Rainforest Relations: Gender and Resource Use by the Mende of Gola, Sierra Leone

This study takes the perspectives of the forest-dwellers of West Africa’s tropical rainforests. It shows how the Mende people, who depend on the forest for their livelihood, view and consider the future of forest resources. Based on detailed social anthropological field research, the work concentrates on the different relationships men and women form with their forest environment. It argues that it is impossible to understand patterns of forest use and change, and so implement adequate conservation policies, without considering gender differences.