Water Hyacinth and Wellbeing of Rural Women in Kerala: A Study of Gender and Nature from a Regenerative Ecosystem Perspective

Water hyacinthWater hyacinth fibre crafts, based on a weed widely growing in the water bodies on the west coast of Kerala, the southernmost district in India, are providing a sustainable source of income to a large number of families in the area. Water hyacinthWater hyacinth infestation weakened the systemic interactionsSystemic interaction in the rural ecosystemRural ecosystems of the area. But the rural women who were affected created a green regenerative crafts model which didn’t limit itself to merely alleviating the negative environmentalEnvironmental outcomes of the infestation, by utilising the weed for creating valueValue-added products, but was successful enough to achieve positive socio-economicEconomics-psychological benefits through this process. The objectives of the study were to list the valueValue-added products made from the water hyacinthWater hyacinth; to portray the linkages of dimensionsDimension of the well-being of rural women and natureNature (i.e., water hyacinthWater hyacinth); and to present the prominent factors of the regenerative ecosystemEcosystem of the water hyacinthWater hyacinth fibre crafts. The study was conducted in the fibre craft cluster located in Kodungallor in Thrissur district, in the state of Kerala. It highlighted that the regenerative ecosystemEcosystem created by the crafts minimised harm to the localLocal ecologyEcology and maximised the well-being of the rural women.