Unpacking the perceived benefits and costs of integrating gender into conservation projects: voices of conservation field practitioners


KAME WESTERMAN


Abstract Many in theconservationspherehavenoted that robust and gender-equitable stakeholder engagement is cru- cial in achieving conservation outcomes, ensuring project sustainability and supporting human well-being. However, despite policies, international agreements and increasing requirements of donors, gender is still often viewed as an add-on rather than as a fundamental element of effective conservation. In an effort to overcome this, Conservation International has invested in nearly 20 project sites since 2014 to support targeted gender integration into existing con- servation projects.We conducted a survey with practitioners across these sites to examine the barriers to and enablers of gender integration, and practitioners’ perceptions of the ben- efits and challenges involved in this. Our findings demon- strate the importance of both external drivers (funding re- quirements) and a supportive environment (capacity build- ing, technical and financial support) in incentivising a focus on gender. Respondents also reported a suite of benefits (e.g. increased participation, higher quality of the project) and costs (mainly financial) related to gender integration. In doc- umenting these efforts to build gender-related capacity, and the associated benefits and challenges, we highlight the im- portance of gender-responsive conservation initiatives, and evaluate a method of achieving this. As conservation practi- tioners may be more inclined to listen to each other (given their shared objectives) rather than to gender specialists, this research can help to shift practitioner dialogue and conservation practice to be more open and responsive to gender.


Keywords Community-based conservation, gender inte- gration, gender-equitable stakeholder engagement, gender- responsive, natural resource management, perceived benefits


Introduction


he recent global assessment published by the Intergo- vernmental Science–Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES; Brondizio et al., 2019)warns


T KAME WESTERMAN (Corresponding author, orcid.org/0000-0003-3625-3619)


Conservation International, 2011 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA, 22202, USA E-mail kwesterman@conservation.org


Received 8 June 2020. Revision requested 29 July 2020. Accepted 9 November 2020. First published online 23 June 2021.


of the ongoing rapid decline in nature, and the recent annual report of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) shows no slowdown in global emissions (UNFCCC, 2019). Effective and sustainable con- servation of the Earth’s remaining ecosystems, and the ser- vices they provide to people, are thus critical. Evidence is growing that robust and gender-equitable stakeholder engagement is crucial in achieving conservation outcomes, ensuring project sustainability and supporting human well- being (e.g. Westermann et al., 2005; Leisher et al., 2016; Kristjanson et al., 2017; Agarwal, 2018). Based on this evi- dence, and as a result of decades of rights-based advocacy, the Rio conventions, which set global environmental policy, have come to adopt gender-responsive language and actions (CBD et al., 2012). Here, gender responsive refers to going beyond mere identification of gender issues to include pro- active efforts that aim to overcome gaps and inequalities; this differs from gender sensitive, which acknowledges gender gaps but does not necessarily include measures to reduce or eliminate them. The UNFCCC Gender Action Plan (UNFCCC, 2017) was adopted in November 2017 to support the implementation of gender-related decisions and mandates in the UNFCCC process. It seeks to advance women’s full, equal and meaningful participation and promote gender-responsive climate policy and the main- streaming of a gender perspective in the implementation of the Convention and the work of Parties, the Secretariat, United Nations entities and all stakeholders at all levels. Likewise, the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a Gender Plan of Action in 2014 (CBD, 2014) that includes actions for Parties to undertake in imple- menting the Convention, as well as a framework of actions for the Secretariat to integrate gender into its work. In add- ition, in 2017 the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) adopted its first Gender Action Plan (UNCCD, 2017) that supports and enhances the im- plementation of the gender-related decisions and mandates adopted in the UNCCD process. These commitments to gender-responsiveness are also


translated into the major finance mechanisms of the con- ventions: for example, the Global Environment Facility’s policy on gender equality (2018), the Green Climate Fund’s updated gender policy and action plan (2018), and the Adaptation Fund’s gender policy and action plan (2016) all lay out specific requirements related to analyses, indicators and staffing to encourage project implementers


This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Oryx, 2021, 55(6), 853–859 © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605320001295


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