The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, under the Women in Development Programme, has sponsored a series of studies on gender dimensions in biodiversity management in the SAARC countries. The studies have been completed in India, Bhutan and Nepal and are in progress in Sri Lanka and Maldives. In India it is documented that in the areas of traditional agriculture, among communities and classes which do not practice gender-seclusion, women's participation in bio-mass related activities is high. This is the case for many tribal and hill areas. In eight tribal groups, in four districts of Tamil Nadu, scientists have identified a diversity of leafy greens, vegetables, fruits, condiments and spices used by women. The tribal women were aware of seasonal variations in the availability of edible tubers such as yams of Dioscorea species, and could identify fully-grown tubers by observing the conditions of the vine. In some communities women are either primarily responsible for food production, as among the Apatanis of Arunachal and the Garwallis of the Western Himalayas, or share joint responsibility as among the Mizos. For the Nagas and some of the hill tribes of the Western Ghats women's involvement in conservation practices, particularly in seed preservation is high. A woman in Kolli Hills is quoted as saying that "It is better to save our seeds, grown in our own field, rather than depending on others" (1997). In some tribes, the women have also developed ingenious on-farm practices and storage methods to prevent the disintegration of seeds of millets, maize and sorghum (Ravishankar 19947, Vedavalli 19778).

The case studies from Bhutan and Nepal record that one particular area of work which is of great significance to biodiversity is that of seed management. In Bhutan and Nepal, where ex-situ conservation of crop diversity is unaffordable, the future of crop diversity is governed by the traditional seed supply systems existing in local communities. These systems have evolved through generations of experience to suit the particular environments and meet the needs of rural households. As women play such fundamental roles in the management of these households and farms which support them, they have traditionally been the managers of crop germplasm and their diversity for generations. In Nepal women are the exchangers of seeds, and often present them as gifts to relatives, carrying them to far-off locations and hence adding diversity to local seed banks.