Many barriers exist for women, girls, Indigenous Peoples and local communities to fully participate in, be valued in, and benefit from biodiversity action. Barriers can take many forms and can include legal frameworks, lack of capacity, gender and other data gaps, negative stereotypes about the roles and capabilities of women, girls and Indigenous Peoples and local communities in biodiversity management, inequitable governance structures and social norms including gender- based violence that make it particularly difficult for women to participation.
An example from Vietnam demonstrated how sexual harassment and gender-based violence is directly barring women and girls from participation in conservation and leadership roles. Lone and remote female conservation workers can be the most impacted. Gender-based violence and sexual harassment can be seen as a method of control, to maintain a power imbalance or control over natural resources. It is also very difficult to assess, as many women and girls are not given formal training in recognising and handling sexual harassment or gender-based violence, and it often remains underreported due to stigma, fear of retaliation and tension within communities that discourage women from coming forward. Ways forward include better education of men to break down the societal norms and perceptions, recognition of women’s achievements, building youth capacity on gender equality, providing conservation degrees and training for women on the local and national scale and overall working to create safer environments for women and girls working in biodiversity sectors.
A further barrier is the devaluing of local and indigenous knowledge with respect to science – something that the world of international development has been grappling with for some time but that there is always a risk of being reproduced in conservation science, caused by hierarchies and power imbalances existing between the global north and the global south and local communities.
The power of knowledge and data was highlighted with an example from Indonesia. One community was suffering from severe health issues and a clear cause could not be determined, until one local woman working as an ecologist gathered data and determined waterways were being contaminated with poison. She could then trace the source to fish being caught by local fisherman, using a poison as a means to catch larger quantities of fish. She then worked with local fisherman to stop the practice. She is now working to provide better training to local women in technical and leadership skills, such as data collection, and helping to break down local cultural barriers and detrimental beliefs on the involvement of women.
There are multiple barriers to the recognition of land and resources rights. The most prominent barrier is political will. The full recognition of rights to land tenure and protection and ownership of communal lands, and enforcement of those policies needs political backing and legislation. Governments need to ensure that biodiversity action does not cause conflict with local groups, recognises existing land rights, and move to put legislation in place to secure land and resource rights for women and Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Governments also need to ensure that biodiversity action does not follow an externally driven model, favour investors at the expense of local needs, or lead to trade-offs against or disempowering local actors.
A further barrier is found in destructive economic models. In the biodiversity context, destructive economic models are often associated with large economic subsidies, particularly agricultural and fisheries subsidies. Often there are no subsidies available that promote small hold farmers’ rights, traditional fishing methods or promote biodiversity action at the local level. Globally there is also a general lack of subsidies that promote community-based action. Governments must look to ensure that large economic subsidies do no harm to biodiversity and local communities, and increase their positive and community-based incentives, moving towards positive economic models.
