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Women must benefit from REDD: Experts
KATHMANDU, AUG 13 -
There is a need to ensure benefits for the rural women of developing countries including Nepal from Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), a carbon-cutting scheme backed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), experts said.
REDD—a mitigation mechanism for climate change—aims at giving developing countries funds by paying for the conservation and maintenance of forest cover in an effort to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide, major green house gas causing global warming in the atmosphere. However, the scheme for forest carbon offset is still under consideration by the UNFCCC for final approval.
Speaking at a two-day workshop on ‘Gender in Climate Change and REDD’ on Friday, Jeannette D. Gurung, director of Women Organising for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management, said, this new carbon-financing mechanism should reward the women for their stewardship in natural resource conservation particularly forest management in Nepal.
According to her, though the REDD provides both positive and negative impacts for the forest-dependent communities especially rural women due to the lack of their involvement in decision-making process, it (REDD) provides a framework to support projects that could have positive impacts on women and other local groups dependent on forest by improving livelihood and conserving and restoring forest resources.
Meanwhile, Secretary at Ministry of Forest and Soil Conservation Yuvraj Bhusal said the women particularly in mid-hills and high mountains have made praiseworthy efforts in sustainable management of community forests through local participation compared with other community forest users’ groups (CFUGs) headed by male representatives. According to experts, community forests in Nepal are the key sectors to get benefits through the REDD mechanism as it is being viewed as an additional incentive for assisting communities in promoting sustainable management of forests. Out of 15,0000 CFUGs in the country, 900 are managed by women’s groups and are successful examples.
Posted on: 2010-08-14 08:30
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