Gendered struggles for the Commons

dc.contributor.authorBrownhill, L.en
dc.contributor.departmentSustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Management (SANREM) Knowledgebaseen
dc.coverage.spatialKenyaen
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-19T19:30:43Zen
dc.date.available2016-04-19T19:30:43Zen
dc.date.issued2007en
dc.descriptionMetadata only recorden
dc.description.abstractThis paper explores the connections between women, deforestation and its negative effects of emissions. If women are the majority of subsistent farmers in Africa, and deforestation produces emissions to the atmosphere, what makes women cut down trees? Kenya's shift to cash crops such as coffee, tea, sugar, flowers and cotton, left little available land for food productions. Development policies encouraged these shifts but women's movements have been fighting for a food crop centered economy. Nobel Prize winner, Wangari Maathai and The Green Belt Movement have gathered support for tree planting and for the retention of indigenous seeds and cultivation techniques. These techniques are considered to improve soil fertility and slow desertification. Tree planting was the starting point to discuss issues such as: food security, awareness of the negative impacts of agricultural petrochemical-based systems on health and the environment, genetically modified seeds, civic education and voter registration. But the movement faced resistance from government and private interests who want the land available for industrial logging, mining, plantation agriculture, ranching, real estate development, manufacturing, and private 'game parks'. To answer the initial question it is not women who cut trees for food self-sufficiency who are the problem, but the commercial logging and large scale export oriented farming that destroy the local environments.en
dc.format.mimetypetext/plainen
dc.identifier3142en
dc.identifier.citationWomen and Environments International Magazine Spring 07 (74/75): 34-37en
dc.identifier.issn1485-1571en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/67293en
dc.language.isoen_USen
dc.publisherOntario, Canada: Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Studies, University of Torontoen
dc.relation.urihttp://www.weimag.com/en
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.holderCopyright 2007 Women & Environments International Magazineen
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectWomenen
dc.subjectFood securityen
dc.subjectGenderen
dc.subjectDeforestationen
dc.subjectTree-plantingen
dc.subjectFood sovereigntyen
dc.subjectFood cropsen
dc.subjectClimate changeen
dc.subjectKenyaen
dc.titleGendered struggles for the Commonsen
dc.typeAbstracten
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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