Gender and Forest Management: Local Knowledge and Practice in Ampreng Village, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstract

Forests have important roles in mitigating the sources and the effects of climate change. Given the current concerns for increasing global warming, sustainable forest management has become more important than ever. Indonesia has one of the largest tropical forests in the world, but also experiences one of the highest rates of deforestation globally. Therefore, there is an urgent need to implement sustainable forest management in Indonesia. At the global level, gender equality in forest management is a crucial factor in achieving sustainable forest management goals which is to improve forest condition. However, women are often excluded from decision-making processes in forest management. Therefore increasing women‘s participation in forest governance is important, but gender equality in participating and applying local knowledge in forest management is facing many obstacles in many countries, particularly in developing countries such as Indonesia. Although since 2000 the Indonesian government has issued regulations on gender mainstreaming in all programs and stages of development but the actual implementation in terms of allowing equal access and control throughout program development and management is still weak. This is particularly the case in forestry development, but there has been little research conducted to examine women‘s participation in forest management in the country. To fill this gap, this study investigates gender differences that affect women‘s and men‘s local knowledge and rights in terms of access and control over forest management and its impact on forest condition in Indonesia.