Creating mutual benefits: examples of gender and biodiversity outcomes in horticultural activities
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Bioversity International has launched a series of factsheets on “Creating mutual benefits: examples of gender and biodiversity outcomes from Bioversity International’s research”. Three of these factsheets take place in forest and agroforestry landscapes and have interesting lessons for horticultural activities. The factsheet ‘Promoting gender equality, social inclusion and biodiversity conservation in Nepal’s home gardens’ (PDF) shows that home gardening has benefits for biodiversity, nutrition and livelihoods. Home gardening can increase production, consumption and income of the rural poor, and it can make an important contribution to strengthening the capacities of farmers and promoting more equitable gender relations. The factsheet ‘Gender responsive value chain development and the conservation of native fruit trees through an inclusive learning process: a case study in Western Ghats, India’ (PDF) describes participatory research activities to improve incomes earned from forest resources and make insitu conservation activities more gender and socially inclusive. The research process increased skills of men and women about production and marketing of non-timer forest products, and it resulted in sharing of knowledge and ideas. The factsheet ‘Participatory research to elicit gender differentiated knowledge of native fruit trees’ (PDF) discusses a participatory study with the aim to better understand the ecological, organizational and marketing aspects of native fruit trees in Malaysia. Results show gender and age-specific knowledge exists about forest resources and benefits. The factsheets highlights that excluding women from research-for-development initiatives is problematic because of the specific knowledge they have, and because it can limit their access to the benefits derived from improved management and use of fruit diversity.