Introduction

Despite the widely reported notion that population pressure accelerated degradation in Ethiopia (Gashaw et al., 2014; Gebreselassie et al., 2016; Taddese, 2001), historical evidence from the northern region shows that, in some land parcels, restoration efforts have enhanced ecosystem services including soil retention, crop yield, biomass production, groundwater recharge (Nyssen et al., 2009). Emerging from the succession of drought years in the 1970s to 1980s that exacerbated degradation, the rural communities striving in harsh conditions have forged strong social cohesion and collective action to revegetate landscapes and improve soil protection (Nyssen et al., 2009). The main restoration activities include physical structures such as soil bunds to control soil erosion on steep slopes as well as allowing natural regeneration through natural enclosing degraded areas from grazing, cultivation, and indiscriminate tree grass extraction (Descheemaeker et al., 2006; Tamene, 2005). The recovery invalidated notions of irreversible degradation (Dregne, 1991) and captivated the global call for collective restoration action that culminated into the UN General Assembly declaring 2021-2030 a decade of ecosystem restoration (UN, 2019; UNEP and FAO, 2020). In this regard, Ethiopia has taken a bold step by committing to restore 15 million hectares of degraded and deforested areas into productivity by 2025 (afri100, 2016; IUCN, 2020). Despite the demonstrated potential for success, women’s low engagement in restoration activities has been cited as the key concern (Bayu, 2020; Kumasi and Asenso-Okyere, 2011). The links between gender inequalities, degraded ecosystems, and land and water management interventions are increasingly visible (Broeckhoven and Cliquet, 2015; Collantes et al., 2018). Yet, despite potential synergies between restoration initiatives and gender inequality outcomes, gender remains poorly addressed (Basnett et al., 2017). Addressing such deep-seated socio-economic and ideological causes requires context- and culture-specific understandings and approaches (Zgang et al., 2019). A review by Zhang et al. (2019) identified the lack of empirical data disaggregating gender at the household level and the household division of labour concerning land management as major research gaps. In an intrahousehold gender dynamics study in eastern Kenya, it was found that employing an intrahousehold approach to land restoration increases both the uptake of restoration practices and the success and equity of restoration efforts (Crossland et al., 2021).
Several programs have been rolled out to ensure women’s rights, their engagement in decision making and equity in benefit sharing. Enhanced tenure security has been found to correlate positively with women’s likelihood of engaging with restoration (Basnett et al., 2017). For example, according to Collantes et. al. (2018), the gender-responsive land certification and registration process undertaken in Ethiopia in the early 2000s increased landowners’ likelihood to invest in soil and water conservation measures by 20 to 30 per cent. However, enhancing the value of land through restoration can affect the desirability of the (land) resource, and thus may pose the risk of land dispossession to those with insecure land rights. Because asset-poor groups and individuals are highly dependent on “common pool” resources, such as forests, water bodies and ecosystems, restoration initiatives that affect these areas significantly impact their livelihoods and wellbeing.
Corresponding to the Government of Ethiopia’s foundational goal that sustainability and equity are interlinked (UN-Women, 2014), the study’s objective is to explore gendered dynamics within rural community restoration initiatives by capturing intrahousehold ecosystem benefits among husbands and wives with shared restoration experiences. We work on the assumption that women and men often have differential access to resources and their perception and knowledge of ecosystem services also differ (Yang et al., 2018). Hence, understanding these differences is critical to ensuring that policies aimed at enhancing access to and use of ecosystem services can provide benefits to all genders.