Gender and Sustainable Development in Drylands: an

Analysis of Field Experiences

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

2003

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© FAO 2003

Document originally prepared by Marina Laudazi (consultant), under the supervision

of Yianna Lambrou (FAO Gender and Population Division), and with editorial
assistance form Jane Shaw and Christiane Monsieur (consultants).

Cover photographs: FAO/Chazine, Faidutti, Bizzarri, Van Acker.

CONTENTS

1. Overview: challenges in drylands and gender considerations

Introduction
What are drylands?
Main issues in drylands
Theoretical framework of the document
 The human dimension in UN environmental and related conventions
FAO’s activities related to drylands

2. FINDINGS OF THE FIELD EXPERIENCES, LESSONS LEARNED AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

Key findings
Drylands, desertification and poverty
Gender roles in drylands
Gender roles in biodiversity and land conservation
What lessons can we draw from the case studies?
Recommendations

3. THE FIELD EXPERIENCE CASE STUDIES

Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal
China
India – Tamil Nadu
India – Telengana, Andhra Pradesh
Kenya
Mali
Mauritania
Morocco
Niger
South Africa
Sudan

REFERENCES

1. Overview: challenges in drylands and gender

considerations
Introduction

The drylands of the world cover approximately 40 percent of the earth’s land surface
and are a direct source of livelihood for about one billion people, especially in
developing countries. However, nearly all drylands are at risk of land degradation as a
result of climate change, increasing human population, land over-use and poverty.
This represents a threat to the food security and survival of the people living in these
areas as well as to the conservation of the biomass and biodiversity.

Drylands pose different challenges for rural men and women because of their different
roles, relations and responsibilities, opportunities and constraints, and uneven access
and control of resources. Furthermore, agricultural, environmental and related policies
 and programmes often fail to recognise women’s particular needs and crucial
contribution in the use and management of dryland resources.

By incorporating a gender perspective in policy, projects and programmes, innovative

ways of combating dryland degradation and food insecurity can be promoted, notably
through a better understanding of men’s and women’s roles, and their respective
concerns and needs. The result is a more sustainable, relevant and equitable
development based on women’s and men’s full and equal participation, on their
respective local knowledge, and on ecological and socio-cultural factors. Such a
gender-sensitive dryland development represents a great opportunity for rural men
and women to join their strengths to preserve food security and the natural resource
base in ways that are sustainable.

This document looks at the relationship between gender and dryland management,
based on an analysis of relevant field experiences in Africa and Asia, identified on the
Internet, highlighting the role of women and men in dryland areas for food security,
land conservation/desertification and the conservation of biodiversity. It makes
available key findings related to these issues in a number of projets and programmes
in Africa and Asia. It also outlines different aspects to be considered for achieving a
gender-sensitive and sustainable dryland management.

This document is thus intended to assist development practitioners, planners and

technical experts engaged in dryland management in the process of integrating a
gender perspective in the assessment, formulation, implementation and evaluation of
policies, projects and programmes for the sustainable and gender-sensitive
development of drylands.

Section 1 briefly reviews the main characteristics of drylands, introduces the

theoretical framework of the document, explains gender-related terminology and
outlines the roles of relevant UN agreements and conventions related to gender and
dryland management as well as FAO’s activities in this field. Section 2 summarizes
the key findings of the field experiences, presents lessons learned and recommends
ways of improving gender-responsive dryland management. Finally, Section 3
summarises 12 of the 50 case studies from which these findings were drawn.

What are drylands?

Drylands is the common term for three agro-climatic zones: arid, semi-arid and sub-
humid, where water resources are limited. Aridity and climate variability are dominant
characteristics of drylands. Rainfall is scarce, unreliable and concentrated during a
short rainy season, while the remaining period tends to be relatively or absolutely dry.
The climates are however sufficient to sustain vegetation and human settlement.

Approximately 40 percent of the world’s land area is dryland, encompassing

savannah, grassland, woodland and shrub land. Drylands are found in all continents
except Antarctica. More commonly recognized drylands include the African Sahel and
the Australian outback. Australia, the United States, the Russian Federation, China
and Kazakhstan are the countries with the most extensive drylands.
 Drylands are a vital part of the earth’s human and physical environments. Their
ecosystems play a major role in global biophysical processes by reflecting and
absorbing solar radiation and maintaining the balance of atmospheric constituents.
They provide much of the world’s grain and livestock, and form the habitat that
supports many vegetable species and micro-organisms. Typical crops in drylands
include sorghum, maize, cotton, sweet potato, cassava, coffee, banana, tea and
sugar cane.

An estimated 40 percent of people in Africa, South America and Asia live in drylands
(UNEP, 2000). The human population of the drylands lives in increasing insecurity as
productive land per capita diminishes. Soil degradation in drylands, referred to as
desertification, affects or puts at risk the livelihoods of people who are directly
dependent on the land for their habitat and source of livelihood. The sustainable
development of drylands is essential to achieving food security and the conservation
of biomass and biodiversity (UNEP, 2000).

Main issues in drylands

Desertification, the process of arable land changing into unproductive soil or desert,
threatens one-quarter of the earth’s land and costs US$42 billion every year (UNEP,
2000). It is caused by climate change, including global warming (UNEP, 2000), and
unsustainable land management practices, which result from either inadequate
techniques or increasing population pressure, and which lead to land degradation.
About 65 percent of all arable land has already lost some of its biological and physical
functions (UNSO, 2002) and drylands are particularly susceptible.

There is a link between Poverty and environmental degradation which has been

signaled often in the literature of the 1990s (Agarwal, 1989; Dankelman and
Davidson, 1988; UNSO, 1994). It was thought that women and men farmers who
eked out an existence on marginal lands with little education and no access to
agricultural resources, could have been driven to adapt practices that may have
harmed the environment. However, futher studies have shown that this relationship is
much more complex and there is no direct linear causality between gender, poverty
and enviromental degradation. When men and women farmers do not own the land
they cultivate, there may also be little incentive for them to make environmentally
sound decisions. In additon, lack of access to credit may hamper them from buying
technologies and inputs that would be less damaging to natural resources (UNSO,
1994).

As food producers, women and men have a stake in the preservation of the

environment and in environmentally sustainable development. Land and water
resources form the basis of all farming systems, and their preservation is crucial to
sustained and improved food production. A lack of understanding and appreciation of
women’s and men’s knowledge of dryland preservation techniques, as well as a
disregard for their priorities as resource users, has led many development
interventions to fail or to be rejected by local communities. In view of this, planners
are now recognizing the value of learning from women’s and men’s local knowledge in
order to protect and sustain the environment, and are aiming more to ensure their full
and equal participation.
 The international community’s efforts to cope with the earth’s deteriorating
environment have led to a far-reaching debate on environmentalism and activism,
which involves developing and developed countries working at the international,
national and local levels. Discussions on gender, environment and sustainable
development have been nurtured by increased interest in such problems as
deforestation and desertification and by the observation that increasing scarcities of
fuelwood, animal fodder and water in certain parts of the world affect women most of
all (Braidiotti et al., 1994). Governments, development agencies and civil society
organizations are increasingly incorporating a gender perspective in their policies,
programmes and projects aimed at protecting drylands. However, the road to
achieving sustainable development of drylands is still a long and arduous one, and
the commitments made at international conferences and conventions need to be
translated into practice, with the full and equal participation of women and men at the
local, national and international levels.

Theoretical framework of the document

This document reflects the evolution in the way development organisations deal with
the human factor, particularly with women, and the broad-based international
consensus on the “gender and development” approach.

Over recent decades, the discourse on the advancement of women and gender
equality in relation to the development process has evolved from the women in
development (WID) to the gender and development (GAD) approach. In the WID
approach development resources were used to improve women’s conditions and
make their contributions visible, but this approach did not address the basic structure
of inequality in relations between women and men, as it tended to focus solely on
women.

The shift in theoretical approach places gender as a central category of analysis and
has opened up a new debate (Braidiotti et al., 1994; Moser, 1993; UN, 1999). The
point of the GAD approach is to examine how the relative positions of men and
women in society, and the system governing the relations between them, affect their
ability to participate in development (FAO, 1997). The issue is no longer that of
incorporating women (who are involved in much of the work, yet continue to be left out
of most of the benefits), but rather of empowering them in order to transform unequal
relations: “empowerment cannot be given, it must be self-generated, by facilitating
women’s access to enabling resources which will allow them to take greater control of
their lives, to determine what kind of relations they would want to live within” (Kabeer,
1995). The GAD approach requires that social, political and economic structures and
development policies be re-examined from the perspective of gender
relations (Jackson and Pearson, 1998; Molyneux, 1998; UN, 1999).

Basic gender-sensitive questions

 Who performs which tasks?

 Who has access to, and who has control of, resources (e.g. land, water, seeds)?
 Who has access to, and who has control of, income and benefits?
 Who decides what?
  What are the expectations and needs of each member of the household?

Gender-related terminology

 Gender refers to the social, economic and cultural roles and relations between women and men,
including their different responsibilities in a given culture or location and in different population groups
(children, aged people, ethnic groups, etc.). Gender is socially constructed and can change over time
and vary according to geographic location and social context.
 Gender mainstreaming in FAO involves ensuring that attention to gender equality is a central part of
all agricultural and rural development interventions, including analyses, policy advice, advocacy,
legislation, research and the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and
projects.
 Gender analysis is a tool to assist in the strengthening of development planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation in order to make programmes and projects more efficient and relevant. The
current situation of rural women and men in relation to different issues and problems is analysed.
Gender analysis should go beyond cataloguing differences and should identify inequalities and assess
relationships between women and men. Gender analysis helps people to avoid making assumptions
about who does what, when and why. Its aim is to formulate development interventions that are better
targeted.
 A gender-blind approach strategy/framework/programme is one that does not consider the gender
dimension, although there is clear scope to do so. Gender blindness is often a result of a lack of
training in, knowledge of and sensitisation to gender issues. It leads to an incomplete picture of the
situation and, consequently, to failure.
 The empowerment of women is essential to the achievement of gender equality and requires a
transformative change, whereby women participate in policy-making and decision-making at all levels
of society.

Source: FAO, 2001

The human dimension in UN environmental and related conventions

Since the early 1980s, considerable attention has been devoted to women’s and
men’s different roles in preserving the environment, and extensive efforts have been
made to identify the effects of the international environmental crisis on women.
Momentum was reached at the workshop of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
that ran parallel to the first World Conference on Women (Nairobi, 1985), when it was
recognized that the themes of “women and development” and “the environment” are
interlinked and must be incorporated into policy planning.

Since then, several international conventions and agreements have been adopted by
the international community, all including commitments reflecting a broad-based
consensus on the need to remove the obstacles to women’s and men’s equal and
active participation in and benefit from development initiatives. The following are the
most important of these.

Agenda 21 (UNCED): The UN Conference on Environment and Development

(UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 clearly acknowledged the important role that
women need to play in regard to sustainable development. Chapter 24 of Agenda 21
outlines the necessary increased involvement of women at all levels of decision-
making. Around the world and in most cultural and social contexts, women
traditionally are responsible for the management of natural resources and the social
life of communities.
Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): The 1992 CBD is designed to protect
the planet’s biodiversity, including genes, species (plant and animal) and ecosystems.
It is based on the recognition that biodiversity is a global asset under threat and
commits governments to conservation, the sustainable use of biodiversity and the
sharing of benefits. The Convention recognizes women’s “vital role in the
conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity” and affirms the need for the
“full participation of women at all levels of policy-making and implementation for
biological diversity conservation”.

Beijing Platform for Action: The Platform for Action adopted by the Fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 identified the need to involve women
actively in environmental decision-making at all levels, and to incorporate a gender
perspective in all strategies for sustainable development, as one of 12 critical areas of
concern requiring action by states, the international community and civil society.
Under Strategic Objective K.1 in the Beijing Platform for Action (1995), governments
agreed to encourage the protection, use and promotion of the knowledge, innovations
and practices of women in indigenous and local communities, ensuring that they are
preserved in an ecologically sustainable manner and that women’s intellectual
property rights are protected under national and international law (paragraph 253.c;
SIDA, 1998).

Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD): The International Convention to

Combat Desertification (CCD), adopted in June 1994, expressly highlights the
essential role that women play in the sustainable management of drylands. The
signatory parties committed themselves to promoting awareness and facilitating the
participation of local populations, particularly women, in the decisions that affect them.
Although the concept of gender is not specifically mentioned in the convention, it is
considered to be an underlying principle (UNSO, 1999). CCD takes equal account of
both sexes so as to ensure the participation of women and men in programmes to
combat desertification. It emphasizes the need to expand women’s opportunities to
learn about the conservation and sustainable utilization of natural resources, and
addresses the issue of female literacy. Literacy increases women’s ability to take part
in the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, giving them greater
power to bring their experiences and perspectives to bear on the search for effective
answers (GTZ, 1999).

Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World Food Summit (WFS) Plan
of Action (1995): Both recognize that full and equal participation of men and women
are essential for achieving sustainable food security for all and acknowledge the
fundamental contribution to food security by women, particularly in rural areas of
developing countries, and the need to ensure equality between men and women.
Gender is not specifically mentioned in the objective 3.2. related to combating
“environmental threats to food security, in particular, drought and desertification,
pests, erosion of biological diversity, and degradation of land (…), and restoring and
rehabilitating the natural resource base, including water and watersheds, in depleted
and overexploited areas to achieve greater production”. However, it is considered to
be an underlying principle of the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the
World Food Summit Plan of Action.
 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change/Kyoto Protocol (UNFCC): The
Convention (1992) on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol (1997) have, to a large
extent, magnified the North-South divide and exposed cracks in the South-South
alliance. An overall assessment of the climate change debate to date shows that
women are absent from the decision-making process. Their contribution to
environmental policies is largely ignored, and women benefit less from and suffer
more of the adverse effects of energy projects. Increasingly, women’s participation is
being recognized as a key component in climate change issues. It is necessary to
shift the focus from women towards the adoption of a broader gender approach.
Gender issues in the energy sector are complex and multifaceted and should be
addressed from all levels, including decision-making, policy and regulation, financing,
awareness-raising and capacity building, and service delivery. Overall, progressive
gender-sensitive policies and capacity building should recognize and acknowledge
the division of labour and the differing energy needs of men and women (RABEDE,
2001).

From words to action Yet despite all these efforts, gender

discrimination in access to, and control of,
There is a need to translate the resources and services persists – as does the
commitments emanating from the neglect of women’s rights – because of political
environmental conventions into and cultural impediments that are difficult to
concrete action. Sustainable eradicate and that require resources and a
development of drylands must take strong political will. These impediments have
place at the local level with the full also hindered the signatory parties’ and
and equal participation of both rural development agents’ efforts to mainstream
women and men in decision-making gender in sustainable dryland development. In
processes and project planning and Agenda 21, for example, significant gaps remain
implementation. between the goals and strategies agreed in
Chapter 24 and practical implementation; there
are gaps of knowledge with regard to the
complex structural relationships between environmental policy goals and gender issues.
Neither the decisions of CBD’s Conferences of the Parties (COP) nor the
recommendations of its Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological
Advice (SBSTTA) have taken much account of the significance of gender in the
attainment of CBD’s objectives (GTZ, 2001).

The successful implementation of the Conventions still depends on addressing issues

such as the collection and use of sex-disaggregated data, the understanding of gender,
the capacities and tools to ensure integration of the gender dimension, as well as the
knowledge of existing resources and expertise on gender issues.

FAO’s activities related to drylands

FAO’s response to land degradation and desertification reflects its mandate; i.e. to
increase and sustain food security, particularly for populations in affected areas,
and in line with the principle of gender equality. Although both rural men and women
have different and complementary roles in guaranteeing food security, women often
play a greater role in ensuring nutrition, food safety and quality. Through its Gender
and Development Plan of Action, FAO promotes gender equality in access to food,
productive resources, support services and decision-making at all levels. FAO also
 recognises that development in the drylands needs to take into account the different
activities to be implemented by the various groups of men, women, young and elders,
and that the difficulties faced by the poor in raising their level of livelihood are
particularly acute for women.

Through the establishment of an interdepartmental working group (IDWG) on

Desertification in 1993, the Organization has been implementing numerous projects
and programmes which combine the objectives of food security and combating land
degradation and desertification. Such activities range from local development
projects, to policy advice to governments, training and capacity building at all levels,
and cover topics such as soil and water conservation, agroforestry, promotion of
sustainable energy sources, rehabilitation of agriculture biodiversity and increasing of
food production at the household level, etc.

Field experience in combating dryland degradation has demonstrated that women

and men’s full and equal participation is essential for the success of sustainable
development and the management of drylands. The integration of socioeconomic
factors and driving forces in land degradation assessment and participatory resources
assessment and planning forms a cornerstone of the approach of the Dryland Land
Degradation Assessment (LADA) project, a major international initiative that FAO is
leading for the provision of basic, standardized maps, data bases and methodologies
on state, causes, impacts of land degradation and possible remedial measures to
combat it at national, regional and global levels.

2. Findings of the field experiences, lessons learned and

recommendations
The findings presented in this section are based on some 50 field experiences dealing
with gender and drylands that were identified through a search on the Internet. The
main aim of all field activities taken into account in the analysis was to exploit
drylands’ potential while conserving and regenerating the natural resource base and
ensuring the participation of local women and men in project activities.

The selection criteria for field experiences to be included in the analysis were:

 Where - the development programme/project or study/survey should be

implemented in dryland areas of Africa or Asia.
 What - it should deal with the priority areas of food security, land degradation/
desertification, land conservation and biodiversity.
 How - it should highlight gender issues, specifically gender-based roles and relations
in dryland management;
 Why - it should aim to address technical areas in which gender discrimination is a
problem (e.g. in terms of access to resources and services, employment
opportunities or distribution of the positive and negative impacts of an activity).

This section also outlines the lessons learned regarding specific issues such as
sustainability, awareness raising, income generation, etc., as well as
 recommendations to ensure gender-responsive development and management of
drylands.

Key findings

The gender-based roles, relations, concerns and obstacles that rural women and men
face in drylands development are also found in non-dryland areas of the developing
world, so the findings reported here are relevant to a wide range of situations. Gender
discrimination in drylands (as in many other areas of the developing world) is a result
of an unequal social, cultural and economic structure and limited political and
organizational influence, which translate into marginalisation, poverty, food insecurity
and limited access to resources.

The findings have been classified in the following three main categories: (i) drylands,
desertification and poverty; (ii) gender roles in drylands; (iii) gender roles in
biodiversity and land conservation. [The countries into brackets refer to the case
studies presented in section 3].

Drylands, desertification and poverty

Worldwide, one billion people in 110 nations earn directly their livelihoods in drylands.
Nearly all of these people, and the drylands on which they depend, are at constant
risk from land degradation/desertification, which can be the result of climate change or
natural phenomena but is more likely to arise from human activity.

Desertification and poverty are closely and directly linked to each other. While
desertification can lead to famine, malnutrition, under-nourishment, epidemics,
economic and social instability and migrations, these can, in turn, cause or increase
desertification. In addition, poverty contributes to land degradation in drylands by
inducing poor women and men to exploit the natural resource base in an
unsustainable manner. Degradation then lowers productivity and incomes, thereby
increasing poverty and further exacerbating pressure on the natural resource base.
[China; India – Telengana, Andhra Pradesh; Mauritania; Niger; South Africa]

The survival strategies adopted to combat desertification include the overexploitation

of accessible natural resources and migration from rural to urban areas or to other
countries, which usually involves men leaving for seasonal or longer-term work
elsewhere. [China; India – Telengana, Andhra Pradesh; Niger; Sudan]. The analysis
of field experiences shows the link between population growth and land degradation
in dryland areas. The advancement of women and gender equality are likely to help
reduce fertility rates, thereby having an indirect affect on the sustainable development
of drylands. [China, Sudan]

Gender roles in drylands

There is a lack of reliable sex- and age-disaggregated statistics on roles in

dryland management activities. In general, men are responsible for decision-making
and the planning of farming activities, while women have little authority and have to
seek their husbands’ permission before they commit family resources or make
 decisions. Nonetheless, rural women in dryland areas play a key role in natural
resource management and achieving food security. They often grow, process,
manage and market food and other natural resources. They are generally responsible
for small livestock, vegetable gardens and collecting fuel, fodder and water, as well as
carrying out their traditional reproductive roles.

However, despite their multiple roles in dryland Women’s traditional roles (e.g. collecting
management, women’s access to and control water, growing food, etc.) are particularly
over natural resources (such as land) and crucial in drylands in terms of natural
agricultural support services (including credit, resource management and food security.
extension services, etc.) are often restricted. Men have usually been responsible for
[Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal; India – decision-making and planning of farming
Telengana, Andhra Pradesh; Kenya]. This activities, but they increasingly leave the
limited access to agricultural resources and degraded areas to look for jobs in urban
services is caused by a series of interrelated areas, leaving women to assume new
social, economic and cultural factors that force roles and responsibilities on the farm. In
rural women into a subordinate role and hamper such a changing context, it is fundamental
their productivity, as well as limiting their to be aware of the obstacles hindering full
participation in decision-making processes and participation of disadvantaged groups,
development initiatives. In some cases, including women.
customary practices and laws that limit women’s
rights to land prevail over legislation that
guarantees those rights. Particularly pressing to the issue of dryland management is the
fact that insecure land tenure reduces women’s and men’s incentives to maintain
soil quality because they have no permanent rights to the land. Without secure land
rights, farmers have little or no access to credit, rural organizations and other agricultural
inputs and services. [Burkina Faso; Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal; India –
Telengana, Andhra Pradesh]

Drylands degradation can lead to changes in gender roles. Such factors as migration,
population pressure, education and market forces have resulted in women taking more
responsibility. In response to change, for instance when they are left behind in the
migration process, women readily assume most of men’s traditional roles – in addition to
their existing agricultural, domestic and reproductive roles. This extra work and
responsibility leads women to demand more equal access to land and fertility control.
Consequently, control over resources may change, or women may become increasingly
involved in decision-making. Many field experiences illustrate how women and men have
taken on new roles to combat desertification (Heyzer, 1995), such as through
reforestation and land reclamation activities. [China; Kenya; Mauritania; Niger]

Environmental change Given that women and men have different roles in dryland
frequently has a management, the impact of desertificationaffects them
differentiated impact on in different ways, and the field experiences suggest that
men and women and leads environmental change has a far greater impact on
to changes in gender roles, women. For example, deforestation and desertification
with women assuming more increase the amount of time that rural dwellers have to
work and responsibility. spend gathering fuelwood and fodder and fetching water.
This is one of the most widely cited examples of the
impact of land degradation on women, as many societies
traditionally see these as women’s tasks. At the same time as women are assuming
more tasks and responsibilities, desertification is leading to loss of efficiency in such
tasks as cooking (owing to diminishing fuelwood sources) and farming activities (as
increased labour is needed to combat desertification). [India – Telengana, Andhra
Pradesh; Kenya; Mauritania; South Africa]

The field experiences suggest that an interesting social and economic transition is

under way. An increasing number of households in drylands are relying less on
agricultural activities for income and more on off-farm employment (as well as on
remittances from migrant labour). This is enabling households to meet their food
security needs in an environment of declining land productivity and, at the same time,
it reduces the pressure on drylands natural resources.

Numerous projects promoted income-generating activities for women as a vital

source of household food security. These projects provided women with management
and organizational skills and empowered them through increased revenues and self-
esteem. As a result, women are participating more in decision-making processes and
project activities at the community level. [Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal; China;
India – Telengana, Andhra Pradesh; Mauritania; Morocco; South Africa; Sudan]
Smallholders, particularly
While men are overwhelmingly represented in traditional
women, often face
farmers’ organizations and are the recipients of most extension
difficulties in obtaining
initiatives, many field experiences found that establishing
credit. This is a direct
and supporting women’s groups helps women to improve
consequence of their
their own livelihoods. Through these groups, women are able to
lacking access to land and
deal with their problems, voice their concerns and increase their
to their low involvement in
confidence. In particular, groups help women to tackle the
development projects and
extreme conditions that derive from drylands degradation,
membership in rural
including reforestation and irrigation activities. Women’s groups
organizations.
can also overcome barriers to income-generating activities
(linkages to markets, credit, etc.). [Burkina Faso; Kenya; Mali;
Mauritania; Sudan]

Gender roles in biodiversity and land conservation

There is increased recognition of the value of indigenous knowledge, as well as

women’s and men’s roles as innovators regarding biodiversity conservation and
farming techniques. Field experiences stressed the need to build on such knowledge
and to ensure the participation of local women and men (as innovators and end users)
in order to improve tools and techniques aimed at combating desertification. In
addition, many projects sought to create incentives for investment in land
improvement and for the adoption of technology that conserves land, water and
energy. For instance, the economic incentives to
produce butter from the karite tree in Burkina Many projects tend to focus on
Faso or oil from the argan tree in Morocco have women’s traditional roles and do not
improved land conservation practices. [Burkina have a true gender approach that
Faso, Niger and Senegal; India – Telengana, looks both at women and men and
Andhra Pradesh; India – Tamil Nadu; Sudan] that includes rural women in
mainstream development activities.
Instead, they were women-specific,
The field experiences stress that women’s
looking only at women as victims of
participation in project activities is generally low
desertification or as resource
managers, without considering their
relations with men. Both women and
men should be viewed as the agents
and beneficiaries of change.
unless they are targeted specifically. Historically, there has been a male bias in
development programme research, planning and implementation activities, which
ignores women’s role in dryland development and the challenges that they face.
Moreover, women generally do not participate in the decision-making processes in the
community. However, it should also be noted that an overemphasis of women’s roles
can be equally detrimental. Many of the projects analysed for this document focused on
women’s roles as resource managers whose indigenous knowledge is critical for land
and biodiversity conservation, while completely overlooking the important roles and
indigenous knowledge of men. [Burkina Faso; Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal; China;
India – Tamil Nadu; India – Telengana, Andhra Pradesh; Kenya; Mauritania]

Involving rural communities, As gender roles change over time and in

especially the “voiceless”, in response to changing circumstances
resource management and in (Rocheleau, 1995), no particular kind of
decisions regarding environmentally knowledge can be associated with men or
sound practices and techniques women as such, but with their culturally
aimed at combating desertification constructed and sanctioned behaviour and
(such as rainwater harvesting, insect attributes. Women’s relation-ship with nature, as
control, post-harvest storage, etc.) is well as the attributes that would make them
a powerful way to mitigate the develop more sustainable practices, are
conditions and the impact of land culturally defined and thus evolve with cultural
degradation. change. Gender roles in resource management
vary from setting to setting, and over time within
the same setting. Environmental change has,
itself, changed gender roles. Women’s increased access to (and control over) resources
helps them to gain confidence, to participate actively in decision-making and policy-
making and to deal better with the impacts of environmental change, especially in poor
degraded dryland areas. It allows women to negotiate their extra work burden and thus
attain a more balanced division of labour in a redefinition of roles. Increased access to
and control over resources also helps women to make up for detrimental environmental
impacts (Heyzer, 1995) because empowered women can select from a wider range of
ways to deal with degradation. In turn, women’s efforts to combat desertification (land
reclamation, reforestation, irrigation systems) lead to increased self-confidence as well
as improved natural resource management, financial management and negotiating skills.
[Burkina Faso; Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal; India – Telengana, Andhra Pradesh;
Kenya; Mauritania; Morocco]

Removing gender-related barriers for greater access to resources

Access to, and control of resources, are particularly pressing to the issue of dryland
management, and should be addressed through a gender perspective to examine
how and why men and women have different rights and benefits in the following
areas, as seen in figure 1.
Insecure LAND TENURE reduces people’s incentives to make long-term investments
in land rehabilitation and maintain soil quality because they have no long-term or
permanent rights to the land. Women usually have even less access to land (and
control) than men. Customary practices and laws that limit women’s right to land may
prevail over legislation that guarantees their right (FAO/IFAD/ILC, 2003)

Providing CREDIT is one of the best ways of encouraging rural women and men to
take an interest in environmentally sound activities. Smallholders, particularly women,
often face difficulties in obtaining credit due to lack of collateral. There is a need to
develop informal sector enterprises and alternative livelihood possibilities through
making credit available to small farmers, especially to women.

Women’s access to AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT SERVICES (extension services,

inputs, etc.) is often restricted despite their multiple roles in dryland management.
Women’s groups have, however, proven capable of tackling extreme livelihood
conditions deriving from dryland degradation, including through reforestation and
irrigation activities.

AWARENESS RAISING AND EDUCATION concerning desertification can lead to

changes in attitudes and longer term social change. In fact, understanding the value
of protecting one resource (tree species, water source, fodder crop or skill),
encourages men and women to see the value of sustaining and protecting the
environment in general. In the meantime, however, specifically targeted strategies to
empower women are necessary.

Smallholders in drylands face the difficulty of turning surplus products into cash
income because of their lack of transport and access to MARKETS; access to market
information such as consumption patterns and price fluctuations; and to marketing
opportunities and techniques. Women face particular constraints as marketing
infrastructure and organizations are rarely geared towards small-scale production or
 to crops grown by women farmers.

Projects that provide women with management and organizational skills help them to
participate in DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES and project activities.

TIME is a precious resource. Freeing up rural people from heavy workloads, such as
the search for water and fuel wood, is crucial if they are to spend more time on the
gardens, fields and conservation agriculture. Women living in drylands are particularly
concerned as they usually have to walk longer distances to collect water and fuel
wood and take on more farming responsibilities in the absence of men.

What lessons can we draw from the case studies?

The 50 case studies that were examined show how it is important to:

Involve local women and men. In the design of dryland management projects, a
lack of understanding and appreciation of complex social and cultural factors is
often coupled with disregard for the priorities of the resource users, both women
and men, who are the targets of programmes. Recognition of the weaknesses of
such a top-down approach led many projects to undertake intensive participatory
exercises. As a result, local land use management arrangements that increase
women’s and men’s authority over resources were promoted, indigenous
knowledge was valued and special attention to local priorities was given. This
demonstrates how local women and men can be empowered and supported to
assume greater local control over resources. [Burkina Faso; Niger; Niger and
Senegal; India – Tamil Nadu; Mali]
Raise awareness and provide education. Cultural values, social practices,
indigenous knowledge and a clear understanding of the environmental issues and
economic status of the communities determine the acceptance rate of improved
technology in any given community. Awareness raising and education aimed at
attitudinal change is effective in bringing about change. For instance, the Burkina
Faso, Niger and Senegal field experience promoted improved cooking stove
designs as a way of combating deforestation. Women rejected some of the new
stoves because they did not take specific technical food preparation factors into
account, while other models were widely adopted and resulted in dramatic savings
in wood biomass and in women’s fuel procurement efforts. In India – Tamil Nadu
local women rejected improved post-harvest technologies (which are very
important in drylands where agricultural production is mostly seasonal and storage
is necessary) and continued to use traditional tools and techniques.
Encourage conservation through income generation. Associating credit
facilities with natural resource management efforts is one of the best ways of
encouraging rural women and men to take an interest in environmentally sound
activities. Some projects used economic activities as a way of encouraging the
conservation of specific trees and shrubs that help to combat desertification,
thereby improving land conservation practices (karite butter in Burkina Faso or oil
from the argan tree in Morocco). The Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal programme
promoted dry-season gardening, which was virtually unknown in most of the Sahel
before the current reduced rainfall period began in the late 1960s and has since
 become a vital source of household nutrition and women’s revenue, where the
availability of irrigation water permits. In Senegal more than 80 percent of garden
production was commercialised in programme-assisted areas.
Strengthen local institutions. Some field experiences promoted credit facilities
through traditional women’s mutual assistance groups and were successful in
increasing household food security. However, when the programme interventions
ended, the local institutions were often not yet strong enough to continue the credit
schemes, resulting in declining repayment rates and little new activity. [Burkina
Faso, Niger and Senegal]
Promote sustainability. The field experiences show that it is essential to promote
both empowerment and the cultural traits that lead to sustainability. However,
focusing on the traditional roles in order to improve the sustainability of drylands
carries the built-in danger of reinforcing gender gaps. Both men and women will
have to work hard at developing the values and fostering the attitudes and
behaviour patterns consonant with more sustainable forms of development (FAO,
1997).
Integrate and coordinate projects. Although the interlinkages among agricultural
production, poverty alleviation, land conservation and gender mainstreaming are
understood and accepted, most projects (and policies) addressing desertification
have lacked coordination and stem from separate initiatives in the social, economic
and environmental spheres. In order to achieve greater impact and effectiveness,
projects and policies will need to integrate these spheres. [Burkina Faso, Niger,
Niger and Senegal; China]

Recommendations

In order to encourage a gender-responsive and sustainable development of drylands,

four key-priorities for immediate gender-responsive action are presented, to be
undertaken and coordinated at international and national levels. These priotities
should be associated with the more specific recommendations illustrated below.
The following recommendations emerge from an analysis of the field experiences.
Possible actions in the drylands should consider the following:

Sex-disaggregated data on dryland management activities

- collect reliable socio-economic sex- and age-disaggregated data on

dryland management activities, making them available for decision-
making processes. Increased gender-sensitive analysis, capitalisation
and dissemination of knowledge are required with emphasis on sharing
experiences and good practices to combat food insecurity and
desertification.

Integrated and gender-responsive approaches

 - ensure that an integrated approach is used and that projects and
policies integrate the agricultural production, poverty alleviation and
environmental protection spheres. In order to combat land degradation
in a sustainable and viable way, human activities and natural variations
also need to be considered in an integrated manner. Although the inter-
linkages are widely understood and accepted, most projects (and
policies) developed to address desertification lack coordination and
stem from separate initiatives in the economic, social and environmental
spheres.

- ensure that projects are designed and implemented with a true gender
approach that takes into account the relations between men and
women and their impact on dryland management practices, while
avoiding separate women-specific activities that risk marginalizing
women further and reinforcing traditional roles. It is important to
transform mainstream development activities so that they take into
account the wider socio-economic context, genuinely promote gender
equality and address gender gaps.

Programmes and projects with a gender perspective

- promote full participation of rural women and men in research,

planning and decision-making at all levels, especially the most
disadvantaged and the voiceless, including women. As women and men
play a key role in preserving their land, the land will be more likely to
meet their needs, and the needs of their families and communities, for
food security;

- take into consideration rural women’s and men’s indigenous

knowledge (e.g. biodiversity, technological innovations), as well as the
challenges they face;

- promote and build on local dryland use management, with the aim of
supporting local women and men in combating desertification;

Gender-sensitive knowledge of the environment, degradation and

poverty nexus

- increase awareness and knowledge concerning desertification and

drought;

- gain knowledge about the ideal and the real roles of rural men and
women in dryland management, notably through a gender analysis, and
of the various difficulties that different individuals and groups face in
gaining access to productive resources;

- encourage further research and information from which to obtain a

solid understanding of these roles and relationships with environmental
 resources, as well as their rights and roles in resource planning and
management;

- sensitise project staff and extensionists, as well as technical experts to

gender issues in dryland management. This is particularly critical in
dryland areas where men and women may have to adopt new roles,
survival strategies and techniques to achieve food security for their
households, exploiting the dryland’s potential while conserving and
regenerating the natural resource base;

- acknowledge and incorporate the gender-specific impacts of drylands

degradation and misuse.

Removing barriers to women’s and men’s efficient management of

drylands

- improve women’s and men’s access to and control over productive

resources, such as land, agricultural support services, as well as access
to education, markets, etc. Promoting a better access to resources can
contribute to women’s and men’s empowerment, and makes them
better equipped to deal with the extreme conditions of degraded
drylands;

- free up rural people, especially women, from heavy workloads, such

as the search for water and fuel wood. Enormous improvements in land
productivity can be achieved if women are freed up from the search for
water and fuel so that they can spend more time on their gardens and
fields and caring for their families.

- develop informal sector enterprises and alternative livelihood

possibilities through making credit available to both women and men,
and to ensure that local institutions are able to continue providing credit
facilities in the post-project phase, for instance through financial training
and continued on-site technical assistance.

3. The field experience case studies

The following descriptions of 12 case studies were selected from a total of 50 field
experiences dealing with gender and drylands, which were identified via a search on
the Internet. The field experiences are presented in alphabetical order of country and
each is followed by an Internet address from which further details can be obtained.

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, with more women than men
living in poverty. One of its most important resources is the karite nut, which is its third
largest agricultural product export and has many uses, including processing into karite
butter.
 Although the production of karite butter is traditionally an exclusively female activity,
women have had no control over its marketing and have been limited to selling small
quantities locally. Recently, however, the Songtaaba Women’s Group has been
transforming karite butter from a subsistence, informal sector activity into a
systematized cottage industry, in which men have started to participate.

Under the Songtaaba system, karite is processed by semi-industrial machinery in

urban areas and by manual presses in rural areas. Throughout Burkina Faso, 2 000
women have been trained to treat, collect and transform karite into butter and related
products. Women workers are paid according to the task and their availability. They
are given flexible working hours and are organized into teams. Through the
association, women are able to gain access to credit for the first time. The association
has also established a special fund to help members who are experiencing particular
difficulties, such as a death in the family, medical emergencies or the need for help
with school fees. In addition, Songtaaba gives training in management, literacy and
family planning.

As well as generating increased incomes, new jobs, new skills and opportunities, the
commercialisation of karite is helping to fight desertification and abusive woodcutting.
Now that the tree’s economic value is increasingly recognized, landowners and
farmers are determined to protect it, and people are being sensitised to the need to
preserve natural resources in general. This leads them to find ways to reduce
deforestation, including improved wood-burning stoves.

Source: Ashoka. 1998. Songtaaba Women’s Group – Case Study:

www.solutions-site.org/cat9_sol66.htm

Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal

The Sahel Programme was financed by SIDA and implemented, in collaboration with
UNSO, between 1983 and 1994 in Senegal, Burkina Faso and Niger. It aimed to
address declining productivity and a degraded natural resource base – significant
problems in these countries, where most of the population is dependent on rain-fed
agriculture and/or herding activities.

After a shaky start, in which a top-down approach to increasing woody biomass failed
to include resource users in decision-making or address their concerns, programme
activities were reoriented at the start of the third phase in 1990. The programme
evolved by advocating the promotion of local land use management arrangements
that increase women and men users’ authority over resources, value indigenous
knowledge and meet local priorities through agroforestry, natural regeneration of local
tree species, soil and water conservation, credit and on- and off-farm income-
generating opportunities.

Its main activities and achievements were:

  income-generating activities, through the support of dry-seasoning gardening which
has become a vital source of household nutrition and women’s revenues throughout
the region;
 energy conservation, through the design and diffusion of 100 000 improved cooking
stoves in Burkina Faso (and 1 692 in Niger), resulting in annual fuelwood savings of
210 kg per household;
 resource management, through introducing women to the possibilities for
agroforestry and environmental action, including the training of 1 200 village women
in nursery and tree planting techniques;
 land reclamation, through the rehabilitation of a 900-ha watershed in Senegal by
some 200 local farmers (mostly women) who worked for four years to slow water
runoff and establish tree seedlings in what has now become a green and productive
valley;
 credit, through traditional women’s mutual assistance groups in Niger, which allowed
women to establish animal fattening enterprises, dry-season vegetable gardening
and dryland development activities, and through a similar programme in Senegal in
which 60 percent of the funds were allocated to women.

The main conclusion that can be drawn from the programme is that the resource
users, men and women, constitute both the start point and the end point of all efforts
to combat desertification. Women and men resource users are motivated by both self-
interest and solidarity, stimulated by new opportunities, enabled by adequate policies
and supported by facilitating partners in development.

Source: UNSO. 1997. Lessons from the field for the Implementation of the

UNCCD. www.undp.org/seed/unso/lessons.htm

China

More than 80 million Chinese people live in poverty, mostly in the rural areas of
central and western China or in the remote mountains where drylands are prevalent.
Increasing population, industrialization and urbanization are leading to a continuously
rising demand for land resources, and the decreasing availability of usable land sets a
limit for the country’s sustainable development. The need for sustainable agricultural
production techniques that can be used by local communities to ensure food
production without endangering natural resources has led women’s groups to engage
in efforts to develop new methods for combating desertification and eradicating
poverty.

Local women recognize that desertification can only be combated successfully when
efforts are focused on integrated dryland development. In addition to their land
reclamation efforts, women lead development efforts in other fields such as health
and education. As one woman leader says: “If we want to be richer, not poor like
today, we must increase the education and knowledge of our younger people.
Because if they are educated, they will understand the seriousness of desertification
and, if they want to reclaim the desert, they must have the knowledge, they must be
educated.” In striving to ensure quality education for the children in the local villages,
this woman leader obtained a grant from a donor in Hong Kong and a new school is
now preparing boys and girls for their future participation in dryland development.
 Source: UNSO. 2001. Women and desertification in China.

www.undp.org/seed/unso/women/

India – Tamil Nadu

In India, dryland agriculture is an important source of livelihood but, while it accounts

for more than 70 percent of the country’s cultivated area, it contributes only 42
percent of the national food basket. One important aspect of dryland agriculture is that
production is seasonal, which means that grains must be stored for long periods by
traders, procurement agencies and consumers. Research into post-harvest practices
in Tamil Nadu, India has revealed that these activities – as with most of the key
operations in agriculture – are largely the responsibility of women. For this reason,
local women should be consulted when new post-harvest techniques are devised.

Numerous post-harvest technologies, including improved material and better

equipment, have been introduced to make processes faster, easier and more
profitable. However, the majority of rural women continue to use traditional tools and
techniques for many post-harvest operations. Such indigenous knowledge is highly
valued, since in many cases the new tools and techniques are not available or are
beyond the means of the farmers.

Research identified 19 indigenous post-harvest technologies used by local farmers.

According to the rural women, traditional practices are handed down from generation
to generation, usually by word of mouth. They are perceived to be economically
feasible and user-friendly. Indigenous post-harvest tools are made by local artisans,
using low-cost resources that are locally available, and they are easy to repair and
maintain. As a result of these advantages, traditional post-harvest operations became
the starting point for designing appropriate and improved new technology for
sustainable agriculture.

These experiences demonstrate clearly that local women and men are the innovators
of agricultural technologies. When new post-harvest technologies are devised, they
should be consulted first, because they are the real experts, as well as the ultimate
users.

Source: Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor (IKDM). 2000. Dryland and

post-harvesting practices in Tamil Nadu, India.

www.nuffic.nl/ciran/ikdm/8-1/parvathi.html

India – Telengana, Andhra Pradesh

The rain-fed drylands of the Telengana region are among the poorest and least
developed in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Agriculture in these areas is
constrained by low productivity, lack of an assured supply of inputs, lack of
technologies and cropping systems suited to dryland conditions, poor resources and
inadequate extension and support services; and the situation is deteriorating as rapid
desertification takes hold. As is often the case, women are the worst affected by the
 resulting conditions of chronic hunger and poverty and male migration in search of
work.

The UNDP Food Security programme aims to promote self-sufficiency in food

availability and raise the purchasing power of the poor through the endowment of land
and non-land assets and the generation of employment opportunities. It also
addresses the feminisation of agriculture and the increasing burden of household food
security on women in Telengana. The overall objective is to enable women farmers to
exploit the productive potential of rain-fed drylands and achieve household food
security while conserving and regenerating the natural resource base.

The focus of the project’s strategy is to create synergy between women’s labour and
degraded fallow lands. By investing their labour in using sustainable technologies and
practices to grow staple food crops on fallow lands, landless women farmers can
address the following critical issues:

 Bringing fallow lands under cultivation will result in increased overall food production.
 When they cultivate food crops for their own consumption, women become less
reliant on market mechanisms for household food security.
 Sustainable practices help to improve the productivity of fallow lands and regenerate
natural resources.
 Increased access to work opportunities and foodgrains leads to increased bargaining
power with employers/landlords, particularly regarding equal and minimum wages.
 When women use their existing knowledge and skills while they learn new ways of
farming and experimenting with new technologies, they gain recognition as farmers
in their own right.
 Given the vagaries of the monsoon, it is necessary to reduce women’s total
dependence on agriculture by supporting them in setting up small enterprises and
business ventures, often using their traditional non-farming skills.

As women build their competence in agriculture, they feel more confident to diversify
into animal husbandry and horticulture. The programme provides direct support to
women farmers to set up backyard poultries and small vegetable gardens to provide
supplementary food for their families, with surpluses sold in the village market.

Source: UNDP. 2001. Sustainable dryland agriculture in Andhra Pradesh.

www.undp.org.in/programme/foodsec/apwomen.htm

Kenya

In Ngurunit, a rural community in the semi-arid lands of Kenya’s Northeastern

Province, women are largely responsible for collecting fuelwood and water, among
other farming activities, which include herding, and managing livestock. In the past, it
took a trip of about four hours from Ngurunit to reach water sources, and when
resources dried up, women had to carry out the extra work involved.

In response to this, and in order to improve their livelihoods, rural women have
organized themselves into groups with the aim of overcoming the obstacles to their
 activities: lack of access to water; low agricultural production; and the under-
representation of women in decision-making fora. They have tackled the water
shortage in Ngurunit by trapping water from the Ndoto Mountains and piping it to three
tanks to supply a source of drinking-water. In doing this, the women have also
launched a successful collective effort to combat desertification.

This is not the only example of rural women’s successful community participation in
Kenya. The Harambee (self-help) movement has existed since independence and has
greatly contributed to development activities initiated by women. One of its most
famous initiatives is the Green Belt Movement, started in 1977, which aims to prevent
the destruction of forest areas. As well as conserving trees, many women are involved
in replanting areas of deforestation or desertification. One of Harambee’s strategies is
to mobilize women to take charge of their environment and meet their needs and
those of their families.

Source: EU. 1998. Women tackle desertification in Kenya. The Courier, No. 172, nov

98.

europa.eu.int/comm/development/publicat/courier/courier172/en/076_en.pdf

Mali

In order to mainstream gender in natural resource management projects, the World

Bank’s Natural Resource Management Project in Mali does not address gender
issues by targeting separate components to women. Rather, the entire project staff
handles gender issues in day-to-day operations. The project pays particular attention
to gender in its skills development programme, decision-making and management
processes. It specifically provides for village-level consultation with women and
women’s groups on community development activities related to: location and
operation of water points; land-use planning; livestock movement and management
choice; and location and operation of collective infrastructure, such as food-
processing equipment. To ensure that the conclusions of these consultations are
observed, a “women’s veto right” has been instituted in these key areas. In addition,
the project addresses gender issues in:

 promoting village participation;

 training;
 land tenure;
 choice of appropriate technology;
 monitoring and evaluating.

Source: World Bank. 2001b. Mainstreaming gender in natural resource management

in Mali.www.worldbank.org/gender/module/cases/mainstrm.htm

Mauritania

Mauritania is a vast country, mostly covered by the Sahara desert. After two severe
and prolonged droughts in the last 20 years, many nomads have been forced to give
up their nomadic lifestyle and settle where they could get aid. The resulting pressure
 on natural resources (e.g. ten times as much wood is cut for fuel than is replanted)
has led to new challenges, but also new hopes for the settled nomadic women and
men.

Through a programme supported by UNSO/UNDP, women have taken the lead in the
crucial stabilization of sand dunes by organizing themselves into planning committees
that provide vital links between the village and the authorities. In just three years, the
women in one small settlement have covered 80 ha of dune, enclosing it with
brushwood fencing that they made themselves. Within the protected enclosures, the
women have planted trees which stabilize the sand dunes. The women also produce
vegetables to ensure proper nutrition for their families.

In this very traditional culture, women’s involvement in the project has earned them
new status. As one woman says, “The best part of it is my life today. Before all a
woman did was prepare the food her husband brought her. Today I know what’s going
on. I work, and my work is worth a lot to me and earns me money. My husband
doesn’t even know where it comes from.”

Source: UNSO. 2001a. Women and desertification in Mauritania.

www.undp.org/seed/unso/women/

Morocco

The argan tree is the second most common tree in Morocco. It is very resistant to
drought and heat and grows wild in the arid and semi-arid regions of south-western
Morocco, where it plays a vital role in maintaining the ecological balance and
preserving biodiversity. It also helps to retain soil and assists in combating water and
wind erosion. In addition, the argan tree is important to the local economy: wood is
used for fuel, leaves and fruits provide forage for goats, and oil extract is used in
cooking, traditional medicine and cosmetics. The tree supports some 3 million people.

Unfortunately, in less than a decade, more than a third of the argan forest has
disappeared, and its average density has declined from 100 to 30 trees per hectare.
In collaboration with the Université Mohammed V of Rabat and the Institut
Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II of Rabat, IDRC has initiated a project to
improve the tree’s production potential, so that it can regain its key position in the
agricultural systems of the region, thereby preventing further environmental
degradation and improving the economic well-being of people in south-western
Morocco, particularly women.

The project’s main objective is to establish and support local women’s cooperatives
that will work to increase the production and marketing of argan oil. Project activities
focus on training women in techniques for processing argan products, management
and accounting, and literacy. So far, the project has had some very significant results,
including:

 improving Moroccan women’s socio-economic situation, through job creation and

income-generation;
  raising women’s awareness of their rights;
 reforesting argan forests, with the support of women’s cooperatives;
 promoting regional tourism.

Source: CGIAR. 2000. Helping Moroccan Women Preserve the Argan Tree at the
Gateway of the Sahara. IDRC Project Number 978602.

www.idrc.ca/reports/read_article_english.cfm?article_num=659

Niger

In the early 80s, Keita District (Tahoua Department) was considered to be a region
with grave problems of land degradation. A major effort was needed to reverse
degradation and improve the local economy. The “Keita Project” was financed by the
Italian Government and implemented by FAO, with support from the World Food
Programme (WFP). Desertification control was a vital element of the project, and the
planting of trees and the participatory approach have played a constant and major
role. Between 1984 and 1993, the project benefited from 6 million man- and woman-
days of work on planting trees, digging wells, erecting dune fences, etc. (men only
represented 5 per cent of the labour force, mainly because of immigration, a
proportion that changed into 35 per cent in 1989). The project also provided training
and helped villagers construct new schools, roads, community centres, clinics and
mills.

From the very first phase, it was clear that it would be essential to work with the
people and to understand issues such as husbandry and land use, the mechanisms of
land degradation, the various roles of trees and the potential of people and
communities. This analysis resulted in a better understanding of the real problems
and potential of the region - which were very different from the initial assumptions -
and guided the subsequent choice of methods for rural development. The project
recognised the crucial role played by women in combating desertification. It facilitated
women’s access to income-generating activities (garden and fruit production fruit,
sheep production, etc.) and promoted their participation to local and national
organisation activities. Time-saving technologies, based on surveys were introduced
by the project.

Experience in Keita has shown that the popular recognition of the many products and
socio-economic services provided by trees in the region, makes it easy for extension
services to develop readiness and generate interest for introduction or reintroduction
of trees by local communities.

Source: FAO. 1994. Le projet de développement rural intégré de Keita – Projet

financé par la coopération italiennehttp://www.fao.org/docrep/x5306f/x5306f00.htm

South Africa

The Herschel district in the eastern drylands of South Africa suffered vast degradation
during apartheid as people were forced to settle in generally low-productive areas.
The decline of the rural economy of this district had a major impact on the urban
 environment as generation after generation migrated to the city in search of an
income.

In its implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification, South Africa is

emphasizing the role of women in the National Action Programme process. Work has
been initiated to promote alternative livelihood strategies. Among the many new
income-generating activities that women in rural communities have developed is the
production of traditional reed mats, which is being commercialised for use in the
construction of a campsite for tourists. This is leading to new income for rural families,
reduced pressure on natural resources and the increased active participation of
women in planning and decision-making.

Source: UNSO. 2001b Women and desertification in South Africa.

www.undp.org/seed/unso/women/

Sudan

Land in the El Odaya area of Sudan is intensively used for agricultural production and
livestock raising. Overgrazing and agricultural expansion have contributed to
significant land degradation. A general decline in soil fertility caused by the reduction
of fallow periods has also occurred. Continued population growth, livestock raising
and increasing demand for agricultural land are likely to intensify land degradation.

The basic aim of the UNDP/UNSO project was to establish an institutional structure to
promote individual and community involvement in the regeneration, conservation and
proper management of natural resources. This was achieved through the
establishment of Village Council Development Committees (VCDCs) that provided a
framework through which local people would be able to manage environmental
resources in a sustainable way. The project was designed to follow a “bottom-up”,
participatory approach incorporating the following activities:

 facilitating the establishment of women’s subcommittees within each VCDC;

 involving VCDCs in strategic resource management planning for water harvesting
and conservation, range management, village nursery establishment, soil
conservation, range rehabilitation, agroforestry, construction of grazing enclosures,
creation of fire lines and reservoirs;
 training communities in environmental management methods, income-generating
activities and VCDC organization;
 establishing a revolving fund to support income-generating activities (at least 25
percent of the fund was devoted to activities undertaken by women).

Through the women’s subcommittees, women were integrated into local

environmental activities, thereby gaining power, access to and control over
community resources. Training and access to revolving funds facilitated women’
participation in income-generating activities, and they participated in health activities,
improved stove fabrication, soap making, tailoring and leather craft training. Access to
credit represented another key method of strengthening the role of women.
 Source: UNSO. 1990. Integrated resource management for desertification control.

www.undp.org/seed/unso/lessons.htm

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