More than 70% of the Indian population is rural based. Biomass plays a crucial role in meeting daily survival needs of the vast majority of the rural households. Water is essential for survival and its availability is related to biomass. The biomass - based subsistence economy is mostly non - monetized. Production and processing of biomass agriculture, forestry, and minor forest produce and village crafts based on biomass as raw materials are also the biggest sources of employment. Development imperatives have inevitably led to some destruction of the biomass through deforestation and environmental degradation. Traditionally, women have been responsible for subsistence and survival for water, food, fuel, fodder and habitat, though they rarely get the credit for nurturing these life support systems. Added to these environmental destruction, exacerbates women's problems in a way very difficult from that of men. The challenge is to re - establish the symbiosis between communities, women and natural resources and reverse the trend of the negative impact of existing developmental paradigms. Women have always been the principal conservers of bio - diversity. Even today they perform duties such as seed selection, multiplication and conservation. The on -farm conservation traditions of rural and tribal women, with reference to agro - biodiversity are well known.

developing areas of the world, women are considered the primary users of natural resources (Land, Forest and water), because they are the ones who are responsible for gathering food, fuel and fodder. Although in these countries, women mostly can't own the