WIMAYA: Interdisciplinary Journal of International Affairs   Vol.03/No.02, July-December 2022 
(e-ISSN: 2272-3760)   

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Research Article 
 

Ecofeminist Review of Women's 
Participation in Ecotourism Development 

Through Social Forest Scheme in The 
Province of Bangka Belitung  

 
Melaty Anggraini1 

UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta 
melaty.anggraini@upnyk.ac.id  

 
Hikmatul Akbar2 

UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta 
hikmatul.akbar@upnyk.ac.id  

 
Novelina Tampubolon3 

Papua University 
novelinatampubolon@gmail.com  

 
 

Abstract 
The region of Bangka Belitung Province, in its 
economic distribution, focuses heavily on the 
mining and plantation sectors on community 
forest land belonging to social forestry, which 
causes much damage to the coastal forest 
ecosystem due to mining production and has 
an effect on the decline of the community's 
economic system due to the unproductive 
mining land in the area. Even with the 
dominance of the mining area, women have a 
very subordinate position. The community's 
economic welfare is highly dependent on the 
participation of men. For this reason, the 
Bangka Belitung regional government has 
implemented the Social Forestry Program 
through the Ecotourism scheme to improve 
some of these problems, prioritizing the 
concept of gender mainstreaming and 
involving the role of women in ecotourism 
management and sustainable economic 
development. This paper will further analyze 
the benefits of social forestry schemes for the 
improvement of environmental ecosystems in 
the Bangka Belitung region and see the 
importance of women's participation in 

 
1 Department of International Relations Faculty of 
Social and Political Sciences, University of 
Pembangunan Nasional "Veteran" Yogyakarta. 

supporting efforts to maintain the 
sustainability of forest resources as well as 
achieving gender equality in aspects of forest 
management as well as improving the 
economy of communities around Bangka 
Belitung forests from an ecofeminist 
perspective. This study uses previous research 
literature studies to strengthen the author's 
argument in analyzing the issues raised, the 
author uses the theory of ecofeminism. The 
resulting conclusion is that women are not only 
complementary or complementary but also 
play an essential role as decision-makers and 
drivers of community economic empowerment.  
Around the forest, by utilizing the status of 
social forestry land in the structure of 
ecotourism utilization and can achieve gender 
equality in its management. 
 
Keywords: Social Forestry, Ecotourism, 
Women's Role, Ecofeminism. 
 
 

I. Introduction 

The problematization of forestry 

issues in the forest management process is 

often associated with the destruction of 

forests due to the use of sustainable natural 

resources by communities around the forest, 

causing deforestation and forest degradation. 

For this reason, social forestry programs have 

emerged to improve the raming of the issue 

and promise improvements or proposed 

solutions. 

Social Forestry is a sustainable forest 

management system implemented in forest 

areas with the status of State Forests or 

customary rights forests implemented by 

indigenous peoples as the main actors.  The 

benefits are to improve welfare, 

environmental balance, and socio-cultural 

dynamics in the form of village forests, Pakatan 

2 Department of International Relations Faculty of 
Social and Political Sciences, University of 
Pembangunan Nasional "Veteran" Yogyakarta. 
3 D3 Ecotourism Study Program, Department of 
Fisheries, Papua University. 

mailto:melaty.anggraini@upnyk.ac.id
mailto:hikmatul.akbar@upnyk.ac.id
mailto:novelinatampubolon@gmail.com


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community forests, community plantation 

forests, customary forests, and other forest 

partnerships (Ministry of Environment and 

Forestry of the Republic of Indonesia 2016 

Social forestry is launched in the 

national Laws regulation of the Ministry of 

Environment and Forestry of the Republic of 

Indonesia as a form of the federal program in 

the forestry sector that opens access to forest 

governance for community communities.  The 

goal is to increase economic equality and 

community income, reduce poverty by 

opening up opportunities for new financial 

centers through community income, and 

reduce poverty by opening up opportunities 

for new financial centers by providing legal 

access to forest management to all 

communities.   

The main proportion of social forestry 

is legal access for communities to utilize 

forests. They will also participate directly in 

preserving forests with environmental 

mitigation programs launched in forest 

management policy laws. The community is 

more directed to be an agent in implementing 

various development schemes with 

continuation under the umbrella of social 

forestry (Wong et al. 2020b). The government 

has targeted that around 12.7 hectares or 

about 10% of the country's total forest will be 

earmarked for social forestry programs (Wong 

et al. 2020a).  

Social forestry is directed in addition to 

maintaining forest sustainability by involving 

the community sector in managing it; it is also 

expected to be a point of economic equality for 

all communities because it involves other 

economic sectors such as tourism markets and 

the production of non-timber forest products, 

creative industry, and other private sectors 

that can boost the creative economy of 

community forests. In addition, this program is 

also expected to encourage the principle of 

equality and justice in forest management in 

terms of gender mainstreaming, where the 

roles of men and women are balanced in 

supporting economic and environmental 

improvement because it is often found that 

women are still very stammering in forest 

resource management.  

Women’s roles in environmental 

mitigation efforts are still underrepresented. 

Women were also challenged to enter the 

public decision-making sector in environment 

and forestry. Indonesia’s inherent patriarchal 

cultural views frame people’s thinking to 

position women only as minorities and 

marginalized ones whose rights are less taken 

into account in forest management 

participation.  

Including what happened in the 

Bangka Belitung Province area, where this 

area, in its economic equality, is very focused 

on the mining and plantation sectors on 

community forest land owned by social 

forestry. This area still puts the position of 

women very subordinate. The economic 

welfare of its people is highly dependent on 

male participation, judging from the 

availability of employment opportunities and 

the ratio of the labor force dominated by men 

by 53% in various forestry and mining sectors. 

Women were given opportunities but 

did not put in strategic positions.  Women who 

occupy structural legislative and judicial 

functions are not involved as decision-making 

parties. This is evidenced by data on the 

composition of Gender 2019, which shows that 

card members, the majority are dominated by 

men, as much as 82.86%, and become the 

determining party in the decision of regional 

development plans. 

The subordination and marginalization 

of women are common; women are 

considered a minority because of their 

weaknesses and the lower class because they 

are poorly educated to put their job positions 



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only as coolies and homemakers who do not 

contribute highly to the improvement of 

economic well-being.  

Women in Bangka Belitung Province, 

especially those in the Community Forest Area, 

tend to be informal and not seen in forest 

management practices; they only occupy 

positions fulfilling the requirements for 

women’s representation and are rarely even 

involved in community forest management 

meetings. 

 Even though women’s peran cannot 

be ignored, the existence of women’s 

empowerment in the forestry sector is 

correlated to increasing economic growth 

development and marginalization of 

communities around forests.   This is evidenced 

by the writings of Desti Ariani (2019), which 

explain that women play a considerable role in 

managing community-based ecotourism 

villages at the foot of Gunung Rinjani.  The 

town is not only complementary support but 

also has a vital role as a decision maker and 

driver of economic empowerment of 

communities around the forest.  For this 

reason, this study will analyze the relationship 

of women’s representation through the 

ecofeminist concept in the Bangka Belitung 

area in the social forestry scheme, where they 

also have essential value in efforts to manage 

forest rehabilitation through ecotourism 

village schemes and can improve the 

development of the regional economy.  

This research will complement 

previous research by looking at women’s 

participation in efforts to improve forest 

ecosystems and the economy of communities 

in the Bangka Belitung area wh, ere his area 

experiences much damage there coastal forest 

ecosystems due to mining production, which 

causes deforestation and degradation of 

mangrove forests, as well as the decline of the 

community economic system due to the 

unproductiveness anymore mining land in the 

region.  Hopefully, this research will add insight 

for policymakers on the importance of gender 

mainstreaming positions in every policy-

making, primarily for efforts to improve a 

country’s environment and economic 

development. 

 

 

II. Research Method 

To answer the formulation of the 

problem, this research will use qualitative 

research methods by utilizing library research 

that refers to physical and electronic library 

sources.   Secondary related to reports, records 

of scientific discussions, media publications, 

and official government writings, both physical 

and electronic, through google scholar 

searches and Scopus. Id, from Institutions of 

the Ministry of Forestry and Environmental 

NGOs and several Agencies Government 

Daerah Bangka Belitung.   

 The data will be analyzed using review 

content (Review Content) which results in a 

theoretical review of the problem yang diteliti.  

Then the reduction of data is carried out 

through data filters using the keywords  “Social 

forestry,” “Ecofeminism,” and “Women’s 

ecotourism,” which are the most concrete and 

appropriate from the findings of the results.   

After that, it was processed using an 

ecofeminist concept to explain the relationship 

between the role of women in efforts to 

improve the environment and economic 

development in the Bangka Belitung province.   

 

 

III. Analytical Framework  

a. Social Forestry and Gender Stereotypes 

Forests provide significant benefits to 

human well-being, so they need to be 

preserved. To mitigate the environment and 

improve the community economy based on 



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forest and environmental use, the government 

needs to create a program that involves 

community participation in forest 

management and utilization. The purpose of 

the engagement is to strengthen the 

involvement of local communities in forest 

management activities; the community can be 

more concerned about the environment and 

manage forests sustainably, in addition to 

improving social welfare through the forestry 

industry. 

Therefore, social forestry is broadly 

defined as a scientific initiative, policy, 

institution, and process aimed at increasing 

community participation in encouraging the 

forestry agenda and the structural division of 

land management for communities around 

forests to manage customary forests (Wong et 

al. 2020b),  rated excellent for programs that 

support environmental mitigation. The basic 

principles of social forestry schemes are 

devolution of rights to local communities, 

support for livelihoods and poverty alleviation, 

and support for sustainable forest 

conservation activities. Apart from being a 

tactical solution for environmental mitigation 

efforts, the social forestry scheme is also a 

solution to reduce the level of urbanization of 

rural communities and changing perceptions 

about the role and value of forest ecosystem 

services which are considered to have 

decreased due to the impact of 

industrialization.  

State-controlled forest ownership 

sometimes also ushers in a discursive 

discourse that makes people’s limited 

ownership of surrounding customary forests 

so that mobility and migration often occur. 

Communities around the forest feel limited in 

using the forest as their livelihood sector, 

which causes many communities to make 

changes and migrations from the forest.  

The existence of social forestry 

provides changes and opportunities for 

communities around the forest to carry out 

their lives by managing forests and utilizing 

them for their economic welfare.  Regulations 

and institutionalization of rules restricting 

access and forest management rights are 

translated into different scopes, where social 

forestry policies frame a solution approach in 

which there is a need for community 

empowerment and equality in terms of land 

ownership, and communities can use it for 

their economic welfare but remain in b specific 

superiors according to the applicable 

rules.  These rules are made by the 

government and must be obeyed to solve 

tenure and justice problems for local 

communities and customary law communities 

located in and around forests to maintain a 

balance between achieving community 

welfare and preserving forest functions 

(Ministry of Environment and Forestry of the 

Republic of Indonesia 2016). 

Social Forestry was created with the 

specific objective of reducing poverty, 

unemployment, and inequality in the 

management/utilization of forest areas by 

offering business licenses to communities to 

be able to manage forest land that falls into the 

categories of village forests, community 

forests, community plantation forests, 

customary forests, and other, recognized 

forestry partnerships. The business license is 

forest management right in protected forest 

areas and production forests intended for both 

timber and non-timber products such as 

environmental services and other forms of 

utilization given to village institutions to 

empower all village communities to manage 

the potential and quality of forests.  After the 

agreement is approved and given access to 

land to manage the allotted forest, 

communities or forest managers with a 

business license must implement the 

provisions on how to work as required in the 

Ministerial Regulation. If it is not appropriate, 

sanctions will be given by the requirement of 

the laws and regulations.  



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In essence, social forestry becomes a 

forestry agenda scheme where the use of 

forest land must not change the function of the 

forest by utilizing and using traditional 

knowledge or local wisdom values to improve 

the community's social welfare and the 

conservation of forest ecosystems. 

However, women are often a 

marginalized group amid the reasonable goals 

of implementing social forestry. Although the 

Law and several policies have mandated that 

resources must be managed entirely for the 

welfare of society, in their implementation, 

women often benefit unequally from access 

and governance of resources.  Several 

approaches to feminism suggest that gender 

stereotypes have directly and indirectly 

distanced women’s access to forest access and 

governance control.   

The separation of roles between men 

and women in social classes sometimes 

unwittingly gives rise to a form of negative 

stereotypes about the position of women and 

men. Likewise, women are still considered 

taboo to participate politically, become a 

leader, and become maintain making a living 

and being lowly workers; However, these 

constructions have been exposed with the 

formation of democratic values; sometimes, it 

is still a big issue that often closes the door to 

the role of women and men in contributing to 

the development process, which only focuses 

on the part of men.  

Without realizing it, gender or gender 

gives rise to stereotypes or can be understood 

as labeling and values that have long been 

formed in society based on masculinity and 

feminism. Male gender stereotypes are 

embodied in the importance of masculinity, 

while women yed in the value of femininity 

(Rahmadhani and Virianita 2020).  

Gender stereotypes are more 

described as social formation through the 

value of emotional and intellectual differences, 

where men are more confidential than male 

males. At the same time, women are more 

sensitive and meek. Gender here emphasizes 

socially as a sex role, which is always connected 

with a general view that guides the cities. Only 

work in low positions under the I men because 

they are considered not to have a significant 

contribution in actively contributing to the e. 

Men are deemed to have more responsibility 

for the existence of women because of the 

formation of a patriarchal culture that 

improves their social status and provides much 

access to job opportunities which is considered 

to contribute significantly to women's 

economic welfare.  

 Just as gender stereotypes apply in 

aspects of social forestry, although in the rules 

it is clear that social forestry prioritizes gender 

mainstreaming in its implications, role 

discrimination between women and men is still 

pronounced.  The role of women tends not to 

be seen in forest management practices, their 

knowledge of forest management is not 

represented in forest governance policies due 

to the lack of involvement in decision-making 

processes, and their status as housewives 

makes their access limited because they have 

a dual role that cannot fully protect forests.  

The average education is much lower 

than that of men, furthermore, making the 

position of women only marginally role only as 

a complement to her husband's work. Such as 

seeding tree seedlings, harvesting forest 

products, and other small jobs that do not have 

a significant role in the process of improving 

forests and making their status as forest 

farmers.  The part of women's empowerment 

in the forestry sector still strongly raises the 

negative f stereotype, where there is a limited 

role for women and is considered very violative 

of the culture that has been constructed for a 

long time, namely patriarchy when working in 

the forest full-time. Karena will ignore their 

status as household managers. 

 



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b. Ecofeminism 

Departing from the root of the 

problem of gender stereotypes in the issue of 

social forestry, some women realize the need 

to open up a lot of insight and knowledge to 

construct their sex role. This includes the 

situation of forest management as a source of 

economic welfare and environmental 

mitigation.  The construction of patriarchal 

culture in social society and the value of 

masculinity inherent in the forestry sector 

must be boasted and proven that the role of 

women in the environmental and forestry 

sector is indeed necessary and contributes to 

the development of  a country's economic 

growth. . The part of women in ecological 

improvement and forest conservation has 

been widely exposed in the 1990s with the 

emergence of various environmental activist 

movements that named themselves as 

"Ecofeminism." 

Ecofeminism as a aovement and 

thought emerged as proof that women's 

participation in the environmental sphere to 

create social change exists and develops in a 

practical g era. Ecofeminism emerged as a form 

of marriage between the concepts of feminism 

and of radical ecological age, which initially 

lived as a diverse academic discourse that built 

gender relations between women and men 

and involved the relationship of man and 

nature. 

Previously, it was a practical era that 

fought for women's role in facing 

maldevelopment and environmental 

degradation (Laplonge 2016). In the end, the 

movement gave rise to various academic 

discourses that encouraged social change 

significantly in the environmental field.   

Ecofeminism was born to challenge the 

"oppression of nature," where humans 

concentrated that nature and the environment 

were only used as giant machines for their 

survival, not as territories that needed to be 

considered and treated fairly. Women 

sometimes only become marginalized people 

whose involvement is not taken into account; 

ecofeminism invites the whole world to see 

that feminism e interventions can be 

successful in environmental mitigation efforts, 

either in terms of improving the concept of 

nature, which is only used as a giant machine 

or incorporating various transformative 

recommendations in repairing environmental 

damage. 

They were evidenced by the various 

involvements of the "Women's Environment 

and Development Organizations" (WEDO). The 

latter contributed to preparing the action 

agenda at the UN conference on environment 

and development in Rio De Janeiro in 1992. 

The conference involved 1500 women from 83 

countries who produced a new plan outlined in 

the consensus on environmental mitigation 

efforts and gender equality. The agenda can be 

declared successful because by involving the 

role and empowerment of women in the 

context of climate change, the plan can move 

towards a new development direction system, 

namely sustainable development based on a 

green economy.   

In ecofeminism, the destruction of 

nature also means destroying women because 

nature is always identified with a mother or 

motherland. If the soul is not cared for and 

treated well, it is like a mother who is ignored. 

For this reason, protecting and preserving 

nature is the same as caring for a mother, and 

if wildlife is protected, women will 

prosper.  The instinct can cure the damage to 

the heart that occurs in feminism which 

prioritizes feelings and sincerity; ecofeminism 

was born as a concept of efforts to save the 

earth based on the peculiarities of women in 

managing the environment and all its sources 

of life. The close relationship between nature 

and women is a way of looking at ecofeminism 



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where women. Women can also be involved in 

decision-making and provide input to improve 

natural and environmental damage.  

 

c. Ecotourism 

Ecotourism, according to Nias (2009), 

is a tourism activity that prioritizes 

environmental ecology while maintaining the 

beauty of its sustainable area and aims to 

improve the economy and community 

participation so that the benefits can be felt by 

the government and local communities.  

There are five crucial criteria for 

understanding ecotourism, including 1) Being 

able to give appreciation to the tourist 

destinations visited and increasing 

understanding of environmental education or 

education in each ecotourism area for visitors, 

2) With the existence of ecotourism is 

expected to be able to reduce negative impacts 

on the tourist environment because it is 

maintained and managed correctly, 3) D its 

management must involve the participation of 

local communities.  4) Economically able to 

provide benefits to the community around the 

ecotourism area and 5) not stopping and being 

able to be sustainable. 

Based on Supriatna's statement 

(1997), the purpose of tourism development 

with the concept of ecotourism is so that the 

natural resources managed can provide 

welfare and economic value for the people 

around the ecotourism area. According to him, 

there are five primary factors in determining 

the main limits of ecotourism, including 1) The 

area environment, namely the ecotourism 

area, must present a natural place and culture 

of the natural environment that has not been 

polluted so that developing it does not 

interfere with the ecosystem that has been 

formed naturally. It is also a characteristic of 

ecotourism that does not change and damage 

nature but harmoniously between nature and 

humans who compensate for each other.  2) 

Society: fill other ecotourism socially and 

economically its constituent elements directly 

to the host community. In its management, an 

element of human resources is also needed so 

that its sustainability remains beautiful and 

guaranteed; other implications economically 

and non-economically will have an impact on 

economic and non-economically will impact 

coastal communities.  3) Education and 

Experience: Ecotourism must be able to 

increase the growth and development of the 

natural environment and related cultures in 

obtaining memorable experiences. So that it is 

not only a tourist entertainment but also has 

an impact on knowledge because in tourism, 

what is favored is natural tourism education. 4) 

Sustainability Ecotourism must be sustainable 

in its management and development stages. 

Because if it stops in the middle of the road, it 

will impact the community, the area, and 

nature itself. 5) Management: tourism must be 

managed correctly and in the long term.  So 

that it can positively impact the surrounding 

environment in the future. 

It positively impacts the environment, 

and ecotourism can also affect women 

involved in its management. It has been 

mentioned earlier that ecotourism has 

economic value for the welfare of communities 

around the forest. One way to realize it is by 

utilizing the empowerment aspect. Where is 

the empowerment aspect? The principle is to 

provide equal opportunities to everyone 

regardless of gender. Women have been 

marginalized in the management and access to 

jobs in forests; ecotourism has become a 

means for women to prove their existence and 

develop their capabilities for forest 

management and environmental 

improvement. In line with the ecofeminist 

concept that demands the oppression of 

patriarchal culture toward women and the 

environment, Ecotourism has the same 



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essence, which requires the essential role and 

the contribution of the entire gender to realize 

sustainable tourism. 

 

IV. Results & Discussions  

a. Utilization of Social Forestry Program for 

Ecosystem Improvement in Bangka Belitung 

Region  

Bangka Belitung Province is an 

Indonesian archipelago located in the Sumatra 

region and is administratively divided into four 

parts: South, Central, West, and East Belitung. 

This area is rich in sources of minerals, 

especially in. Therefore, the province is driving 

its leading economy through the mining sector; 

however, because much unconventional 

mining was opened through the authority of 

regional autonomy to turn the wheels of the 

community's economy, causing damage to the 

ecosystem in the Bangka Belitung area, 

especially in the mangrove forest sector.  

The impact of unconventional mining 

of the area causes a lot of ecosystem damage 

such as damage to land ecosystems, loss of 

mangrove forest vegetation, and coastal 

forests that indirectly contribute to storing 

carbon stocks, even leaving many pits of 

former mine management. 

Mining activities carried out in land 

and sea areas cause many significant impacts, 

such as deforestation and forest degradation, 

as well as damage to ecosystems and 

vegetation in marine coastal regions, 

ultimately impacting the Belitung people's 

economy.  Specifically makes a living as a forest 

farmer and fisherman. This environmental 

crisis puts Bangka Belitung as an area that 

needs to carry out land rehabilitation. By 

utilizing the social forestry scheme, the Bangka 

Belitung regional government made efforts to 

improve environmental conditions by involving 

communities in the Juru Sebring community 

forest area. 

The first program of the local 

government carried out efforts to rehabilitate 

mangrove forests in Juru Sebring village with a 

silvofishery system that combines fish farming 

activities with mangrove planting activities, 

which are then used for the development of 

environmental services or ecotourism or 

better known as the Belitung Mangrove Park 

program  (BPM). Communities around the 

forest are directly involved in being trained in 

managing marine conservation areas which 

are focused on becoming the marine 

ecotourism sector.  

The community is provided with 

training assistance in small business financial 

management, diversification of tourist 

products, and planning conservation areas. 

The essence of this program, in addition to 

later, the community can be released 

independently in maximizing their potential to 

improve the environmental conditions of 

mangrove forests, and they are also able to 

manage ecotourism that has been facilitated in 

BMP as a new livelihood field that previously 

worked as miners and fishers.  

Previously, it can be said that the 

Hutan Kemasyarakatan (HKM) area of Juru 

Sebring Bangka Belitung village had a lot of 

land damage due to mining and plantations 

tree vegetation, which resulted in low carbon 

stocks and frequent flood disasters in their 

area.  For that, all the people of Juru Sebring 

village are invited to make rehabilitation 

efforts by planting mangrove forests again and 

making ecotourism facilities in the form of 

Mangrove Tracks, which become a 

diversification of new tourist products that 

offer river crossing tour packages by showing 

the beauty of newly rehabilitated mangrove 

forests with plus facilities such as seeing the 

beauty of the beach, selfie tours,  bird 



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watching, and culinary tourism huts typical of 

Belitung from the results of pond cultivation.’  

 

b. Women's Involvement in Efforts to Improve 

the Bangka Belitung Ecosystem  

BMP ecotourism implemented in this 

social forestry scheme is not only a means of 

improving the environment and economic 

growth for previous mining workers, who were 

primarily male.  However, the construction of 

this ecotourism provides wider opportunities 

for  Bangka Belitung women in  Juru Sebrang 

village. Previously, when mining was opened, 

they only had the opportunity to  It is small to 

get involved and have a livelihood.  

With the social forestry scheme 

implied in BMP  Ecotourism, the women of the 

Belitung area can further prove their existence 

as decision makers in forest planning and 

management, marketing of forest products, as 

well as determining the type of forest 

governance, the crops to be planted, and 

diversification of ecotourism products.   The 

development of ecotourism positively impacts 

the empowerment of Bangka Belitung women; 

they are directly involved in efforts to mitigate 

the environment and the tourism sector. 

Previously, Bangka Belitung women 

were not given much access to work; even in 

the mining sector, they were only used as 

mining coolies carrying tin and selling fishers' 

marine catches with minimum wages.  Chinggis 

is considered unable to advance the economy 

of his household and is consistently 

underestimated by men. The opening of 

ecotourism development not only offers 

economic benefits for them, but the increasing 

degree of women confined to patriarchal 

culture can directly contribute to the 

development of Bangka Belitung Province. 

They are allowed to improve their capabilities 

through various ecotourism management 

assistance and indirectly promote gender 

justice in the line of job accessibility and as a 

driver of regional development.  

 Women play an importable in the 

development of mangrove ecotourism in 

Bangka Belitung; almost the whole idea to 

increase tourist visits was sparked by village 

women whom the village's traditional elders 

recognized. Women are considered to have 

created many ideas that can bridge the time-

honored traditions of Bangka Belitung 

Province, which reflect the value of local 

wisdom and can increase the source of 

economic income for rural communities—at 

the same time still maintain maintaining the 

sustainability of their forests.  

They even have a particular group that 

is part of the K group of Women ecotourism 

Bangka Belitung, where it becomes a forum for 

finding an idea and planning together and 

deciding on plans for the economic 

development of the community around HKM, 

such as offering much diversification of 

EcoTourism product.  For example,  the 

mangrove tourism track development plan 

needs to be complemented by a traditional 

culinary tour from the Bangka Belitung and 

"Bedulang" and an ecotourism tour that will 

invite visitors to be directly involved in 

rehabilitation efforts by planting local 

mangrove tree seedlings, as well as cleaning 

the beach trail from beach garbage.  

Women are also widely trained to be 

tour guides who can later provide educational 

tours to visitors about the importance of 

preserving mangrove forests, understanding 

the types of mangrove plants, and using 

renewable energy.  

In addition to actively building ideas 

for the diversification of ecotourism products, 

Bangka Belitung women are also heavily 

involved in managing rehabilitation and 

Aerotourism development programs.  

Analyzing the program's follow-up planning by 



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paying attention to the interests and input of 

visitors is beneficial for the marketing and 

creativity aspects of tourist products—Serta 

tourism promotion cooperation with travel 

agents.   

As evidenced by the significant 

number of inputs and empowerment of 

women in developing sustainable ecotourism, 

it further improves the previous 

environmental crisis is more carbon tok than 

before with the addition of tree planting from 

the efforts of tourists visiting the mangrove 

track. There is an increase in economic income, 

which previously also experienced bankruptcy 

due to the destruction of the mining and sea 

sectors within 18 months biding (Ariani 2019).  

The success of the development of 

ecotourism lies in the local participation of its 

people, who promote gender equality in social 

forestry schemes.  This arena of nature-based 

tourism development leads to the reduction of 

economic inequality between men and women 

as stated in the Sustainable Development Goals 

(SDGs) goal o. 5, namely "achieving gender 

equality and empowering all women and girls."  

In essence, this form of ecotourism 

opens up opportunities for women to 

participate directly in forest conservation and 

environmental mitigation efforts.  It is very 

much in line with ecofeminist values where 

feminist interventions can be successful in 

ecological mitigation efforts, as well as 

balanced with the development of the 

development process. Because in the 

development process, various transformative 

recommendation plans are included in 

repairing environmental damage. 

 

c. Ecofeminist Review of Women's Involvement 

in Efforts to Improve the Bangka Belitung 

Ecosystem  

While still prioritizing mining and 

plantations in the community forest sector as 

a driver of the regional economy, the average 

Belitung woman is in a sub-marginal position. 

Dimana opinions and portions are slightly 

overlooked regarding the nature of forest 

management and workplace accessibility. It is 

even considered to provide low income in the 

distribution of regional economies, so it often 

causes inequality in power relations between 

men and women.  

However, with the development of the 

ecotourism sector, which carries the concept 

of social forestry, which includes women's 

empowerment and gender mainstreaming, it 

can be seen that this inequality can be 

minimized.   This is to the idea of Ecofeminism, 

which carries the importance of women's 

involvement because it has a vital role in 

efforts to preserve the environment. Because 

women are always connected with tenderness 

and emotional closeness in caring for nature to 

create an environmental model that adopts 

feminist values that will be better for the 

ecological system as a strategy in overcoming 

natural disasters due to climate change. 

Ecofeminists also show that women 

are always of significant value from an 

economic point of view.  Dimana, as an 

example that has been mentioned in the 

explanation of the success of the development 

of mangrove ecotourism Bangka Belitung, that 

women have an essential role in forest 

rehabilitation and can make good use of their 

capabilities such as in ecotourism 

management, utilization of economic value, 

and so on.  

Although the role it has in a small 

capacity, the part of women will be better to 

add value to economic income than without 



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the empowerment of women's roles. For 

example, in many cases of ecotourism 

management, women are the starting point for 

increasing the selling value of ecotourism, with 

their work utilizing forest products into 

souvenirs or processed food products so that 

the ecotourism journey becomes much more 

enjoyable. Women also play many roles in 

hospitality, which is enough to make 

ecotourism facilities considered much more 

productive. 

Another eco feminist value, the 

involvement of women, can be in line with the 

improvement of development judging from 

economic and ecological aspects. Why 

ecological? Because women take advantage of 

nature while improving nature, for example, by 

recycling tourist waste and making it a product 

of economical selling value, inviting 

ecotourism visitors to be more 

environmentally conscious, planting trees, 

utilizing waste into biogas, and so on.   

Judging from the knowledge of 

intersectionality, women's involvement in 

social forestry schemes, especially Bangka 

Belitung ecotourism, has dissected the theory 

about the limits of social distinction played by 

Sex Roles.  Women are a supporting system of 

male roles that can also help make a living and 

carry out reproductive functions such as 

managing the household, taking care of 

children, cleaning the house, and so on. All are 

done with responsibility and do not violate the 

rules, which may be that if behind the position 

on the man not all can live it. The involvement 

of women in social forestry, especially in the 

field of ecotourism, has become an agent of 

change that changes the concept of norms and 

cultures that previously suppressed the 

existence of women in the social realm, which 

was considered less independent and 

encouraged financial security, as well as the 

economic welfare of the country. 

 

V. Conclusion 

The Social Forestry Scheme, which 

carries the concept of gender mainstreaming 

in the implementation process, is quite 

successful in becoming a way for the Bangka 

Belitung region to improve its environmental 

ecosystem, which was damaged by the 

dominance of mineral mining land and as a  

strategy for economic recovery development 

that is more towards a  sustainable economy.  

Moreover, by utilizing the social forestry 

scheme in the ecotourism structure, women in 

the Bangka Belitung area can have a balanced 

position to use forest land and contribute to 

the economic development of its territory.  

Because the concept of ecotourism 

which carries the idea of gender 

empowerment and mainstreaming helps 

strengthen the role of women and dismantle 

the idea of norms of role restriction by the 

patriarchal culture that has existed in the 

region.  

From the study results, it can be 

proven that women have a significant 

contribution as the frontline of sustainable 

environmental management.  The 

participation of women in the development of 

ecotourism in Bangka Belitung province has 

proven and strengthened the author's 

argument that women are not only supporting 

complementary or complementary but also 

enough to play an essential role as decision-

makers and drivers of economic 

empowerment of communities around 

ecotourism in Bangka Belitung.   

 There is nothing wrong with women's 

involvement in the forestry and environmental 

sectors.  There are free to love, interact with 

nature, and work productively for the earth. 

Patriarchal social norms and perceptions that 

have been hitting the existence of women so 

that they have been neglected and considered 

less critical can be constructed with 



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ecofeminist theory, which is connected with 

gender mainstreaming in the social forestry 

scheme of the ecotourism sector where 

patriarchy is only a system created by humans 

through a culture that becomes the norm, not 

a barrier that curbs human creativity.  

The system is run to improve and 

regulate the course of human life, so if the 

system is considered to limit human 

movement in living their lives and creativity, 

why is it still a benchmark for a norm or rule 

that can be improved. It can be concluded that 

the role of women in forest management is 

quite essential not only to be used as an object 

but also as a subject of economic drivers of 

development and guardians of ecosystems    

sustainable environment.  

 

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	I. Introduction
	II. Research Method
	III. Analytical Framework
	a. Social Forestry and Gender Stereotypes
	b. Ecofeminism
	c. Ecotourism

	IV. Results & Discussions
	a. Utilization of Social Forestry Program for Ecosystem Improvement in Bangka Belitung Region
	b. Women's Involvement in Efforts to Improve the Bangka Belitung Ecosystem
	c. Ecofeminist Review of Women's Involvement in Efforts to Improve the Bangka Belitung Ecosystem

	V. Conclusion
	Works Cited