Gender Mainstreaming Principles in Indonesia’s REDD+ Program A Document Analysis

This paper analyzes publically available, published documents to conduct a systematic review of the inclusion of gender mainstreaming principles in documents related to one of the largest, most important international forest-preservation projects, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+). Although more than 60 countries have adopted REDD+ initiatives, this document analysis focuses specifically on REDD+ in Indonesia, both because of its early adoption of REDD+ and as one of the most ecologically diverse and environmentally important countries in the world. Of the 383 documents reviewed, only 88 were found to include any mention of gender, and of those, very few included gender mainstreaming principles to a level that could be considered integrated and substantive. The distinct lack of these widely touted but seldom implemented principles should be of concern to international and national policy makers, and taken under serious consideration during the forthcoming Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 meetings in Paris. Moreover, this analysis is the first step to identifying where women’s voices may still be silent, and lays the groundwork for more extensive, on the ground research of REDD+ project sites to evaluate the extent to which gender mainstreaming is or is not incorporated into actual project implementation in Indonesia.