The planners made no formal provision for the women to become members of the community associations that were set up to plant and maintain the mangroves. Women were excluded from direct benefits such as land tenure. Formal membership of the land tenure association would have meant access to credit. As a result, the project was undermined. Having access to resources is one thing - being denied control over them is another.
Women also suffer from lack of forethought when protected areas are created.
Yet women are usually able to list far more uses for forest products than men. Plants for food, for medicine, for animal fodder or to sell all illustrate women's interdependence with natural resources. For the rural women living in and around the Korup National Park, in Cameroon, the bush mango is a major source of income. Easily transportable, by headload, traders come from Nigeria to buy the mango directly from the women or in exchange for pots and pans or cloth. Only by protecting the interests of those who depend on protected areas can the areas themselves, and all the biodiversity they contain, stay protected.