ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relationship between gender and environmental resources, using forests in the Global South as an illustration. Men in subsistence contexts use common property resources (CPRs) typically for small timber or for specific income-earning activities such as making charcoal. They are also better placed financially to purchase what they need if unavailable from CPRs. In general, gender inequalities in access to private property resources and embedded social norms create gender differences in dependence on CPRs across most wealth and asset groups, albeit in varying degrees. forest degradation increases the time taken and distances traveled by women in gathering fuel and fodder. Although firewood itself is not a clean fuel, forest degradation is worsening this situation as less smoky firewood varieties are becoming difficult to find with falling biodiversity. While women from rich rural households can fall back on private property resources, poor women can be seriously conflicted between their interest in forest conservation and basic survival.
