NB: restoration impacts on: land productivity; availability of
water for home (household and livestock) and for irrigation, of fodder
or grazing grass and of firewood, poles and timber; landscape scenic
beauty and habit quality for wildlife and pollinators; weed reduction;
job and business opportunities; land tenure security; and on farm
income, input costs and labour.
Provisioning ecosystem services: natural resource
availability
We found that both men and women
perceived land degradation and restoration to have profound impact on
provisioning ecosystem services. In Amhara women rated that they were
greatly impacted by degradation in terms of water scarcity for household
and livestock use whilst men for irrigation. These reports are in line
with domestic responsibility divisions among households in Ethiopia
where over 80% of women are engaged in household chores and livestock
enterprises while men are engaged in high value income generating
irrigation enterprises (CSA, 2014). In SNNP, both genders reported
experiencing a greater scarcity of water for their livestock due to
degradation (Fig. 3). With restoration in place, both men and women
rated positive effects on water for livestock which significantly
increased in both sites. On irrigation water, one third of men indicated
that restoration had moderate to significant positive impact on water
for irrigation.
During the FGD in Amhara, men reported that, due to degradation, the
area experienced substantial shortage firewood. Post restoration, both
men and women perceive significant improvement in fuelwood and pole
availability. In SNNP, most respondents indicated that the change,
though positive, is minimal. In both sites both men and women indicated
that restoration significantly improved availability of fodder and
grazing grass. During FDG, men indicated that women are worried a lot
when there is livestock feed shortage. As men move to search for
employment and income, women remain at home to take care of livestock.
In SNNP, men narrated that communities are highly satisfied with the
availability of grass for the cut and carry system. They noted that
practice of planting improved grass variety on soil bunds helps farmers
to integrate crop and livestock farming. Enclosures have been found to
be effective at controlling grazing and restoring degraded grasslands
and woodlands (Mekuria et al., 2019). In Amhara it was noted that
marginal lands are converted to tree plantations which have higher
economic value than if the land, with low soil fertility, is used for
food crop production. In their pursuit of higher income from the smaller
plots, farmers in the lower landscape positions tend to grow high value
plants including the stimulant “Chat ” shrub. Some left their
fields as fallow and enclosures are used for controlled grazing for 3 to
5 years and recultivated once fertility is regained. Women’s valuation
of provisioning ecosystem services in restoration activities is in sharp
contrast to established notions that it is only men who value
provisioning services and women value regulatory services (Fortnam et
al., 2019; Kalaba et al., 2013).
Regulatory ecosystem services: landscape health and
habitat
quality
The study reveals gender differences in perceptions of landscape scenic
beauty and habitat quality for wildlife, pollinators, beneficial plants,
weeds and pests and diseases as regulatory indicators of ecological
health (Fig. 3 and 4). The men of Amhara perceive that, pre-restoration,
the scenic beauty, and wildlife habitat were greatly impacted while
women rated the impact as moderate. In SNNP, both men and women gave a
moderate rating of degradation’s impact on wildlife habitat, but both
indicated that landscape beauty was greatly impacted. As presented in
Fig. 4, men and women in both sites indicated that resource management
restored landscape scenic beauty.
In SNNP, degradation was rated to have moderate impact on pollinators
and beneficial plants but lead to proliferation of weeds and, pests and
diseases while in Amhara, the ratings were inverse with higher impact
rated for pollinators and beneficial plants. Most women of Amhara
indicated that the impact on beneficial organisms was minimal but men
observed that the increasing use of chemicals for weed control had a
negative impact on bees and other pollinators. The respondents indicated
that there have been habitat improvements leading to increase in
wildlife and pollinators which has been substantial in Amhara but
moderate in SNNP. A biodiversity study by Terefe et al. (2020) found
increased abundance of pollinators and re-appearance of new species in
restoration sites compared to neighbouring unrestored sites. In SNNP,
respondents indicated that there has been significant reduction in weeds
but in Amhara, majority of women reported that, post restoration, the
areas have experienced increased occurrence of weeds and a third men
perceived a slight increase in weed incidence. This rating reflects
women’s central role in weeding and their ability to recognise the
challenge better. Men and women of Amhara reported divergent experiences
of incidence of pests and diseases. More women perceived least to
moderate pest and disease occurrence in degraded landscapes while men
rate the problem as least to none (Fig. 3). In SNNP, both genders
reported higher occurrence of pests and diseases. The women’s knowledge
and perception of these regulatory services is supported by similar
findings by Yang et al. (2018) who found that women had stronger
perception of habitat conservation and sustaining biodiversity.
Land tenure and economic costs and
benefits
Related to productivity, restoration activities are viewed to influence
land-use rights. In Amhara, although a greater proportion of women think
it has not altered the existing land tenure systems, one-third of men
reported that the restoration activities have reduced their tenure
rights while around 15% of men and 20% of women reported increased
access to land. In SNNP, both men and women reported that restoration
did not alter the tenure arrangements. Most women than men in Amhara
indicated that restoration opened business and job opportunities while
in SNNP, the respondents did not experience change.
The women’s tenure security confirms earlier studies that found that
enhanced tenure security increases their engagement and valuation of
restoration initiatives (Basnett et al., 2017). Since women have minimal
economic opportunities (CSA, 2014), they are highly dependent on natural
resources and their increased tenure through restoration initiatives
significantly impact their livelihoods and wellbeing. Women’s tenure
security has been supported by Ethiopia’s gender-responsive land
certification and registration policies since early 2000s which were
found to increase investments in soil and water conservation measures by
20 to 30 per cent (Collantes et al., 2018). However, enhancing the value
of land through restoration can affect the functionality of the (land)
resource, and thus may pose the risk of land use and ownership
dispossession. The study found that tenure rights for some men were
reduced, which calls for gender-balanced approaches.
Degradation impacted both men and women in terms of labour and costs of
sourcing fuelwood (Fig. 3 and 4). Women were greatly constrained by the
lack of feed/forage availability and the shortage of time. To support
livelihoods through livestock, women reported spending much of their
time and income to acquire forage. Fuelwood collection is more of a
woman’s task in Ethiopia, and with scarcity of resources near
homesteads, they travel for up to 2 hours per day (CSA, 2014) with large
economic consequences (Gebru and Bezu, 2014; Mosa et al., 2020). Studies
in Kenya and Tanzania also found that fuelwood collection is affected by
degradation thereby increasing women’s burden to search cooking energy
(Njenga et al., 2021) affecting other economic activities including care
for the children (Levison et al., 2018). A recent study in Ethiopia
found that enclosures supply close to 10% of households fuelwood
demand, and women still travel 10 km/day to collect from degraded
forests (Mekuria et al., 2019).
Ironically, in Amhara, husbands reported significant increase in income
as well as in associated costs, majority of their wives indicated that
the incomes and costs were sightly increased, while 20% of wives
reported reduction in both income and costs. In SNNP, husbands reported
observing a significant increase in income and a little reduction in
costs while wives reported that they think incomes increased a little.
In Amhara, women experienced significant increase in time and labour
demand on farm while most men reported experiencing a decrease in both
time and labour requirements while in SNNP, wives and husbands indicated
that restoration slightly reduced the time and labour demands on farm. A
restoration workload study in Kenya found that the structural
restoration measures increased the cost and time for land preparation
but the labour investment was paid off by increased productivity and
income from sales of vegetative measures (Crossland et al., 2021). An
increase in household income has been recorded for restoration programs
in sloping landscapes (Lin and Yao, 2014).