Gender roles and land use preferences implications to landscape restoration in Southeast Asia

The Global Environment Fund (GEF) defines land degradation as the process by which the land is no longer able to sustain its economic and natural ecological functions due to natural processes or human activity. Land degradation is caused by various processes and interactions between two interlocking and complex systems: the natural ecosystem and the human social system (Shrestha, 2011). In southeast Asia, more than 50% of the land has experienced dramatic transformation, mainly from forest to agriculture (Zhao et al., 2008). This phenomenon has resulted in land degradation, primarily due to deforestation and consequently soil erosion resulting from the region’s high rainfall. The issue of land degradation is important to the region as the human population continues to increase along with rapid economic development. Land restoration has been proposed to reverse degradation. However, to make land restoration efforts effective, social factors including gender appreciation of land uses must be considered (Villamor et al., 2014a; Ban et al., 2013; Bernard et al., 2014). We argue in this section that the pathway to land restoration is influenced by the way that land is appreciated by multiple direct stakeholders. The diversity of these stakes is an important consideration in efforts to reclaim or restore land. Through three case studies conducted in Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, we highlight the roles that women play in agriculture and decision making, as well as their choice over land use. We found that context-specific gender roles and an appreciation of land used play a role in predicting future changes in land use and land restoration efforts. Our case study findings are instructive for future land restoration efforts in Southeast Asia.