Full citation: Agarwal, B. (2010). Gender and Green Governance (Oxford: Oxford University Press). – This book is based on a primary survey of community forestry institutions (CFIs) in the early 2000s, and on fieldwork in Nepal and India. It examines the impact the gender composition of a group has on women’s effective participation, rule-making, rule violations, forest conservation, and firewood and fodder shortages.

It finds that women’s greater presence in CFIs has many statistically demonstrable benefits. It enhances women’s effective voice in decision-making; influences the nature of decisions made, especially the rules of forest use and their implementation; and improves forest condition. Measures that help increase women’s presence in governance institutions (and especially poor women’s presence) would thus be beneficial both because their participation is intrinsically important for inclusive governance and successful institutional functioning, and to better fulfill the conservation and subsistence objectives of such institutions. [Threats to Women’s Land Tenure Security and Effectiveness of Interventions – Annotated Bibliography]