Gender and REDD+ in Tanzania An overview of key issues

o
o
o
o
“Ensuring there is gender balanced participation (e.g., acceptable proportions of men and women) in all forestry and beekeeping
activities;
Empowerment of women in management (e.g., active women involvement in decision making and access to resources), of forestry
resources at all levels;
Establishing firm institutional and organizational commitment (e.g., policy statements and planned actions), towards internalization
of gender issues in the National Forestry Programme and its activities; and,
Development of gender integrated forestry and environment management programmes or plans (e.g., gender aspects in all plans
and activities), at the district level.”
Further provisions on programme implementation include:
o 7.4.4.1 (Participatory Forest Resources Management and Gender Aspects) “There has … been inadequate consideration of
gender aspect in forest land management. The key priority will be improving management of forest estates through gender
sensitive participatory management approaches.”
o 7.4.4.3 (Land Use Planning) “… Priority will be to develop gender sensitive participatory land use planning in village and general
lands to ascertain ownership and increase motivation for forestland development and biodiversity conservation. ….”
o 7.4.5 (Forest Management and Conservation) “… In socioeconomic analyses increasingly attention is to be paid to poverty
reduction and gender aspects in relation to income generation opportunities provided by timber, fuel-wood and NWFPs. This will
include promoting gender balanced participatory management and ownership of forest resources and products.”
The Programme was meant to be a key implementation instrument for the National Forest Policy. An updated programme is
forthcoming. Its ongoing development provides an opportunitiy to further mainstream gender in forestry, if effective lobbying is
undertaken.
Environmental Policy 1997: The National Environmental Policy includes some focus on “The Enhanced Role of Women”, making
explicit references to women’s key roles in natural resource management, the importance of women’s participation and empowerment,
and women’s work burden.
o
o
(Para 43) Women are the natural resources managers in our society. Their knowledge, experience, and traditional skills in the
management of resources stocks and households should be tapped for increased environmental action. The role of women in
environmentally-related activities will be recognized and promoted with a view to achieving increased women’s involvement and
integration in all environmental management areas
(Para 44) Empowerment of women is a critical factor in the eradication of poverty and effective participation of women in
environmental activities. In so far as the productive potential of women is impaired by the disproportionate burden they bear in the
management of household consumption and production, on account of gender division of labour, emphasis shall be placed on
addressing the structural causes of poverty and reducing gender-based inequality within the overall framework of achieving
environmentally sound development. Such emphasis shall focus on literacy of women as a key element for the improvement of
health, nutrition, and education in the family, as for empowering women to participate in decision-making in society; as well as in
anti-poverty programmes such as employment schemes and credit facilities for women, among other measures.
Environmental Management Act (EMA) 2004 : The only specific reference to gender or women’s participation in EMA is in specifying
that “not less than three” of the members of the National Environmental Trust Fund Board of Trustees shall be women.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Audit Regulations 2005: These Regulations, which support implementation EIA and
audit provisions, include only the following specific gender considerations:
o Para 18.-(1) “A developer or proponent shall submit to the Council, an environmental impact statement incorporating but not
limited to the following information- …(p) an economic and social analysis of the project”. Gender is not specifically mentioned, but
“social analysis” is defined under the Regulations (Para 3) as “assessing or estimating in advance the social consequences from
specific policy actions or project development including … gender desegregation”
o The “project screening criteria” that are used to determine whether or not an EIA will be required53 includes the following: “9. The
project will not cause significant public concern because of potential environmental changes. The following are guiding principles:
(h) will the impact vary by social group or gender”
Many of the other social principles in these Regulations should apply equally to women and men, in principle, but the specific concerns
of women are clearly not mainstreamed in EIA or environmental audits.
.
13