Abstract

The development paths followed by South Asian countries are based increasingly on industrialization in urban areas. The aim of this paper is to review how environmental crisis in the rural context is linked critically to the sustainability of livelihood systems. The rural poor face an increasing challenge to meet their basic needs, the most basic of which is food security. Attempts to find solutions need to seriously consider both the class and gender dimensions of the problem. The study aims to analyze how the most environmental policy in South Asia engage little with the issue of gender inequality and how this might impinge on the welfare, efficiency, and sustainability of environmental management. The liberation of women and nature is seen as intimately linked. Within poor households, women’s dependence on non-privatized natural resources is high and they are the most affected by the ill-effects of environmental decline. If sustainable development is to be achieved, the planning must address the serious imbalances between urban and rural areas as the unequal distribution of development deprives the rural population of general well-being. Ecofeminism calls upon women and men to reconceptualize themselves, and their relationship to one another and to the nature.

Keywords: Rural; South Asia; Women; Environment; Sustainable development