Foggy overgrown hills in rainforest of Cameroon, Africa.

Celebrating International Women’s Day 2023 | Cameroon

This International Women’s Day 2023 we hear from the women across our partnerships on why including women in land and forest use decision making is so important.

Women make up half of the world’s population and are crucial stakeholders in sustainable development. They play a critical role in food production, natural resource management, and biodiversity conservation, all of which are essential for mitigating and adapting to climate change.

When women are included in decision-making processes, they bring valuable perspectives and solutions to the table, leading to more sustainable outcomes (UN Women).

So to celebrate International Women’s Day 2023, we spoke to five women from CCREAD our rainforest partners in Cameroon; Belinda Menyange (CCREAD Administrator), Georgiana Efande Kongwe (Project Management and Coordination Officer), Abang Jacobine Takor (Programs Unit), Ndofor Nancy (Program Coordination and Outreach, Rise for Nature) and Egbe Bernice (Monitoring and Evaluation Unit).

Here’s what they had to say.

Why is it important for women to be included in decisions about land and forest use?

Belinda Menyange: It is important to include women in decisions about land and forest use because it promotes gender equality. Their participation is very important to the success of sustainable forest management and land use because it generates important social co-benefits such as improving women’s land tenure security and creating new streams of income.

it is time to take concrete action to empower women in forest communities and tap their knowledge to help solve our climate crisis. Georgiana Efande Kongwe (Project Management and Coordination Officer)

Georgiana Efande Kongwe: In regards to the UN sustainable development goal 5 (gender equality), it is time to take concrete action to empower women in forest communities and tap their knowledge to help solve our climate crisis. It is therefore important to include women in decision about land and forest for the following reasons;

They can organize and carry out activities that can help reduce some of the community’s livelihood challenges like climate change.
Involving women can contribute to the sustainability and long term effectiveness of forest restoration as well as gender equity.
Women carry out most of the agriculture-related activities on land while depending on forest to collect food, medicine and water for their families and communities. At the same time, Women who rely on forest to look after their families often have special knowledge of the precious natural resources available in the rainforest and how to manage and use them sustainably
Women involvement can massively help to achieve many of the SDGs including those of poverty (goal 1), hunger (goal2), gender equality (goal 5), climate change (goal 13) and life on land (goal 15).

At a time when humanity is facing multiple challenges, forests are more than ever essential, offering solutions for climate change, biodiversity, sustainable agriculture and food security, it is fair enough to say women need an equal say on how land and the rainforest are protected, used and managed.

Ndofor Nancy: Women make up a higher percentage of the farming population in most rural communities, which is the major source of livelihood and food security. They play a crucial role in their communities by producing food and resources, preserving traditional crops, and uplifting the welfare of their families. Women are nation builders and unfortunately, they tend to hold inferior quality lands and smaller plots. Securing their land rights through inclusion in the decisions can play an integral role in empowering women in agriculture, which is guaranteed to foster forest conservation across generations. They should therefore be included in decisions about land and forest use as an enabler of economic growth.

To me, women are agents of change in leading biodiversity protection, conservation and sustainable farming. Egbe Bernice (Monitoring and Evaluation Unit)

Egbe Bernice: Women are the main users and managers of land. They work as farmers or pastoralist with primary motive for household food production. A deterioration in forest and land conditions threatens women’s access to food, medicine and other products that are essential for them and their families to survive and make a living.

Women are active forest users and have better knowledge than men on certain forest products and how these products should be extracted and which species should be planted. These women have exceptional knowledge of these natural resources, and how to manage and use them sustainably, hence including women in decisions relating to land and forest use will go a long way in solving the climate crisis. To me, women are agents of change in leading biodiversity protection, conservation and sustainable farming.

Why is protecting the rainforest important to you?

My parents saw me through school thanks to the resources they got from the forest, which still sustains us, up to date. Belinda Menyange (CCREAD Administrator)

Belinda Menyange: My parents saw me through school thanks to the resources they got from the forest, which still sustains us, up to date. Apart from benefiting from its resources such as non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and provision of quality air, forests need to be protected because they are home to a huge quantity of the world’s remaining biodiversity.

Georgiana Efande Kongwe: Protecting the world’s forest is not a luxury, it is a necessity! Tropical rainforest in particular, are of special importance. These forests are vital to the protection and storage of water. They are also reservoirs of biodiversity, covering 2% of the world’s surface but containing half of the world’s plants and animals.

The rainforest is an indispensable variable of the ecosystem. Abang Jacobine Takor (Programs Unit)

Abang Jacobine Takor: The rainforest is an indispensable variable of the ecosystem. Our survival is directly linked to the rainforest via the collection of products to meet subsistence requirements and also augmenting family income is generally the responsibility of women. The rainforest regulates the climate by absorbing excess carbon dioxide and releases oxygen.

Ndofor Nancy: The rainforest is home to large species of animals and plants, as well as a source of food, shelter, water, and medicine to millions of people around the world. The rainforest also contributes to the battle against climate change through its capacity to absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. It should therefore be protected at all costs to prevent the extinction of endangered species as we all make up a unique part of the ecosystem.

Egbe Bernice: The consequences of climate change, global warming, rising sea levels, ozone depletion, melting of ice bars and drought on the quality of life have expanded in recent years. Protecting the forest will help in reducing climate change, reduce the greenhouse effects, support biodiversity and food security. The forest is sometimes referred to as the “lungs” of the earth, protecting it means protecting the earth.

What is the most important resource to you from the rainforest?

Belinda Menyange: Njansang (Ricinodendron)

Georgiana Efande Kongwe: The most important resources found in the rainforest around the world are, minerals like gold and copper, diamonds, non-timber forest products, precious metals and gemstones.

Abang Jacobine Takor: The most important resource of the rainforest to me and most of my family members are different types of Non timber forest products (NTFPs).

Ndofor Nancy: The food/medicine provided for us naturally from our rainforests.

Egbe Bernice: Herbs, medicines.

Can you share one piece of advice you would give to a woman interested in working in the rainforest?

Belinda Menyange: She should be a lover of nature and be willing to work in remote and typical forest communities.

Georgiana Efande Kongwe: It is a beautiful and wonderful experience to be actively participating in one of the world’s most precious gifts. Therefore work with passion, courage and ignore the myth about rainforest. It is the woman’s responsibility to protect and not destroy the rainforest for the betterment of the community and the future generation.

Abang Jacobine Takor: Resilience.

My advice to women interested in working in the rainforest would be to practise climate-smart initiatives. Ndofor Nancy (Program Coordination and Outreach, Rise for Nature)

Ndofor Nancy: My advice to women interested in working in the rainforest would be to practise climate-smart initiatives. This will include improved knowledge on agroforestry and its techniques. These will regenerate ageing farms to significantly reduce the extension of farming activities into nearby forests by establishing agroforestry nurseries. This is guaranteed to increase their agricultural productivity while improving soil health, water, and air quality, as well as wildlife habitat.

Egbe Bernice: Working in the rainforest should be done in a sustainable way that reconciles present and future needs that is to provide for the present population while making sure that the needs of the future generation will also be met. She should consider the forest as her baby, protect, nurture and care for it.

Coming up

Next up in our International Women’s Day series we hear from our partners in Peru. And to find out what the women in our Papua New Guinea partnership had to say click here.