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.