Integrating Indigenous and Gender Aspects in Natural Resource Management

The aim of these guidelines is to offer some conceptual and practical tools for improving natural resource management activities and to open a dialogue among practitioners as to how gender and indigenous concerns can best become an integrated part of any natural resource management process anywhere in the world. The purpose is to provide relevant knowledge, experiences and practical tools to all practitioners who are concerned with a continuous improvement of their natural resource management results, impact, and sustainability within indigenous territories or areas.

The guidelines are divided into three parts:

The First Part offers a number of case stories on the consequences of excluding and including indigenous and gender concerns in relation to natural resource management. Furthermore, it presents arguments against and in favour of including indigenous and gender aspects in order to put the issues into perspective.

The Second Part presents suggestions and recommendations for including indigenous and gender concerns in natural resource management activities based on a project cycle approach.

The Third Part - the Annexes - provides short background information on the IGNARM network, including the working concepts. A number of other annexes provide additional information.

The IGNARM network was created by five organisations - World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Denmark, the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), KULU-Women and Development, Nepenthes and the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) - in order to share, explore and strengthen their experiences and knowledge within the field emerging at the intersection between indigenous peoples, gender and natural resource management.