It’s been 14 years since the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 acknowledging women as important agents of change in recovery from conflict and peacebuilding generally. But between 1992 and 2011, only four percent of signatories in 31 major peace processes around the world were women, and only 12 out of 585 peace agreements referred to or made provisions for women’s needs in the reconstruction process.

Excluding women from reconstruction and peacebuilding can prolong conflict and perpetuate systematic inequalities, no more so then when it comes to natural resource management. Since 1990, at least 18 conflicts have been fuelled or financed by natural resources, according to the UN Environment Program (UNEP).

Among rural households in the developing world, women are typically the primary providers of water, food, and energy (e.g., firewood and biomass). As a result, women in conflict-affected countries are often especially dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods and especially vulnerable to changes in availability and access.

Despite this, women are still persistently discriminated against and compensated less in agricultural pursuits, land rights, and other natural resource management activities, as well as excluded from peace processes. This is particularly problematic because the frequent result – food insecurity – threatens not only women, but dependent family members and young children. Additionally, food insecurity often contributes to the recurrence of violence in areas with weak institutions and vulnerable markets.

Failure to recognize the trials and realities women face in areas affected by conflict violates their rights and dismisses their positive potential. Women and Natural Resources: Unlocking the Peacebuilding Potential, a report published jointly by UNEP, UN Women, the UN Development Program, and the UN Peacebuilding Support Office, analyzes and offers solutions to strengthen peacebuilding outcomes by enhancing women’s engagement and empowerment through natural resource management.

Gender Dynamics in Conflict-Affected Areas

Women represent 43 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries and over half of agricultural laborers in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite this, research indicates that women are rarely consulted in peacebuilding programs related to agricultural planning, technology, and access to credit.

Concessions and interventions often sideline women’s interests, particularly in cases where male village chiefs or heads of households are responsible for representing community interests. In fact, some peace agreements have exacerbated land-related vulnerabilities for women, according to the report.

Following the cessation of conflict in 2005 Aceh, Indonesia, for example, funding for economic recovery focused primarily on cash crops, such as rice, rubber, palm oil, and coffee. Women, who primarily grew subsistence crops, were largely excluded from benefits.

Similarly, women in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, were sidelined in peacekeeping efforts and land agreements in the late 1990s and early 2000s, despite the matrilineal nature of their communities. While women were able to informally participate in the peace process by utilizing their unique family positions to facilitate discussion between conflicting groups, they were not adequately represented in the formal negotiation process.

Women in conflict-affected areas often also face elevated security risks because of their natural resource management responsibilities. Population pressures around refugee and displaced persons camps can lead to water shortages and deforestation, forcing women to go further and further away to collect drinking water and firewood, where they may be more vulnerable to assault.

“At a practical level, women form the majority of resource users and managers in peacebuilding settings, but this responsibility seldom translates to the political or economic levels. This has to change,” said Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary-general and UNEP executive director, in a press release. “Peace and development can only be achieved when both men and women access and benefit from natural resources in an equitable and sustainable way.”

Including Women Leads to Stronger Peace

On the flip side, peacebuilding can afford an opportunity to change these dynamics, according to the report. Peace processes typically take place in a dynamic political environment – governments have been shaken or overthrown, new powers may be rising, while others fall. This can be an opportunity to empower women and shift predominant genders roles.

Conflicts related to natural resources are more likely to reignite within the first five years after the peacekeeping process. But when included in peace negotiations, women tend to prioritize issues like land rights, natural resources, and environmental degradation. Research by UN Women shows that women are more likely than men to use natural resources to increase overall family welfare, reduce child malnutrition, and improve family food consumption. As a result, including women in the peace process can reduce post-conflict natural resource inequalities that trigger re-ignition of conflict.

After the genocide in Rwanda, for example, women’s membership in land commissions, local and national governing bodies, and the courts was mandated, leading to the highest percentage of female parliamentarians anywhere in the world and new laws protecting women’s rights to own and inherit land.

In the Darfur Peace Agreement of 2006, women placed a spotlight on the impact of war on agriculture, and thus the livelihoods of women and children. As a result, the agreement created mechanisms to address those problems, such as the creation of investment opportunities, enhancement of productive capabilities, and provision of credit, production inputs, and capacity-building for women farmers.

Opportunities for Peacebuilding

In essence, the report argues, women are an untapped wealth of natural resource knowledge and peacebuilding potential. In order to capitalize on opportunities for peacebuilding, the authors suggest three entry points.

1. Among peacebuilding organizations and governments, promote female participation in negotiation processes, especially those related to natural resource management. This includes having women participants, consulting with women’s groups and networks, referring to gender experts when developing policy, and ensuring the representation of women in important decision-making institutions.
“Sustainable natural resource use is the cornerstone of development”
2. Adopt proactive measures protecting women from resource-related violence during conflict and post-conflict periods. Women are particularly vulnerable to physical insecurity during times of conflict, including sexual violence. Ensuring that women have safe access to essential resources and increasing women’s participation in security institutions can help alleviate this vulnerability, while improving food security generally. Innovative technology can also play a role. Clean cookstoves, used in Afghanistan and elsewhere, require less fuel and protect women from the health impacts of indoor smoke inhalation.
3. Create conditions that support long-term women’s economic productivity and sustainable use of natural resources. In post-conflict societies, access to credit, technical support, and benefits from natural resource exploitation are essential to empowering women. Legal support for enforcement of land rights and negotiation processes that include women should be prioritized, as well as providing women with the resources to enforce their rights. Additionally, access to skills and finance training for women in conflict settings, when their roles may have expanded to tasks traditionally carried out by men, can be important.

Within the UN, the report suggests better inter-agency cooperation could result in more effective peacebuilding. The four authoring agencies suggest at least 15 percent of all funding towards UN-supported natural resource management and peacebuilding initiatives should be allocated to women’s empowerment and gender equity.

“Sustainable natural resource use is the cornerstone of development,” said Under-Secretary-General and UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka in a press release. “Women’s full participation and access to natural resources are urgent priorities for rebuilding peaceful societies.”