Development

Citation:

Wang, Yiting, and Catherine Corson. 2015. “The Making of a ‘Charismatic’ Carbon Credit: Clean Cookstoves and ‘Uncooperative’ Women in Western Kenya.” Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 47 (10): 2064–79.

Authors: Yiting Wang, Catherine Corson

Abstract:

The Kyoto Protocol under the United Nations Convention on Climate Change first legitimized state-to-state carbon trading in 1997 with the goal of cost-effectively reducing carbon emissions. Voluntary carbon markets for private trading have emerged since, often claimed by their proponents to pioneer innovative projects that reduce poverty as well as carbon emissions. We use the case of a cookstove project, financed by the carbon emissions reductions generated when rural Kenyan women switch from traditional to energy-efficient cookstoves, to illuminate the complex process through which ‘charismatic’ pro-poor carbon offsets are produced. We highlight the role of women's labor in creating the initial carbon emissions reductions, which then become tradable virtual commodities through a series of studies to measure and verify the associated carbon savings, as well as the signing of a contract that transfers the property rights to the verified savings from the stove user to an international nonprofit carbon credit developer. We argue that, while introducing some improvements in cooking time, smoke level, and labor, the improved cookstove carbon offset ultimately constitutes a gendered, ongoing accumulation by decarbonization that, by securing the means of future wealth that could be generated from the project for investors in the Global North, marginalizes rural Kenyan women.

Keywords: cookstoves, gender, carbon trading, foreign aid, Kenya

Topics: Development, Economies, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Infrastructure, Energy, International Law Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2015

Citation:

Asher, Kiran, and G. Varley. 2018. “Gender in the Jungle: A Critical Assessment of Women and Gender in Current (2014–2016) Forestry Research.” International Forestry Review 20 (2): 149–59.

Authors: Kiran Asher, G. Varley

Abstract:

Fields and forests are gendered spaces. Women's crucial contributions to productive and reproductive work within and beyond the household have been made visible since the 1970s. There has also been a persistent call for mainstreaming gender in sustainable development and environmental concerns. Prior work discusses the importance of women and gender for forests, and provides guidelines and methods to integrate them in forestry research. This paper assesses the uptake of women and gender issues in recent (2014-2016) forestry research. We found that women and gender concerns are still largely absent or inadequately addressed in forestry research published in scientific journals. Despite the call for greater gender integration in forestry, much needs to be done in quantitative and qualitative terms to meet this goal.

Keywords: women, forestry, gender, gender mainstreaming, gender relations of power

Topics: Development, Environment, Gender, Women, Gender Mainstreaming

Year: 2018

Citation:

Arora-Jonsson, Seema. 2014. “Forty Years of Gender Research and Environmental Policy: Where Do We Stand?” Women’s Studies International Forum, Special Issue on Gender, Mobility and Social Change - Guest Edited by Lena Nare and Parveen Akhtar 47: 295–308.

Author: Seema Arora-Jonsson

Annotation:

Summary:
Forty years of gender research has ensured that gender is an important category that needs to be taken into account in environmental policy and practice. A great deal of finances and attention are currently being directed to gender in development and environmental organizations. At the same time, as gender research has become more sophisticated and theoretically strong, there is also frustration among academic researchers as well as practitioners and policy makers that it appears to have had a marginal effect on environmental practice on the ground.

Policies have turned to gender mainstreaming, attempted to include women and other marginalized social groups in environmental management and markets. Change has been mixed. Mainstreaming can become a technocratic exercise. The assumption that competing interests can be negotiated by adding women to organizations for environmental governance, in disregard for social relations, is problematic. Stereo-types about women and men, sometimes buttressed by gender research predominate in policy and programs. Inclusion in markets offer new options but can further curb women's agency. Contradictions arise - as gender becomes a part of the official machinery, when women are regarded as a collective but addressed as individuals in programs and when the focus is on the governance of gender with little attention on the gender of neoliberal governance. Yet, support for ‘gender programs’ has also led to unintended openings for empowerment. It is clear that the meaning of gender is far from settled and there are intensified efforts to define what ‘gender’ is in each context. I discuss the renewed interest in gender and what this engagement with power might mean for gender research, policy and practice and where we might go from here. (Summary from original source)

Topics: Development, Environment, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gender Mainstreaming

Year: 2014

Citation:

Aluko, Yetunde A. 2015. “Patriarchy and Property Rights among Yoruba Women in Nigeria.” Feminist Economics 21 (3): 56-81.

Author: Yetunde A. Aluko

Abstract:

In most patriarchal societies, women’s property rights are often achieved vicariously, usually through their husbands. By contrast, among the Yoruba of Nigeria, women have some levels of autonomy and independence such that they can accumulate property to which their husbands have no claim, yet they customarily do not have any inheritance right to their husbands’ property. This study examines how this gender-equitable property rights regime affects gender relations at the household and societal levels through in-depth interviews conducted in 2012 with fifty-six purposively selected women property owners who lived in urban Ibadan, Nigeria. Findings include that though economic power has improved the status of the women and contributes to development of their communities, it has not yet translated into equity in decision making. More than economic power is required to attain equality. The capability of defining goals and acting upon them is also critical.

Keywords: patriarchy, Property Rights, Yoruba women, development, Nigeria

Topics: Development, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Households, Rights, Property Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Nigeria

Year: 2015

Citation:

Eniola, Bolanle, and Adeoye O. Akinola. 2019. “Cultural Practices and Women’s Land Rights in Africa: South Africa and Nigeria in Comparison.” In Trajectory of Land Reform in Post-Colonial African States. Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development, edited by Adeoye O. Akinola, and Henry Wissink, 109-123. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 

Authors: Bolanle Eniola, Adeoye O. Akinola

Abstract:

Over the years, Africa has been characterised by poverty, gender inequalities and socioeconomic underdevelopment. It was soon discovered that cultural and traditional belief system constitutes one of the drivers of gender inequality, which is reflected in the skewed land arrangement in the continent. This chapter examines women’s land rights (access and control) in Africa, focusing on the Nigeria and South Africa’s experience. It assesses African traditional practices and norms that limit women’s property rights and explores how gender inequalities in terms of land ownership and rights have jeopardized attempts at sustainable development in Africa. It notes that the continental challenges of land utility, food security and enduring development have a direct correlation with the denial of women’s right to land ownership and use. The chapter concludes by reiterating the urgent need to promote gender equality in the resource sector, this is an essential corollary for African survival and sustainable development. 

Keywords: cultural practices, gender inequalities, land rights, Nigeria, South Africa

Topics: Development, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Nigeria, South Africa

Year: 2019

Citation:

Hellin, Jon, and Eleanor Fisher. 2019. "The Achilles Heel of Climate-Smart Agriculture." Nature Climate Change 9: 493-94.

Authors: Jon Hellin, Eleanor Fisher

Annotation:

Climate-smart food systems are needed to feed growing populations while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and conserving natural resources. However, to be successful, climate-smart agriculture interventions must be equitable and inclusive to overcome trade-offs with other Sustainable Development Goals.

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Poverty, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Year: 2019

Citation:

Gutierrez-Montes, Isabel, Maureen Arguedas, Felicia Ramirez-Aguero, Leida Mercado, and Jorge Sellare. 2017. "Contributing to the Construction of a Framework for Improved Gender Integration into Climate-Smart Agriculture Projects Monitoring and Evaluation: MAP-Norway Experience." Climatic Change 158: 93-106.

Authors: Isabel Gutierrez-Montes, Maureen Arguedas, Felicia Ramirez-Aguero , Leida Mercado, Jorge Sellare

Abstract:

The Mesoamerican Agroenvironmental Program (MAP-Norway) is a multi-dimensional rural development program implemented in Central America since 2009, working with smallholder families, producer organizations, governmental organizations, and regional governance platforms. To monitor, assess, and evaluate the effects of the program on its beneficiaries, MAP-Norway uses a series of indicators that allow project managers and donors to adapt and follow-up on the interventions. Because gender is a cross-cutting theme in the program, gender indicators are used at all levels: families, producer organizations, and governmental organizations and governance platforms. In this document, we use the experience of MAP-Norway to critically assess these indicators, considering their potential usability in the monitoring and evaluation of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) initiatives. Furthermore, we propose a series of other indicators that capture various dimensions of gender relations. These indicators can be used to assess the effect of CSA practices, services, and technologies on equity in decision-making, women’s empowerment (including economic empowerment), intra-household food security, and equity in ownership over productive resources, among others, thus providing evidence that can help better design and target CSA interventions.

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Households, Security, Food Security Regions: Americas, Central America

Year: 2017

Citation:

Clarke, Tahlia, Karen E. McNamara, Rachel Clissold, and Patrick D. Nunn. 2019. “Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change: Lessons from Tanna Island, Vanuatu.” Island Studies Journal 14 (1): 59-80.

Authors: Tahlia Clarke, Karen E. McNamara, Rachel Clissold, Patrick D. Nunn

Abstract:

Community-based adaptation has gained significant international attention as a way for communities to respond to the increasing threats and complex pressures posed by climate change. This bottom-up strategy represents an alternative to the prolonged reliance on, and widespread ineffectiveness of, mitigation methods to halt climate change, in addition to the exacerbation of vulnerability resulting from top-down adaptation approaches. Yet despite the promises of this alternative approach, the efficacy of community-based adaptation remains unknown. Its potential to reduce vulnerability within communities remains a significant gap in knowledge, largely due to limited participatory evaluations with those directly affected by these initiatives, to determine the success and failure of project design, implementation, outcomes and long-term impact. This paper seeks to close this gap by undertaking an in-depth evaluation of multiple community-based adaptation projects in Tanna Island, Vanuatu and exploring community attitudes and behavioural changes. This study found that future community-based adaptation should integrate contextual specificities and gender equality frameworks into community-based adaptation design and implementation, as well as recognise and complement characteristics of local resilience and innovation. In doing this, the critical importance of looking beyond assumptions of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) as homogenous, primarily vulnerable to climate change and lacking resilience, was also recognised.

Keywords: adaptation, climate change, community-based resilience, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), vulnerability

Topics: Development, Environment, Climate Change, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality Regions: Oceania Countries: Vanuatu

Year: 2020

Citation:

Gioli, Giovanna, and Andrea Milan. 2018. “Gender, Migration and (Global) Environmental Change.” In Routledge Handbook of Environmental Displacement and Migration, edited by Robert McLeman and François Gemenne, 135-50. New York: Routledge. 

Authors: Giovanna Gioli, Andrea Milan

Abstract:

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Environment, Climate Change, Gender

Year: 2018

Citation:

Author: Monia Braham

Abstract:

Topics: Development, Displacement & Migration, Climate Displacement, IDPs, Migration, Environment, Climate Change, Gender Regions: Europe, Southern Europe

Year: 2018