Transcript The Gender of Trees - World Agroforestry Centre

The Gender of Trees:
Gendered Local Knowledge Systems
in a Forest Fringe Community in Rural Ghana
Christine E. Gibb
Second World Agroforestry Congress
August 2009
1
Tree
2
Research Question:
–
How do the knowledge, use and management of tree resources
differ among members of a forest fringe community in rural
Ghana?
Objectives
1.
2.
3.
To characterize and evaluate the species, uses and management
strategies that constitute the tree resources component of local
knowledge systems.
To determine how people learn this knowledge.
To identify factors that lead community members to differ in their
knowledge, use and management strategies.
3
Local Knowledge
• Product:
– A community-based understanding of reality
that relates to the entire system of concepts,
beliefs and perceptions of community members
• Processes:
– To observe phenomena, solve problems, validate
new information
– To store, apply and transmit information
4
Gender Affects Resource Use and
Management
• Gender as a means for studying difference
• Factors shaping the content and distribution of knowledge
systems:
– Labour responsibilities (gender division of labour)
– Property rights
– Decision-making processes
• Men and women in the South typically differ in their
– Power to conserve, to modify, to build and to restore ecosystems
– Power to regulate the actions of others
– Spatial scale of resource tenure
5
Gendered Knowledge Systems
•
Knowledge about different
things
•
Different knowledge about
the same things
•
Organize their knowledge
in different ways
•
Receive and transmit their
knowledge by different
means
6
Research Context
• Deforestation emerges from
conflicting interests of
agriculture, agroforestry,
livelihood strategies of
resource-poor and political
and economic influences
• Taungya system: government
response to forest decline and
need for financial capital
Ayakomaso
N
Source: CIA 2007
(http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cia07/ghana_sm_2007.gif)
7
8
Methodology
• Study design
– Reflects an interpretive
view of reality
– Adopts a feminist
standpoint of situated
knowledge
– Incorporates
participatory principles
and tools
• Research strategy
– Exploratory case study
– Qualitative data
9
Methods
• Semi-structured
interviews
• Community workshops
• Participant
observation
• Review of secondary
data
• Participant
photography
10
Gender and economic status interact with other factors to shape tree management strategies
11
Tree Management Strategies
• Two types:
1. Strategies for conservation or economic purposes
2. Strategies for mitigation or adaptation purposes
• Strategies typically included one or more of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Low cost & risk averse
Considerate of a species’ desirable and undesirable traits
Reliant on traditional beliefs or taboos
Focused on species relating to personal preferences
Limited to species related to livelihoods
Informed by local issues
Influenced by informal, non-formal and formal education
Concentrated in locations for which an individual has access to and/or
control over trees and land
• Community members attributed their application of less-than-ideal
management strategies to their inability to mobilize resources
12
Key Findings
1. Tree-related knowledge was learned through social and experiential learning within
the local ecosystem. Thus, place and personal experiences continued to play vital
roles in shaping local knowledge systems.
2. Gender played an influential role in shaping diverse aspects of local knowledge
systems.
3. Commitment to tree management was
• Affected by a variety of factors
• Balanced with other commitments
• Limited to familiar species exhibiting desirable characteristics.
4. While there was a potential for formal education to supplement the tree component
of local knowledge systems, it can never be a perfect substitute because of the
importance of place.
13
Medasi Paa
• Community members in Ayakomaso
• My supervisor Helen Hambly and
committee member Jim Shute
• Research assistants Vida Antwi
and Irene Darkuman
• Staff and teachers at FFRT,
Sunyani and KNUST
• JICA and Forestry Department
staff
• Family, friends and Frank
• CDE and CIDS colleagues and
friends
• SSHRC
14
Questions?
15