got their fuelwood from their own property. Fuelwood was also the most important (19%) or second most important (24%) purpose of planting the most dominant tree.

In an agricultural household survey carried out in Tanzania in 2002-2003 with more than 9000 households, 48% answered that timber/planks were the main use of trees planted on their own land, but this was followed by fuelwood with 22% reporting it as the main use (United Republic of Tanzania, 2003). Similarly, in a smaller household survey (1000 households from 50 villages) 18% ranked fuelwood as the most important benefit coming from trees planted on their own land, 31% as the second most important and 10% as the third most important (Lokina et al, 2011)<sup>22</sup> .

Planting of trees can also be affected by tenure reforms. Deininger and Jin (2006) and Mekonnen (2009) report that trees are planted to increase tenure security. Both Deininger and Jin (2006) and Ayalew et al. (2011) find for the case of Ethiopia that insecure tenure decreases plantation. Shively (1998) shows how investments in trees can be sensitive to both price fluctuations and risk preferences with an application to the Philippines. Policies that both increase woodfuel prices (such as reduced open access for charcoal production) and reduce tenure insecurity can therefore be important for increasing the supply of woodfuels from private sources. In doing so, past experience, and the studies cited above, point to the importance of considering the multiple uses of trees, where fuel is only one, and seldom the most important.

A key question is how such reforms affect women‘s right and access to trees. For example, Chambers and Leach (1989) show the important role of planted trees in meeting contingencies, which benefit women mostly if they have rights to those trees. Reforms can be designed to improve the rights of women to land (Place, 2009). However, Mearns (1995) points out that in some areas in Western Kenya, such as Kakamega, women are seriously constrained both from planting and utilizing planted trees. In a related study by Ngugi (1988), Kakamega district is compared with Murang‘a, where women were found to participate more freely and frequently in both tree planting and cutting. Access to woodfuels is thus clearly not only an issue of physical and labor scarcities, but also reflects cultural norms and intra-household bargaining strengths. And the case of Murang‘a shows that such norms can change (Ngugi, 1988). Rocheleau and Edmunds (1997) highlight the gendered domains in tree tenure and emphasize that these not only can change but are negotiable. This negotiability of tenure rights provides policy makers, and project interventions, with a lever to promote more equitable distribution of rights and resources. Meinzen-Dick et al (1997) also encourage such a gender perspective in tenure policy analysis and design but caution that it needs to be based not only on an understanding of physical and socio-economic characteristics of the resource use but also the bargaining power of men and women of different classes. They also stress that projects need to ensure that there is appropriate infrastructure for women to exercise their rights.

**_2.3.3 Lessons from charcoal and forest management projects_**

**Devolution of forest management to communities has become a major global trend. In West Africa, for example, such programs have been implemented to secure a sustainable source of fuelwood and charcoal. But local forest management has in some cases decreased access to woodfuels and marginalized women from access and control of forest resources. As with any resource of value, there is a risk of institutional capture in the devolution of forest resources. It is therefore a challenge for interventions to secure local participation while not marginalizing women and potentially worsening their situation. The goal should be to move women beyond token participation to real influence. Quotas for women’s representation in management institutions are an option to consider, for example via a threshold requiring one-third of positions of voting power**

> 22 This is one example of papers now being drafted to analyze the implications of forest management on private tree plantation.

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