Gendered evaluation of impacts of landscape degradation and restoration
on ecosystem services: perspectives from paired husbands and wives in
Ethiopia.
Abstract
Globally, land degradation disproportionally affects women more than men
and, to close the gender gap, several landscape restoration projects
promote gender inclusiveness. However, empirical evidence based on
gender-disaggregated data is a major research gap. Using a
gender-inclusive restoration case of Amhara and SNNP (Southern Nations,
Nationalities and Peoples) regions in Ethiopia in the last 6-10 years,
we collected data from 59 wife-husband paired households and six
gender-disaggregated focus groups. The study revealed large gender
differences in perceptions of landscape scenic beauty and habitat
quality in terms of wildlife, pollinators, beneficial plants, weeds, and
pests and diseases as indicators of ecological health. Despite that, the
paired husbands and wives live together and share resources, their
perceptions and valuation of degradation and restoration were divergent.
Men largely attributed degradation to external and natural forces while
women considered the lack of appropriate restoration strategies as a
precursor for accelerated land degradation. Women noted that in areas
that receive heavy rainfall and have sleep slopes, cultivation without
management measures exacerbates degradation. Gendered experiences on
impacts of degradation were captured: women indicated to be greatly
impacted in terms of water scarcity for livestock whilst men were
impacted on the water for irrigation. On restoration impacts, women
display increased concern and knowledge of regulatory services while men
are knowledgeable of provision services. Women attribute a moderate
impact of land degradation on habitat quality than men and attribute
restoration to the enhancement of biodiversity and pollinators. These
results are key in understanding the divergence between men’s and
women’s valuation of impacts of degradation and restoration that
underpins their involvement in ecosystem restoration and can be a basis
for gender equity discourse and policy.