The recently concluded United Nations General Assembly celebrated the Desertification and Drought Day which calls for a better land rights for women and girls. HELEN OJI reports
Women facing worsening droughts, raging wildfires and other climate change impacts have delivered an urgent message to the international community at the United Nations in New York, calling for a better land rights for women and girls everywhere. Drought, land degradation and desertification all of which are becoming more frequent are impacting women and girls first and worst.
Investment
According to UNCCD Executive Secretary, Ibrahim Thiaw, “Investing in women’s equal access to land is not just an act of justice. It is an investment in our future, a commitment to the prosperity of our planet. It is an affirmation that we value not only the land beneath our feet, but the hands that work it.”
To coincide with the event, UNCCD launched a new analysis, which shows:
Despite comprising nearly half the world’s agricultural workforce and producing up to 80 per cent of food in developing countries, women’s rights to inherit their husband’s property continue to be denied in over 100 countries.
Agricultural workers
“Women make up around half of agricultural workers in developing countries and produce 60-80 per cent of food grown in these regions yet own less than one-fifth of all land worldwide.
When land degrades and water and other resources become scarce, women and girls are exposed to poverty, hunger, displacement and violence.
The theme of this year’s global observance, led by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), is “Her Land. Her Rights.”
Among the leaders and gender equality champions advocating for women’s full land rights are the Prime Ministers of Iceland Katrín Jakobsdóttir and of Namibia Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, and the Vice-President of the Government of Spain Teresa Ribero Rodríguez.
“They were joined by Finland’s first female President Tarja Halonen, UNCCD Goodwill Ambassadors and musicians Baaba Maal, Inna Modja and Ricky Kej, as well as indigenous and youth activists from countries as diverse as Canada and Chad.
Solution
In a shared call to action, they showed there is a solution in women. They said that when legal barriers to women owning and inheriting land are removed, women are able to make decisions on how to manage land, and both soil health and agricultural yields improve. Women are also more likely to invest in their family’s nutrition, health and education which benefits the whole of society.
He said the Discriminatory practices related to land tenure, credit access, equal pay and decision-making often impede their active participation in sustaining land health. Today, less than one-in-five landholders worldwide are women. “If women had equal rights to land, agricultural production in the poorest regions would increase by up to 4 per cent and malnourishment would decline by 12–17 per cent, resulting in 150 million fewer hungry people globally.
Her Land. Her Rights
“Countries with more women parliamentarians prioritise women and girls’ role in land protection and are more likely to ratify relevant treaties and set aside land for conservation. Meanwhile, only 12 per cent of the 881 national environment-related ministries run by elected officials are
women.
The event builds on UNCCD’s “Her Land. Her Rights.” campaign, which was launched on International Women’s Day in March 2023,” he stressed.
Organised jointly by the UNCCD with UN Women, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Human Rights Office, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the high-level event “Her Land. Her Rights: Advancing Gender Equality and Land Restoration Goals” included debates and discussions on a woman’s role in sustainable land management.
A digital photo exhibition entitled “Her Land” created and curated by Inna Modja will offer an immersive experience of the daily realities facing women and girls living on the frontlines of desertification, land degradation and drought. She was joined by fellow Goodwill Ambassadors, Baaba Maal and Ricky Kej, in a live musical performance.
In addition to New York, other events to mark Desertification and Drought Day – which officially falls every year on June 17 – will take place in all parts of the world, including China, Fiji, Hungary, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Serbia, Türkiye, and Vietnam.
40% land degraded
Also speaking, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated that up to 40% of the planet’s land is degraded thereby endangering food production, threatening biodiversity and compounding the climate crisis.
“Her land, Her rights”, emphasises that investing in women’s equal access to land and associated assets is a direct investment in their future and future of humanity.
The UN scribe said the effects of land degradation were hitting women and girls the hardest.
He noted that women and girls suffered disproportionately from lack of food, water scarcity, and forced migration that resulted from the mistreatment of land.
“In many countries, laws and practices block women and girls from owning land.
“But where they do, they restore and protect it; increasing productivity; building resilience to drought and investing in health, education and nutrition,” he said.
This, he said, was why the 2023 Desertification and Drought Day puts the focus on “her land, her rights.
Eliminate legal barriers
Guterres said that equal land rights both protect land and advance gender equality.
He urged all governments to eliminate legal barriers to women owning land, and to involve them in policymaking.
“Support women and girls to play their part in protecting our most precious resource, and together, let’s stop
