Abstract

The Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project (KCAP) provides a remarkable example of a gender-sensitive nature conservation project. The KCAP is an Integrated Conservation and Development Project (ICDP) in the mountainous area of East Nepal, jointly managed by the WWF Nepal Program and the Nepalese Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. The project includes a specific women's-development approach. It not only aims at direct integration of women into nature conservation, but also applies a broad strategy and a combination of activities for women's development. Questions arise in the context of both participatory nature conservation and gender issues. This study focuses equally on positive and critical aspects and highlights the importance of a balance between women-only and gender-mixed interventions. As an introduction, the present article provides first a short overview of women's integration into nature conservation projects and development efforts, followed by the outline of the research questions and methodological procedure and a brief description of the case study area. The findings including a discussion of the KCAP's women's-development approach and conclusions are presented subsequently.