Whose Knowledge Counts? Gendered Knowledge and Community-Based Pollinator Conservation in Semi-Arid Ghana

Pollinator decline poses significant challenges for biodiversity conservation and the sustainability of smallholder agricultural systems. Addressing these challenges requires not only ecological interventions but also governance arrangements that shape whose knowledge and perspectives influence conservation decisions. This study examines how gendered power relations affect ecological knowledge, conservation practices, participation, and authority in Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) and non-CREMA communities in semi-arid northern Ghana. Guided by Feminist Political Ecology, the study draws on Photovoice and Focus Group Discussions involving 128 women and men across 16 communities to compare institutionalized and customary governance contexts. The findings show that women and men possess distinct forms of ecological knowledge shaped by their livelihood activities and interactions with pollinator habitats. Women demonstrated detailed knowledge of flowering cycles and pollinator-sensitive harvesting practices, while men more frequently emphasized fire management and tree retention. However, women's ecological expertise is rarely translated into meaningful influence within conservation governance. Participants in CREMA communities more commonly associated conservation awareness with training programs and local by-laws, although leadership remained largely male-dominated. The findings suggest that decentralized conservation can expand opportunities for participation while simultaneously reproducing gendered and tenure-based inequalities. Strengthening pollinator conservation, therefore, requires governance arrangements that recognize diverse knowledge systems and create more equitable opportunities for participation and leadership within community-based environmental management.