Asian societies are not only complex but are undergoing rapid change in the face of the forces of globalization and privatization. Issues of gender, class, caste, ethnicity and age are central to understanding power relations and decision-making processes concerning the access to, use of and management of natural resources. This needs an understanding of social realities to ensure proper participation in and the equitable distribution of the benefits of development interventions and policies.
This book documents and reflects on steps taken by researchers of natural resource management to implement social and gender analysis in South and Southeast Asia: India, Nepal, China, Viet Nam and Mongolia.
The study
- Reveals natural resource management questions whether addressed from micro or macro perspectives, are neither socially nor gender neutral;
- Offer ?on the ground? examples of different methods to integrate social and gender analysis in research, outlining the enabling and constraining factors that impact on this;
- Represent initiatives by academic and non-academic organizations which are variously tackling biodiversity conservation, crop and livestock improvement and sustainable grassland development;
- Examine the experiences in capacity development in these diverse contexts.
The book concludes with a comparative analysis of the six cases, highlighting common issues and challenges identified by the research teams. These include organization change, mainstreaming gender and social issues, the enduring inequalities facing women and improving the quality of participation.
Bringing together learning experiences and scientific results from five Asian countries, this book will be useful for students and professionals of rural development and natural resource management. The wide coverage of topics ? from agri-marketing to social capital resource among women ? also makes it of interest to scholars of rural sociology, agricultural economics and gender studies.
Published by Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd and International Development Research Centre (IDRC) 2006 (www.idrc.ca)
