This year the women of Chitral will receive a share of forest royalties for the first time. Proponents of protected areas best practices see this as a great victory for the women living in forest areas, and a huge step towards the true ownership of natural resources with regards to the rights of women living in forest communities.    

Now, with their share in the royalty, the women in these areas will enjoy more financial security, and will have more power in decision making at the household and community levels. The move will also reduce gender inequality and put women on the path towards empowerment.

In a statement, IUCN Regional Director, Asia, Ms. Aban Marker Kabraji said that the recent development was a valuable step towards ensuring more equitable rights for women in forest communities, and hoped that it would set an example for other provincial governments to take similar steps to resolve the issue of resource rights.

Ms. Kabraji also recalled the successful formulation of the Chitral Conservation Strategy by IUCN Pakistan in the 2004. The Chitral Conservation Strategy took stock of the area’s resources and investigated ways in which to sustainably increase their productivity. It also examined their current status and provided a platform for decision making in the development programmes of key sectors and future planning, so as to manage the region’s resources in a prudent and sustainable manner.