Women and Natural Resources in Peacebuilding: Strengthening participation, improving protection and aiding empowerment
Women, men, girls and boys experience conflict in different ways and have different relationships and roles regarding the usage and management of natural resources. One of the unexplored ways of strengthening women's contributions to peacebuilding relates to how they use, manage, make decisions on and benefit from, natural resources. Indeed, women's multi-faceted relationships with natural resources, coupled with shifting gender norms in conflict-affected settings, provide significant opportunities to enhance their participation in decision-making, enabling them to engage more productively in economic revitalization.
As primary managers and users of natural resources in many conflict-affected contexts, women have a key role to play in peacebuilding but are often excluded from decision-making over natural resource management. This report analyses how women's empowerment and the sustainable use of natural resources can be pursued together to help build lasting peace.
This "horizon-scanning" report examines the major issues around women, natural resource management and peacebuilding, draws conclusions and makes recommendations for policymakers and practitioners to improve the gender-responsiveness of natural resource management initiatives in post-conflict contexts.
