Throughout the developing world, women make a significant contribution to forestry. Together with men, they have a decisive role in agroforestry, a farming system that incorporates trees, crops and livestock production. Women also participate fully in watershed management, where actions to reduce soil erosion, such as maintaining forest cover, lessen the risk of floods and silting of reservoirs and waterways. They collaborate in tree improvement and propagation to ensure the profileration of useful tree species and to protect and conserve forests. This in turn protects the many animal and plant varieties that depend on forests for their survival and improves the overall health and maintenance of forest ecosystems.
Forests are often a major source of paid employment for rural women.
Much of what they gather from the forests is processed and marketed to bring in supplementary cash for the family. Women tend to be more dependent than men on trees and small-scale forest industries for income. One study in Uttar Pradesh, India, showed that women derived 33 to 45 percent of their income from forests and common land, compared with only 13 percent for men. However, although a significant proportion of the forestry industry workforce is made up of women, their roles are not fully documented or recognized, their working conditions tend to be poor and their wages lower than those of men. In many countries, large areas of communal forest land are being cleared for agriculture or for commercial forestry.