not requested to participate to conservation and remain at the periphery of actions of surveillance and information collection; also, they are not involved in decision-making. Women are not well represented at decision-making levels, and this results in bad global governance of lands. Women revenues stagnate and their specific needs are not satisfied. In fine, this situation results in the resignation all of the actors. The high rate of women illiteracy is a hindrance, but at the same time it is a pretext to limit their involvement in PAs management system. And yet, experience shows that when they are given the opportunity, their contribution is precious.

The workshop showed that during the elaboration of the management plan, it is important to make sure that all the social groups are well represented. The use of resources by sex, economic group or age should be clearly identified. Furthermore, the resulting transformations in women and men relationships should have to be foreseen.
Download the workshop's report.

High level workshop on equity (April 2008)

A second high level workshop was organized in Cotonou in April 2008. This workshop was sponsored by the Minister of Environment and nature protection of Benin, co-organizer of this event, Mrs Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo. The workshop gathered about fifteen representatives of Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal: members of parliament, executives of environment protection and sustainable development NGOs, high-ranking civil servants, academics. The aim of this workshop was to raise decision-makers awareness on the principle of equity and come to a political statement.

The main observations are the following:

* local communities have not enough been taken into account in West African protected areas management;

* the fact that women are the main users of natural resources ;

* the high rate of illiteracy which is a very important obstacle to the involvement of rural women, and yet they have a real knowledge which has to be exploited.

* the high pressure undergone by women and which also affects educated women.

* women lack of self-confidence ;

* the risk to globalize local experience on the West African scale and therefore the importance to include sociologists or anthropologists in each protected areas project;

* the importance to foresee accompanying measures in projects in favour of women ;

* the difficulty for the elite to put themselves at populations' level.

For more information :

Download the workshop's report.

- IUCN gender web site
- Fact sheet on gender and biodiversity (English) 
- Paper on equity in PAs (English)