Women as decision makers in community forest management: Evidence from Nepal

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Leone, Marinella
• 署名单位: University of Sussex
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2019.01.002
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 180-191
• 关键词: gender; Firewood collection; collective action; Community forestry; Natural resource management; Nepal

摘要

In many developing countries women are responsible for the collection and management of forest products essential to the daily lives of their household. However, women are often neglected in the decision-making process within community level institutions devoted to the management of natural resources. This paper looks at whether and how an increased participation of women in the Executive Committee (EC) of Community Forest User Groups (FUG) in Nepal affects forest protection. I exploit an amendment made to the guidelines for FUG formation that sets a higher threshold for women representation in the EC, to evaluate the impact of women on firewood extraction. The results show that higher female participation in the ECs of FUGs leads to a significant decrease in firewood extraction. These results suggest that in countries with common property resources, the effectiveness of collective action institutions depends also on their gender composition.