Gender and biodiversity: A new approach to linking environment and development

This article argues that gender roles, gendered knowledge, and gendered spaces have to be considered in the discussion to understand decision making for biodiversity at the grassroots. Women's roles in seed selection, traditional plant use, and bioconservation are changing and being influenced by culture, global trade networks, and geographical contexts. The paper also discusses the two main approaches to biodiversity conservation; the top-down classic approach, and the neoliberal approach. The role of diverse groups of people including indigenous peoples, whose knowledge is perceived to be threatened by globalization and Western science, is also discussed in this paper. Biodiversity is declining due to habitat destruction, over-harvesting, pollution, the inappropriate introduction and dominance of higher-yielding varieties of staple food crops.