Overview

Across Africa, women play critical land and natural resource management roles. However, these roles are typically unrecognized or undervalued. Minorities and disadvantaged groups are also integral to local conservation constituencies.

• Growing evidence points to better governance and conservation outcomes when fisheries and forests are managed collaboratively by women and men
• Gender-equal access to agricultural resources could increase the average woman farmer’s crop yields by up to 30%.
• More equitable involvement of men and women in forest management leads to significantly greater improvements in forest conditions, research shows.
• Nations with higher proportions of women in legislatures are more likely to ratify environmental treaties than other nations.

Therefore, the role of these groups is especially important to consider in the construction of sustainable conservation strategies. To achieve this, ABCG employs a participatory approach that seeks to provide improved access to opportunities (meetings, workshops, decision making on natural resource use, etc.) for women and vulnerable groups. This includes ensuring that gender considerations are included in project design and implementation.

By integrating gender dimensions into all thematic and crosscutting program components, ABCG aims to more explicitly address the issues that limit the ability of women and vulnerable populations to participate fully in conservation and natural resource management.