Women and Forest Conservation: Connecting Empowerment, Local Knowledge, and Forest Sustainability

Social Forestry has two interconnected objectives: improving community well-being and safeguarding forest sustainability. Women hold a strategic position in achieving both objectives. Their relationship with forests is reflected in a wide range of activities, from meeting household food needs and collecting and processing non-timber forest products (NTFPs), to managing land and maintaining local knowledge about natural resources.

However, women’s contributions to conservation are not always visible in forest governance. Women continue to face limitations in access, representation, decision-making, opportunities to benefit from forest resources, and capacity-building. Yet women’s experiences and knowledge can play an important role in developing sustainable forest management practices.

Research by Boang Manalu et al. (2022) in five Indonesian provinces shows that women already participate in various forms of Social Forestry, although social norms and gender inequalities remain significant barriers. This situation demonstrates that forest conservation should not be understood solely as an ecological issue, but also as a social and institutional one.

Women, Local Knowledge, and Conservation

Women possess knowledge about plant species that can be used as medicine, food, handicraft materials, and sources of income. This knowledge develops through everyday interactions with the environment and is passed down across generations.

Such knowledge is important for conservation because forest sustainability is determined not only by the number of trees planted, but also by how communities identify, use, and maintain the diversity of natural resources. The use of NTFPs, agroforestry development, nursery management, rehabilitation, and plant maintenance are examples of activities that connect community needs with ecosystem sustainability.

The Feminist Political Ecology perspective developed by Rocheleau, Thomas-Slayter, and Wangari (1996) emphasizes that relationships between communities and the environment are shaped by gender-based divisions of labor, access, knowledge, control, and benefits. Therefore, women’s knowledge should not be treated merely as supplementary knowledge, but as an important source of ecological knowledge that can inform forest management planning.

Women’s dependence on forest resources can also make them particularly vulnerable when forests are degraded or access is restricted. Declining forest yields can affect food security, household income, and the continuity of local knowledge. Thus, conservation efforts that overlook women’s experiences risk losing an important perspective for understanding environmental change.

Women’s Participation and Conservation Outcomes

Bina Agarwal’s (2009) study of community forest governance in India and Nepal demonstrates a relationship between women’s participation in forest management institutions and forest conservation and regeneration outcomes. These findings suggest that women’s involvement is not only a matter of gender equality; it can also contribute to the quality of forest resource governance.

However, this does not mean that women are inherently more environmentally conscious than men. Women’s contributions to conservation should instead be understood in relation to their experiences, division of labor, knowledge, needs, and social positions, all of which shape their relationships with natural resources. Arora-Jonsson (2011) cautions that narratives portraying women as inherently natural environmental stewards can obscure structural factors, such as unequal access and power relations, that actually shape women’s roles in natural resource management.

For this reason, gender mainstreaming in conservation should not translate into placing additional conservation responsibilities on women. Instead, it should ensure that women’s experiences and knowledge are incorporated into decision-making processes.

Conservation Practices at the Local Level

Various Social Forestry practices demonstrate that women are already directly involved in conservation activities. For example, the women’s PKK group in Air Liki Baru Village, Merangin Regency, has actively participated in rehabilitation activities together with LPHA Panglima Pati. They are involved in caring for and monitoring plants in nursery demonstration plots.

These activities demonstrate that women are not merely users of forest products; they can also play an active role in restoring and maintaining forest resources. Such participation is important because rehabilitation requires ongoing maintenance and monitoring, not simply tree planting.

At LPHD Lemmanis in Sepakat Jaya Village, women’s involvement is also reflected in institutional roles, including serving as treasurers. Meanwhile, all members of KUPS Beliung Jaya and KUPS Tanjung Pandan are women. These institutional positions create opportunities for women to influence the direction of activities while connecting economic management with resource sustainability.

The development of NTFPs provides another example of the connection between livelihoods and conservation. In Telaga Village, Katingan Regency, activities carried out by KUPS TOGA Barigas and Amplang contribute to increasing women’s income while also preserving local village culture. NTFP utilization allows communities to derive economic value from forest resources without directly depending on timber extraction, provided that activities are carried out within ecological limits and according to sustainability principles.

Challenges to Promoting Gender-Equitable Conservation

Women’s contributions to conservation continue to face various challenges. Anugrah et al. (2022) show that gender injustice in Social Forestry can be influenced by local social structures, including patriarchal cultures and certain social beliefs. As a result, women may not be recognized as forest land users, may have limited representation in groups, and may have unequal access to assistance and training.

Hartono and Khalwani (2022) also demonstrate that gender bias in the environmental and forestry sectors can emerge in planning, management, marketing, access to benefits, and the distribution of impacts resulting from natural resource management.

Another challenge is the tendency to measure participation simply by counting the number of women present. Yet attendance does not necessarily indicate influence over decisions. In conservation, more meaningful indicators include access to resources, involvement in decision-making, control over benefits, capacity development, and participation in forest rehabilitation and maintenance. Agarwal’s (2001) typology of participation, from nominal participation to active and interactive participation, it can help distinguish mere presence from meaningful influence over decision-making.

Strategies for Strengthening Women’s Role in Conservation

Strengthening women’s contributions to conservation requires several complementary measures. First, women must have meaningful space within institutions and decision-making processes. Second, access to technical training, technology, information, financing, and enterprise development should be improved. Third, women’s knowledge of food crops, medicinal plants, NTFPs, and local resources should be incorporated into forest management planning.

Fourth, economic activities based on NTFPs and agroforestry should be developed in ways that generate economic benefits while maintaining forest resources. Fifth, women’s involvement in nurseries, rehabilitation, plant monitoring, and other conservation activities should be expanded.

These strategies must avoid the assumption that women are automatically responsible for protecting the environment. Conservation is a shared responsibility, while gender mainstreaming ensures that women have equal opportunities to contribute to and benefit from conservation efforts.

Women are an important part of forest governance because their relationships with natural resources encompass economic, social, cultural, and ecological dimensions. Their knowledge of food crops, medicinal plants, NTFPs, and resource-use practices can serve as an important asset for conservation.

Experiences in Air Liki Baru Village, Sepakat Jaya Village, and Telaga Village demonstrate that women’s empowerment can go hand in hand with forest management and maintenance. Meanwhile, Agarwal’s research indicates that women’s participation in forest management institutions can be associated with forest conservation and regeneration outcomes.

Therefore, gender-equitable conservation is not simply about increasing the number of women involved in forestry activities. More importantly, it means recognizing women as knowledge holders, resource users, institutional members, decision-makers, and conservation actors.

By strengthening these roles, Social Forestry can become a space that brings together women’s empowerment, improved livelihoods, and forest sustainability. Women are not merely beneficiaries of conservation; they are among the actors whose participation helps determine the success of forest management at the local level.

References

Anugrah, D., Muin, A. V. F., Irlan, I., Tomasina, M. A., Azila, N., Sirimorok, N., Dungga, N. E., & Alam, S. (2022). Injustice against Women in a Social Forestry Program: Case Studies from Two Indonesian Villages. Forest and Society, 6(2), 723–741. https://doi.org/10.24259/fs.v6i2.20006.

Boang Manalu, A. G., Subono, N. I., & Putri, R. D. D. G. S. (2022). Partisipasi Perempuan dalam Perhutanan Sosial: Studi Kasus di Lima Provinsi. Jurnal Perempuan, 27(1), 85–99. https://doi.org/10.34309/jp.v27i1.666.

Hartono, E., & Khalwani, K. M. (2022). Inovasi dan Tantangan Pengarusutamaan Gender di Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Kehutanan Republik Indonesia. Jurnal Perempuan, 27(1), 1–14.

Agarwal, B. (2009). Gender and forest conservation: The impact of women's participation in community forest governance. Ecological Economics, 68(11), 2785–2799.

Agarwal, B. (2001). Participatory exclusions, community forestry, and gender: An analysis for South Asia and a conceptual framework. World Development, 29(10), 1623–1648.

Arora-Jonsson, S. (2011). Virtue and vulnerability: Discourses on women, gender and climate change. Global Environmental Change, 21(2), 744–751.

Rocheleau, D., Thomas-Slayter, B., & Wangari, E. (1996). Feminist Political Ecology: Global Issues and Local Experiences. Routledge.