Lack of governmental information and collaboration

Women living in villages adjacent to PAs are the ones most affected by the designation of PAs. Most of these women are aware of the existence of the PAs because they come into day-to-day conflict with the forest patrols. However, they are generally not aware of the reasons for these PAs. They perceive them as an infringement on their basic right to survival. Although local people generally have a positive attitude toward conservation, they have negative feelings about PAs. In fact, the area adjoining the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) is the region that gave birth to the famous chipko movement in the early 1970s, when women foiled the attempts of contractors to fell trees by hugging the trees and ultimately succeeded in bringing about a ban on commercial felling in the area. But with the declaration of the region as National Park some 10 years after the chipko movement, the women seem to have become totally indifferent to the condition of these forests, which they now perceive as sarkari jungle, “government forests” that are the cause of their hardships.

The locals' inability to access forest resources, their lack of understanding of the reasons for PA declaration, and the absence of any positive interaction with PA management have led to hostility toward management. A survey conducted in villages in the buffer zone of the NDBR revealed that 90% of the women were prepared to steal biomass resources from the PA. A similar sentiment was echoed by 70% of the women in villages adjoining the Rajaji National Park. Although most were aware of the park's existence, over 80% were not aware of the reasons for it. They perceive the PA as the main cause of their hardship and maintain that the government designates PAs to earn money from foreigners at the cost of local rights to collect biomass. This alienation of local communities has been further intensified by incidents of humans being killed by predators in the hill areas. Approximately two thirds of the victims were females.

Lack of women's participation in community programs

Most participatory community programs focusing on biodiversity conservation are based on an undifferentiated view of the community that ignores women. In most states, the government mandates the formation of forest protection committees or ecodevelopment committees stipulating joint membership for each household: if the husband becomes a member, the wife automatically becomes a member as well, and vice versa. Thus, either of the 2 can represent the household at any annual general meeting. Nevertheless, in the villages around the Rajaji National Park only 45–50% of the women knew that village ecodevelopment committees (VECs) existed, and most came to know of them through talk in the village (68%). Only 11% had attended meetings, and none were aware of the required quota of women members in the executive committee of the VECs (Figure 3). At a village meeting on the fringe of the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary in the western Himalaya, for example, the village plan for ecodevelopment was being discussed. The forest department was curious to know whether the draft plan was acceptable to the villagers. The women villagers in particular knew nothing about the plan. This resulted from the failure to consult women, the primary stakeholders, at the planning stage, although the major objective of ecodevelopment is to elicit participation of local people in biodiversity conservation.

Furthermore, even though most state circulars specify that one third to one half of the executive committee members in such bodies should be women, there is no mandatory quorum for women, either in the general body or in the executive committee meetings. Even when they attend, the presence of women does not necessarily imply their active and meaningful participation. And even as members of decision-making forums, they generally do not feel free to express their needs and concerns because they are often not in a position to challenge male colleagues who may be their husbands, brothers, or fathers.

Meaningful involvement by women

In recent years, there has been recognition of the importance of involvement by women in conservation initiatives. Most PA managers are consciously trying to develop programs that empower rural women and ensure that their voices are heard in decision-making processes. These initiatives include sensitizing the PA staff and the communities to gender issues, skill-related training programs for women, capacity building among poor women by actively involving them in alternative income-generation activities and services at the village level, and building and strengthening institutions that would ensure women's entitlements. In the case of the Binsar Wildlife Sanctuary discussed above, once the forest department realized its shortcomings and ensured that women were involved in planning ecodevelopment and ecotourism initiatives, the women took pride in the process. They are now instrumental in implementing the plan. In the Rajaji National Park, training programs for the staff and communities and skill enhancement and income-generating activities have been undertaken in addition to initiation of efforts to organize women into self-help groups. The PA management of the Great Himalayan National Park has also taken an initiative to organize poor women in women's savings and credit groups (WSCGs). The members of these WSCGs are being involved in income-generating activities. There has been a perceptible change in attitude among men in households where women bring in money, including a willingness to share household work and facilitate women's attendance at meetings. The WSCGs also function as forums for discussion and propagation of ideas, such as on-farm biodiversity conservation, besides being centers for social change where literacy, women and childcare programs, and veterinary care programs are undertaken. Although these are isolated initiatives, they show how participation by women in biodiversity conservation can be promoted through empowerment and attention to concerns about livelihood.