Gender Dimensions of Environmental Conflict in Africa - Insights by Laine Munir

The Gender Dimensions of Environmental Conflict in Africa LAINE MUNIR (PHD, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY) RESEARCH FELLOW Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management (CoEB) JULY 17, 2019

CONTENTS I. Overview of the Field II. Environmental Conflict (A) III. Gender and the Environment (B) IV. Gender and Conflict (C) V. Gender and Environmental Conflict VI. PES in Sub-Saharan Africa VII. PES Questions for Rwanda 1

I. Overview of the Field Environmental Studies A. Environmental Conflict B. Gender & Environment C. Gender & Conflict Conflict/Security Studies Gender Studies 2

II. Environmental Conflict (A) Chronological overview: 1. Ecological security scholars: Asked, Should the environment be part of security studies? 2. Population growth makes conflict inevitable because of scarcity. 3. Distribution matters more than scarcity. 4. Control issues matter more than distribution or scarcity ; Concept of scarcity is relative; power dynamics at play. * Conflict does not always include physical violence. 3

III. Gender and the Environment (B) Ideological overview: 1. Liberal Feminism: Emphasizes autonomy of women by equalizing rights 2. Radical/Essentialist Feminism: Emphasizes reordering of society to ensure equity 3. Constructivist Feminism ( gender approach ): Emphasizes awareness of how gender and power are constructed through interactions Example: Payment for Ecological Services (PES) = compensation ($) to local communities for conservation that displaces them 4

IV. Gender and Conflict (C) Findings overview: 1. Conflict disproportionately impacts women sexual violence men and women have different roles during conflict impedes women s access to environmental resources gendered emphasis necessarily entails inclusion of children 2. Gender emphasis is helpful for peacebuilding 5

V. Gender and Environmental Conflict WHAT WE KNOW GLOBALLY THAT APPLIES TO AFRICA: 1. Men and women place different degrees of importance on different categories of ES. 2. Women use land daily and men less often, e.g. once per week. 3. Women may need communal lands more: less access to private land for resources* less access to cash economy, paid employment, and markets 4. Environmental damage, conflict, and conservation disproportionately costs women time. 5. Men and women engage in environmental violations for different reasons. 6

VI. PES in Sub-Saharan Africa Rising theme: Gender-sensitive conservation and compensation (PES) WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT COMPENSATION GLOBALLY THAT APPLIES TO AFRICA: 1. Various needs for trees and plants are gender-dependent. 2. When it comes to land and environmental resources, there is gender-based inequality in: community decision-making fair distribution of cash equality of rules enforcement information flow channels 7

VII. PES Questions for Rwanda 1) How does gendered division of labor in Rwanda impact environmental knowledge, and is that knowledge taken into account during assessment? 2) Are gender-based differences in environmental needs accounted for during the compensation process? 3) Does compensation that comes in the form of cash appropriately benefit women, in contrast to compensation in kind? 4) Can women engage in vocational training as a form of compensation with equity to men? POLICY: How can women be more equitably integrated into PES? 8

THANK YOU Laine Munir lmunir@gmu.edu 0780-232-081 9