Traditional knowledge and natural resource governance: A gender perspective

The gendered nature of land use practices, whether traditional or modern, should, according to the Akwé: Kon Voluntary Guidelines, be recognized and included in land use planning. However, this is not always the case. Using examples from the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Sweden, this chapter demonstrates how gender-based analysis, by means of different frameworks of complexity, can be useful in planning for the sustainable use of natural resources. The frameworks used are increasingly complex and interrelated, namely gender as an empirical variable, gender as a relational and structuralizing category and gender as a meaning category. Regardless of traditional or modern land use practice, our three examples support the perception of the gendered nature of land use knowledge, and clearly demonstrate how the Akwé: Kon Voluntary Guidelines on gender considerations and gender-based analysis can be connected to participatory GIS.