Zambian Women Empowered in Forestry Management
8/16/99
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Title: Zambian Women Empowered in Forestry Management
Source: Panafrican News Agency (PANA)
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 16, 1999
Byline: Henry Chilufya
LUSAKA, Zambia (PANA, 08/16/99) - The Zambian government has launched
a programme intended to redress gender gaps in the forestry sector by
allowing the womenfolk equal participation in the management of the
country's forests.
According to government officials who spoke at the launch of the
programme recently, the project would be administered under the newly
initiated "Zambia Forestry Action Plan" intended to help conserve the
country's forests.
The programme is said to have been introduced due to the essential
role women played in the development of sustainable and ecologically
sound consumption and production patterns.
"Women have indigenous knowledge of ecological linkages and fragile
ecoystems management because they provide the main labour force for
subsistence production. Their role is, therefore, crucial to the
provision of food and nutrition," the forestry action plan about the
role of women in conservation says.
The women are said, in most instances, to be "the most stable members
of the community" who are able to protect the natural environment and
ensure adequate and sustainable resource allocation within the
household and the community," the document, subtitled "Gender
Consideration In The Forestry Sector" notes.
The document was recently submitted at a donors' meeting in Lusaka in
a bid to secure their funding.
Social experts say that through their management and use of natural
resources, women provided sustenance to their families and
communities.
As consumers, producers, caretakers and educators of their families,
the women are said to play an important role in promoting sustainable
use of forest resources.
To ensure the intended maximum participation of the women in the
programme, the Zambian government has planned to "mainstream" gender
at various levels of its implementation, including at policy,
institutional and community levels.
It has proposed, among others, to create responsible partnerships
with gender equity among stakeholders in forestry activities to
ensure the permanence and stability of forests.
At the community level, both men and women would be encouraged to
participate in forest management and assume an active role in
sustainable natural resources management.
The increasing levels of poverty amongst women, especially in female-
headed households, has been cited as one reason that has caused them
to depend more on the forests for their subsistence and income
generation.
"Forest degradation will, therefore, increase women's poverty levels
and will deprive them of their means of subsistence and livelihoods,"
the document says.
To ensure sustainability of the programme, government has also said
that it would provide for more females to train at forestry training
institutions whose training curricula would incorporate "gender
issues."
Zambia is said to lose about 300,000 hectares of forest cover
annually, mainly through "careless exploitation practices" for, among
others, commercial, industrial, social and habitation purposes.