The REDD+ instrument, aimed at conserving tropical forests and its stored carbon, have explicit considerations of gender sensitivity, poverty reduction and respecting local communities embedded in the program. Still, considerations of gender issues tend to be pushed to the future and to side activities specifically directed at women. In this dissertation, Lisa Westholm argues that gender must be considered as a matter of social relations of power that is relevant at all levels of policy making, in order to avoid that policies perpetuate or exacerbate existing inequalities.