It has been proven time and again that integrating gender issues into forestry policies and practices by addressing women’s roles and needs is central to the sustainable management, conservation and governance of forests. In the Asia-Pacific region alone, there are about 450 million people who rely on forests for their livelihoods and 50% of them are women. 

Mainstreaming gender into forest policies of developing Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) member countries is a one year project funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAO-RAP) and implemented by RECOFTC-The Center for People and Forests with the objective of promoting gender equality in the national forest policies of the eight project countries.