Presentation short abstract

This study examines gendered environmental injustices among displaced fisherpeople in China’s Nature Reserves, revealing how fisherwomen navigate livelihood loss and identity change through a feminist political ecology lens to inform gender-sensitive ecological governance.

Presentation long abstract

Amidst the depletion of fishery resources and the expansion of ecological governance, an increasing number of fisherpeople are being displaced from the aquatic ecosystems on which their livelihoods depend, particularly within China’s nature reserves. While these policies have improved ecological conditions, they have also produced new environmental injustices. Displaced fisherpeople face systemic vulnerabilities, including disrupted livelihoods, identity crises, and weakened social ties. These environmental injustices are profoundly gendered: fisherwomen, who were once crucial to family fishing and aquaculture but are burdened by domestic responsibilities, experience greater hardship during livelihood transitions.

However, existing policy and research often portray these impacted fisherpeople as a homogeneous vulnerable group, neglecting how gendered norms and power relations shape the environmental justice and their coping capacities. This study draws on participant observation and interviews with fisherwomen in China's Lake Nature Reserves to examine these dynamics through a feminist political ecology lens. By centring women’s narratives of displacement and adaptation, it reveals how identity, place, and power intersect in their struggles and strategies, offering a more nuanced portrayal of environmental justice from a feminist perspective.

The study advances feminist and environmental justice scholarship by challenging the depoliticised view of ecological governance and calling for gender-sensitive policies that recognise and address the differentiated impacts of conservation on marginalised communities in China.