ENGENDERED ENVIRONMENTS - UNDERSTANDING NATURAL-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE WEST AFRICAN FOREST ZONE

This article shows that a focus on the gender relations of resource use and control is crucial to understanding local resource management practices and innovations. Both conventional gender-blind approaches and those which isolate 'women's roles' for analysis tend to obscure these relations. As an alternative a micro-political economy perspective is articulated which identifies gender divisions of interests, labour, rights, responsibilities and their dynamic intersection in social relations. Two case studies - of changing land and tree management in Sierra Leone, and of agroforestry development initiatives in Nigeria - illustrate such an approach and its relevance to policy formulation.