RESEARCH PAPER TOWARDS A GENDER- RESPONSIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION

FEBRUARY 2018 UN WOMEN © 2018 UN Women. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-63214-110-1

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of UN Women, the United Nations or any of its affiliated organizations.

Produced by UN Women, New York Lead Author: Ms. Tzili Mor Editing: Ms. Ashleigh Flowers in coordination with UN Women’s Intergovernmental Support Division Design: Melanie Doherty Design RESEARCH PAPER TOWARDS A GENDER- RESPONSIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION

UN WOMEN New York, February 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The paper was prepared by Ms. Tzili Mor, Director of and Ms. Aurélie Lhumeau, Associate Programme the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights, with sub- Officer, Global Mechanism of the UNCCD Secretariat. stantive input from Landesa colleagues, Ms. My-Lan The following UN Women staff reviewed and provided Dodd, Ms. Govind Kelkar and Ms. Kailey Mrosak, and co- comments to earlier drafts: Ms. Christine Brautigam, pyediting support from Ms. Ashleigh Flowers in close Director; Ms. Sylvia Hordosch, Policy Advisor; Ms. coordination with UN Women’s Intergovernmental Verona Collantes, Intergovernmental Specialist; Ms. Support Division (IGSD). The paper benefitted from Sharon J. Taylor, Inter-agency Coordination Specialist; the views and inputs provided by United Nations and Ms. Joann Lee, Consultant. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) - ex perts: Professor Graciela Metternicht, University of The views expressed in the discussion paper are those New South Wales Australia (PANGEA Centre), member of the author and do not necessarily represent the of the UNCCD Science Policy Interface; Ms. Wagaki views of UN Women, the United Nations or any of its Wischnewski, Gender Focal Point, UNCCD Secretariat; affiliated organizations.

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 4

DESERTIFICATION AND LAND DEGRADATION FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVE 5

GLOBAL NORMS ON GENDER EQUALITY, LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES 11

ENTRY POINTS FOR INTEGRATION OF A GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN UNCCD PROCESS AND IMPLEMENTATION 12

PROMISING GENDER MAINSTREAMING PRACTICES IN LOCAL EFFORTS TO ADDRESS LAND DEGRADATION 21

INTEGRATION OF A GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN THE OTHER RIO CONVENTIONS: LEARNINGS AND SYNERGIES 30

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION 33

APPENDIX I: ACRONYMS 37

APPENDIX II: SELECT REFERENCES 38

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 3 INTRODUCTION

This discussion paper, Towards a Gender-Responsive Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, was commissioned by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) to serve as a background paper for the capacity-building workshop on gender mainstreaming in the implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The workshop was co-organized by the UNCCD Secretariat, UN Women and the UNDP Global Policy Centre on Resilient Ecosystems and Desertification (GC-RED).

The workshop—the first of its kind—was organized from the UNCCD 13th Conference of the Parties (COP in view of the increasing interest of Parties and 13) that took place in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China in stakeholders to the UNCCD in gender mainstream- September 2017. The paper sets the context by present- ing and the integration of a gender perspective in ing the gender dimensions of land degradation and the implementation of the Convention and in future the global norms on gender equality, land and natural work aiming towards a gender-responsive land deg- resources. It then links the discussion to the UNCCD radation-neutral world. Unlike prior contributions to by analyzing key entry points for the integration of land degradation and gender analysis, this discussion gender perspectives in norm-setting as well as in the paper aims to elucidate key linkages between gender implementation of the Convention and in future work equality, the empowerment of women and their hu- of Parties to the Convention and other stakeholders. man rights and land-related issues in the context of Gender-responsive practices at local and country levels the UNCCD. A gender-responsive approach takes into and promising trends from the other Rio Conventions account existing service-delivery structures affected and their implementing entities are presented to by gender inequality and seeks to overcome and re- highlight promising examples and lessons. The paper move laws and policies that impair gender equality, concludes with select recommendations for action women’s human rights and women’s empowerment. directed at specific stakeholders informed by the latest adopted COP decisions of September 2017. This discussion paper incorporates key takeaways from workshop case studies and accounts for outcomes

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 4 DESERTIFICATION AND LAND DEGRADATION FROM A GENDER PERSPECTIVE

More than a third of the earth’s land is currently degraded, affecting 2.6 billion people in over 100 countries, according to the Global Environment Facility.1 The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Secretariat warns that on average 12 million hectares of land are lost annually.2 Widespread and unprecedented rapid degradation of lands, including desertification, threatens food production, water availability and quality, biodiversity and energy security worldwide. Land degradation also contributes to climate change, deepens poverty and induces displacement and migration.3

Myriad factors drive land degradation, including water, credit, extension services and technology,”6 un- land-use conversion to agriculture, over-extraction of derscoring the need to address the persistent gender natural resources and climate change. These drivers inequalities that fuel women’s extreme poverty. are intensified when they are coupled with insecure The bulk of the world’s population living in extreme land tenure, poor land management, unsustainable poverty depends on land. When land is degraded and farming systems and shortsighted policies.4 According becomes scarce, women are uniquely and differentially to the UNCCD Science Policy Interface, poverty is affected, given their substantial role in agriculture and “a root cause, and at the same time a consequence, food production. Although they often serve as environ- of land degradation, and gender inequality plays a mental stewards, women tend to face exclusion from significant role in land-degradation related poverty.”5 conservation and management of land, lack access to The SPI further concludes that in “most developing agricultural extension services and institutional credit countries, land degradation impacts men and women and encounter barriers to participation in the processes differently, mainly due to unequal access to land,

UNCCD and Gender Equality To effectively implement the UNCCD and ad- structures and processes that affect men and dress land degradation more broadly, the diverse women in agricultural, pastoral and indigenous realities and experiences of women and men communities affected by desertification, drought must be identified and addressed. Governments and land degradation. That is, gender analysis and at all levels, policy-makers, the UNCCD Secretariat gender-responsive, human rights-based approach- and national focal points, implementing entities, es must inform any policy, strategy or programme financing mechanisms, civil society and communi- that addresses land degradation and related is- ties all share the task of taking actions to address sues, and gender equality must be dealt with as a gender inequalities in social and legal systems, stated, explicit and non-negotiable goal.

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 5 of development, planning and policymaking. Unequal poorly remunerated.”9 Moderate or severe impacts of power relations and gender-based discrimination in drought alone affect a striking 52 per cent of agricul- statutory and customary systems in many societies tural land.10 Such impact on food availability impacts deny women even user rights to plant trees, control soil intra-family food distribution, reducing the nutritional degradation and enhance soil fertility. Unlike men, intake of women and children, and women in particu- women also often have less access to information, re- lar.11 Women generally do most of the unpaid and sources and legal rights to the land. Without secure undervalued work of collecting water, cooking, clean- land rights, which women typically lack, they are left ing and taking care of children, the elderly and sick. without resources and incentives to improve the pro- According to studies across diverse countries, nearly ductivity of their land in the face of changing climate 90 per cent of the time spent on household food conditions. Weak legal and social protections for preparation is women’s time, which limits their ability women’s land rights thus increase the likelihood of to generate income, engage in public life or merely land degradation. recharge.12 In some contexts, climate change-induced scarcity is changing established gender roles; men are beginning to collect non-timber forest products Gender roles and perspectives alongside women to supplement sparse crops and as- While in some contexts it is difficult to separate tasks sisting with water collection, while women are taking by gender, women and men often play different roles up greater roles in natural resource management, al- in agriculture and food production, land use, conser- beit in limited situations.13 vation, land rehabilitation and restoration, water and energy access, household and care responsibilities and livestock-based livelihood. A recent analysis of Land rights include some or all of existing empirical evidence on gender differentiation these rights: in land use found that women tend to prefer crops • Access (the right to be on the land) that meet household consumption and dietary food requirements (with low-value subsistence farming), • Use (the right to plant crops and produce food) while men prefer high-value commodities and “cash • Withdrawal (the right to take something crops” for income security.7 In many cases, where from the land, such as water, firewood, fibers, women do not legally own their land or where cus- or produce) toms and practices prevent their ownership of land, • Management and control (the right to they are not recognized as farmers or “value-chain” change the land in some way; make decisions actors. As a result, they are excluded from access to about land use) extension services and inputs available to bona fide farmers, most of whom are men. Due to gender bias, • Exclusion (the right to prevent others from rural women are frequently less able to access new using the land) agricultural technology and make investments for • Alienation (the right to transfer land to sustainable land management such as soil conserva- others through rental, bequest, or sale) tion and augmentation, terracing, tree planting and establishment of buffer zones. They also tend to have Based on Doss C. et al. Land, Gender, and Food restricted access to seeds, fertilizer and equipment Security. Feminist Economics 20:1 (2014): 1-23 needed to increase land productivity and yields.8

According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), “agriculture remains the most important source of employment for women in low-income and lower- middle-income countries,” relegating women to “time and labor-intensive activities, which are unpaid or

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 6 Laws and practices (legal and social Access, use and control of land and legitimacy of land rights) resources For women to benefit in practice, their rights must be Though no systematic global data exists, by some es- both legally recognized and upheld by their commu- timates, women make up on average less than 20 per nity as socially legitimate. Yet in more than half of the cent of the world’s landholders,18 with a wide range world, discriminatory laws and/or biased social norms across countries.19 Based on evidence across multiple impose barriers to women’s rights to access, use, measures of land ownership, women own less land inherit, transfer, control, benefit from and own land. and have less secure rights over land than men.20 These laws and social practices may limit women’s On average, men control a higher proportion of land ability to receive compensation or redress claims over than women.21 However, land ownership constitutes a their land and dismiss their input in decision-making narrow slice of a fuller range or bundle of rights that fora that determine the fate of their land.14 Land and women may hold or desire, such as rights to access natural resource rights and their reforms need to be and use land, to withdraw non-timber products from appropriately embedded within diverse social, cultur- forests, and to inherit and bequeath land. al and geographic contexts, accounting for communal Women’s nexus to the land typically depends on the and customary land governance. Such rights also de- strength of their relationship to male relatives. When pend on harmonizing relevant laws on land, property, male relatives, especially husbands, migrate, women investment, inheritance and family law (including may be left without the authority to make meaningful marital and non-marital property laws).15 adaptation and investment decisions concerning the A web of complex and overlapping laws govern is- land.22 Studies show that the person who owns and sues of land and natural resources. Expertise is often controls the assets within a household also directs needed to elucidate gender-specific understanding of household decision-making and resource allocation.23 plural legal systems, some of which recognize and oth- A 2017 comprehensive literature review found strong ers of which deny women’s land and resource rights. evidence for “relationships between [women’s land Some efforts to formalize land tenure through regis- rights] and bargaining power and decision-making tration have stripped women of their customary and on consumption and human capital investment, and secondary rights to the land and its attendant natural on intergenerational transfers.”24 These findings have resources. Robust statutory recognition of communal significant gender-based implications regarding incen- or collectively-held land (also known as community- tives to invest in conservation and in the prevention, based land tenure regimes) has been associated with rehabilitation and restoration of degraded land.25 stronger protections for women’s tenure rights.16 Yet, In addition to having insecure land rights, women in some community-based regimes, women continue are also less likely to know about, and have access to be excluded from land-related decision-making. to, technical information and convergence services Women in much of the world’s poorest regions have lower literacy rates than their male counter- parts which translate to lower awareness of their Women are central to successful efforts to legal rights or the available avenues for redress. A manage land sustainably, build resilience 2016 World Resources Institute study of Tanzania, and ensure food security, and they play Mozambique and the Philippines concluded that critical roles in the agricultural value chain “women’s lower rates of literacy, limited mobility, and including the availability, access and utiliza- care responsibilities can also present barriers to the tion of food. exercise of their rights.” 17 Many women who seek to claim their land rights face community stigma and at Source: UNCCD Science Policy Interface, times violence. Conceptual Framework for LDN

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 7 management strategies.”29 Land-use conflicts, Land Degradation Neutrality including those sparked by competition over in- and Women creasingly scarce land and competing needs for The UNCCD’s stated goal of achieving land deg- crops and grazing, often disproportionately im- radation neutrality via reductions in degradation pact women. Conversely, women make more or through rehabilitation and restoration of socially-oriented land-use decisions focused on degraded land will require a shift in many coun- the welfare of the entire household and/or com- 30 tries away from migration and towards people munity, leading to reduced incidence of onflict. staying to work on and rehabilitate or restore their land -- a change from “degrade-abandon- Land governance, participation and move” to “protect-sustain-rehabilitate-restore.” To that end, ensuring women’s land rights can oversight generate the incentive, security, opportunity Land governance includes international, regional, and authority to make decisions about ways to national, community and customary systems. To conserve the land and to ensure its long-term enhance global capacity to cope with land deg- productivity. radation, climate change and biodiversity losses, women’s meaningful participation and leadership is essential in land and environmental governance institutions, decision-making processes related to help improve land use and sustainability, such to land use and degradation, and desertification, as extension services, inputs, new technologies land degradation and drought (DLDD) policies for sustainable land management and loans and and programming. Women’s active engagement, credit for climate-smart or drought-resistance in- coupled with recognition of their unique knowl- vestments.26 They are less likely to have access to edge and priorities, has been shown to enhance markets and to potential alternative livelihoods. effective implementation and sustainability of Women may lack risk-management expertise resilience interventions.31 and insurance, and they are often excluded from climate change programming geared towards Despite increasing numbers of prominent women “landowners” or leaders. For example, the Food and among land and environmental rights defenders Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and activists, women in affected communities (FAO) warns that “a shift to more resilient inter- continue to be excluded from land governance cropping systems has sometimes cost women their and oversight, including decision-making around control over specific crops.”27 large-scale land-based investments and infra- structure, development and conservation projects, A 2014 study highlighted the research gaps “on resulting in women being excluded from com- gendered knowledge, preferences, risk taking and pensation and benefits, schemes or avenues of access to innovation in land-use decision-making” redress. Women rarely head or chair rural coun- stressing that “male and female responses in the cils in many affected countries.32 For example, in adoption of agroforestry practices and other in- Tanzania, where progressive laws mandate at vestment opportunities [such as those related to least 25 per cent council-level participation by ecosystems services] reflect differing exposure to women but do not require a gender quorum (i.e., a and perceptions of risk.”28 In Mali, for example, minimum number of women to be present when “households that combine gender-inclusive deci- decisions and votes are taken), women continue sion-making with relational agro-ecological to be absent, silent or marginalized in discussions knowledge and a mix of intensive and traditional about major decisions affecting the entire com- extensive agriculture have [shown] the highest munity, including the fate of their livelihood.33 capacity for constructing adaptive soil and tree As governments increasingly seek to recognize

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 8 communities’ land rights and set up local land and often criticized because no clear, universal defini- resource governance structures, the definition of tion of land “ownership” for women exists, and community membership and rights continue to women (and men) can access and use land under exclude women, typically seen as “transient” mem- a broad range of legal and customary land tenure bers of the community, expected to “marry out” of arrangements. There is no systematically collected their birth communities or be “guests” in their hus- data on women’s land rights or access to land.39 bands’ villages.34 Without full recognition of women The UNCCD is particularly linked with the Sustainable as community members, they remain marginalized Development Goal 15 to halt and reverse land degra- from participation, governance and oversight of dation, including desertification, as captured in target land, resource and environmental matters. 15.3 and its associated indicator 15.3.1: Proportion of land that is degraded over total land area.40 Notably, Resilience and adaptation the indicators adopted for SDG 15 do not include explicit sex disaggregation or gender-specific data Given their role in agriculture and dependence on capture. Linking SDG 15 indicators with the other land, women in the regions of the world most af- SDG land indicators will help supplement and lever- fected by climate change bear the brunt of land age the data. For example, SDG indicators 1.4.2 (under degradation, unpredictable rainfall, decreased food Goal 1 on ending poverty), 5.a.1 and 5.a.2 (under Goal production, displacement and increased hunger 5 on achieving gender equality) provide global guid- and poverty.35 There is increasing recognition of ance to governments on tallying data on women’s the effectiveness and importance of incorporating land rights in law and in practice, both as formally affected women’s expertise and ensuring a gender- documented and as based on women’s (and men’s) responsive approach to managing slow-onset perceptions of the security of their land rights.41 climate change-related concerns such as drought and desertification. Better sex-disaggregated data hold the potential to revolutionize and improve government-led process- Gender-responsive smallholder-driven rural de- es to craft evidence-based policies and programming velopment through secure tenure and access to and to empower communities and women to alternative livelihood is critical to DLDD resilience monitor and enforce their land rights. To this end, and adaptation.36 Emerging evidence suggests that gender-specific qualitative research and case studies when women hold secure rights to land, efforts to to complement and nuance the quantitative data42 tackle land degradation are more successful, and will generate evidence and lessons from impact and responsibilities and benefits associated with DLDD resilience strategies of women in lands affected and climate change response programmes are more by degradation and desertification.43 The UNCCD equitably distributed. Nonetheless, overemphasis Science Policy Interface recently mandated that all on women as chief stewards of the environment land degradation neutrality (LDN) efforts that in- can overwhelm women’s already heavy and dispro- clude monitoring of indicators be sex-disaggregated portionate share of care work, whether of the home and cautioned that “if gender is excluded from the or of the planet.37 analysis of preliminary assessment data (e.g., poorly selected indicators, lack of advanced planning for Data and evidence gaps the disaggregation of data by sex), then the findings will be incomplete or misleading.”44 There is no global or consistent national data on the true scope of women’s land and resource rights.38 Efforts to quantify women’s land ownership is

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 9 Definitions GLOBAL NORMS ON GENDER Gender Equality make strategic choices and decisions (such as is This refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and provided through leadership opportunities and opportunities of women and men and girls and participation in political institutions). EQUALITY, LAND AND boys. Equality does not mean that women and Sources: UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, UN Women, Gender men will become the same but that women’s Equality, UN Coherence and You and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportuni- NATURAL RESOURCES ties will not depend on whether they are born Gender Mainstreaming male or female. Gender equality implies that the Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the pro- interests, needs and priorities of both women cess of assessing the implications for women and men are taken into consideration, recogniz- and men of any planned action, including legisla- ing the diversity of different groups of women tion, policies or programs, in all areas and at all and men. Gender equality is not a women’s issue levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well but should concern and fully engage men as as men’s concerns and experiences an integral well as women. Equality between women and dimension of the design, implementation, moni- men is seen both as a human rights issue and as toring and evaluation of policies and programs a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable in all political, economic and societal spheres people-centered development. so that women and men benefit equally and Source: UN Women, OSAGI Gender Mainstreaming - inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal Concepts and definitions is to achieve gender equality. Source: ECOSOC agreed conclusions 1997/2 Empowerment of Women and Girls The empowerment of women and girls concerns Human Rights-Based Approach their gaining power and control over their own A human rights-based approach includes three lives. It involves awareness-raising, building self- essential elements: i) laws, policies and programs confidence, expansion of choices and increased must aim to fulfill human rights; ii) rights- access to and control over resources and actions holders are empowered to participate in policy to transform the structures and institutions formulation and claim their entitlements, and which reinforce and perpetuate gender-based duty-bearers meet their obligations and are held discrimination and inequality. This implies that accountable for actions that impact or impede to be empowered women must not only have human rights; and iii) international human rights equal capabilities (such as education and health) principles and standards guide all policies and and equal access to resources and opportuni- programming in all sectors and in all phases of ties (such as land and employment), but they the process. must also have the agency to use these rights, capabilities, resources and opportunities to Source: UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, Human Rights and Climate Change

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 10 Definitions GLOBAL NORMS ON GENDER Gender Equality make strategic choices and decisions (such as is This refers to the equal rights, responsibilities and provided through leadership opportunities and opportunities of women and men and girls and participation in political institutions). EQUALITY, LAND AND boys. Equality does not mean that women and Sources: UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, UN Women, Gender men will become the same but that women’s Equality, UN Coherence and You and men’s rights, responsibilities and opportuni- NATURAL RESOURCES ties will not depend on whether they are born Gender Mainstreaming male or female. Gender equality implies that the Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the pro- interests, needs and priorities of both women cess of assessing the implications for women and men are taken into consideration, recogniz- International human rights instruments guarantee women equality and non-discrimination and men of any planned action, including legisla- 45 ing the diversity of different groups of women tion, policies or programs, in all areas and at all in rights to land and access to natural resources. Secure rights to land and natural resources and men. Gender equality is not a women’s issue levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well are often a precondition for women’s ability to realize other human rights enshrined in but should concern and fully engage men as as men’s concerns and experiences an integral international human rights treaties,46 including economic livelihood, adequate standard of well as women. Equality between women and dimension of the design, implementation, moni- living, housing, food security, education, health, freedom from violence and participation in men is seen both as a human rights issue and as toring and evaluation of policies and programs decision-making at all levels.47 a precondition for, and indicator of, sustainable in all political, economic and societal spheres people-centered development. so that women and men benefit equally and The International Covenant on Economic, Social and discrimination” (art. 22). Global policy documents, Source: UN Women, OSAGI Gender Mainstreaming - inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal Cultural Rights (ICESCR) instructs States to address such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Concepts and definitions is to achieve gender equality. food security (“freedom from hunger”) by “develop- Action52 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Source: ECOSOC agreed conclusions 1997/2 ing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way Development reinforce a focus on gender equal- Empowerment of Women and Girls as to achieve the most efficient development and ity and the empowerment of women in access and The empowerment of women and girls concerns Human Rights-Based Approach utilization of natural resources,” including land.48 control of natural resources such as land. their gaining power and control over their own A human rights-based approach includes three The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of lives. It involves awareness-raising, building self- The 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals essential elements: i) laws, policies and programs Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) requires confidence, expansion of choices and increased (SDGs) recognize women’s land rights as an explicit must aim to fulfill human rights; ii) rights- States to modify socio-cultural patterns of conduct access to and control over resources and actions cross-cutting catalyst for ending poverty (Goal 1), holders are empowered to participate in policy of men and women, with a view to achieving the to transform the structures and institutions reaching food security and improved nutrition (Goal formulation and claim their entitlements, and elimination of discrimination and stereotypes.49 The which reinforce and perpetuate gender-based 2), and achieving gender equality and empowering duty-bearers meet their obligations and are held recent General Recommendation 34 on the rights of discrimination and inequality. This implies that all women and girls (Goal 5), which could potentially accountable for actions that impact or impede rural women of the Committee on the Elimination to be empowered women must not only have revolutionize implementation of normative stan- human rights; and iii) international human rights of Discrimination against Women directly instructs equal capabilities (such as education and health) dards through newly consistent data collection on principles and standards guide all policies and States Parties to uphold rural women’s rights to land and equal access to resources and opportuni- women’s rights to land and natural resources criti- programming in all sectors and in all phases of and natural resources, and provides detailed guid- ties (such as land and employment), but they cal to addressing land degradation. Spearheaded by the process. ance to this end.50 must also have the agency to use these rights, FAO and the Committee on World Food Security, capabilities, resources and opportunities to Source: UN Office of the High Commissioner of The rights of indigenous peoples are increasingly the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Human Rights, Human Rights and Climate Change recognized as foundational to conservation and Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests successful natural resource management.51 While in the Context of National Food Security emphasize at times collective rights and women’s individual gender equality as a principle. Aligned with this freedoms can clash, the United Nations Declaration principle, they give direction on tenure governance. on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) calls They also task States to “ensure that women and on States to particularly attend to the rights and girls have equal tenure rights and access to land, special needs of indigenous women and to ensure fisheries and forests independent of their civil and that indigenous women “enjoy the full protection marital status.” and guarantees against all forms of violence and

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 11 ENTRY POINTS FOR INTEGRATION OF A GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN UNCCD PROCESS AND IMPLEMENTATION

The UNCCD is among the leading multilateral agreements on land and development that explicitly addresses gender concerns and women’s roles in addressing desertification.53 As the only Rio Convention with explicit reference to women’s roles and participation in the text of the Convention, and with the experience gained over the past decades, the UNCCD offers significant opportunities for accelerated gender-responsive implementation. A UNCCD review of gender mainstreaming in the implementation of the Convention over the past few decades argues for a stronger approach to addressing gender inequality in the context of the Convention.54 In addition, the Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Deg- radation Neutrality, issued in 2017, advocates for gender assessments and data collection as prerequisites for effective implementation.

This section outlines gaps and promising points of obligations is implied under Article 4(2)(c) which entry for integrating a gender perspective and for obligated Parties to “integrate strategies for poverty gender mainstreaming in the implementation of eradication” in their efforts to combat land degrada- the Convention’s core mandate through its associ- tion. Given the well-established relationship between ated processes and instruments. There is a special gender inequality and poverty, UNCCD implementa- emphasis on the landmark achievement for gender tion efforts would benefit from further clarity on equality during the COP 13 that took place in Ordos, the role of women’s empowerment in the successful Inner Mongolia, China in September 2017. eradication of poverty and in measures addressing land degradation and desertification. The regional implementation annexes provide more detailed, con- The UNCCD text-specific elements Parties should include in their While the Convention contains references to women national action programmes, but with few references and girls, it stops short of employing a gender-sen- to women. In responding, for example, to the UNCCD sitive and human rights-based approach55 and of regional annex for Africa call for decentralization and drawing a clear connection between gender equality empowering of local communities,57 Parties could issues and the realization of Parties’ obligations under take targeted measures to promote gender-equal the UNCCD. While there are several explicit references social norms and local traditions aligned with consti- to women in the text of the Convention, they pertain tutional and human rights of community members, primarily to increasing the participation and capaci- particularly women. ties of women to combat land degradation.56 The need for a gender perspective in the fulfillment of UNCCD

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 12 Several declarations and decisions by the COP 13, most the effective implementation of the Convention and notably the recently adopted 2017 Ordos Declaration,58 the 2018-2030 strategic framework, as well as the “pledge to address gender inequalities which 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals. A undermine progress in the implementation of the landmark decision on “gender equality and women’s Convention,” including by pursuing gender-responsive empowerment for the enhanced and effective imple- implementation at all levels. The Namibia Declaration59 mentation of the Convention”62 recognizes that and the Ankara Initiative60 call for specific actions re- mainstreaming gender will “strengthen the effective lated to gender issues and are indicative of the and efficient implementation of action on the evolving commitment to gender mainstreaming in ground.” UNCCD Parties formally adopted the Gender the implementation of the UNCCD.61 Several COP 13 Plan of Action (discussion in section on Gender Plan of decisions further recognize the crucial contributions Action (2017) below). of gender equality and empowerment of women to

Gender Mainstreaming in National Reports The current UNCCD reporting process, i.e. the gender issues; 24 per cent of Parties from Asia Performance Review and Assessment of Imple- (with an unexplained drop from a higher level in mentation System (PRAIS), is used by more than 2010); 9 per cent of Latin America and Caribbean; 100 countries to report on progress made towards and about a third of the handful of Northern achieving land degradation neutrality (LDN), and Mediterranean reports submitted. The bulk of as part of the LDN Target Setting Programme all reports highlighted women’s participation in (LDN) implemented by the Global Mechanism of programmes. The more recent reports display the UNCCD. With the adoption of the new strategic more critical analysis of complex gender dynam- framework, Parties will likely have the opportunity ics and the need for a comprehensive approach to report on different aspects relating to DLDD. To to gender equality and women’s empowerment. date, the PRAIS does not seem to include a specific In 2016-2017, the UNCCD secretariat piloted case requirement for reporting on gender-responsive studies in five countries to identify gender gaps progress in these contexts. in implementation and to propose best practices and lessons learned for mainstreaming a gender A UNCCD review of gender mainstreaming in the perspective in LDN processes. The relatively small- implementation of the Convention analyzed na- scale case studies – government-run LDN projects tional reports submitted between 1999 and 2014. in Ethiopia and Uganda, and civil society-driven Reporting guidelines during the period assessed, sustainable land management efforts in Burkina including the standardized PRAIS framework ap- Faso, Chad and Senegal - emphasized livelihood, plicable to reports submitted between 2010-2014, including women’s primary needs, as critical to did not require gender-specific reporting. Between identifying gender-based capacity gaps and entry 2010-2014, overall 23 per cent of submitted na- points for women’s empowerment. They further tional reports explicitly referenced addressing highlighted building women’s capacities to access gender issues or actively involved women. About 17 markets, including more accurate estimation of per cent of Parties’ reports from Africa mentioned real production costs of their goods.

Source: UNCCD, Overview of gender mainstreaming in the implementation of the Convention: 1998-2018, ICCD/COP(13)/CRP.1 (2017)

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 13 UNCCD Strategic Framework rather focuses on sustainable land management, land productivity, ecosystem services and land degrada- 2018-2030 tion neutrality. Implementation efforts – emboldened The UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework ad- by the COP 13 focus on the foundational importance 66 opted at COP 13 paves the way for Parties and the of land rights, including in the Ordos Declaration - Secretariat to undertake concerted efforts to en- could better acknowledge diverse land rights regimes sure its gender-responsive implementation. The and their effect on women’s rights. COP’s adoption of the Future Strategic Framework Decision 7 adopting the Strategic Framework requires (7/COP.13) mandates all UNCCD stakeholders and that a gender perspective be mainstreamed into all partners to take into account the need for gender- types of DLDD plans, policies, projects and research. responsive policies and measures, strive for full and Efforts are therefore needed to ensure that imple- effective participation of both men and women in mentation is based on the foundational prerequisite planning, decision-making and implementation of gender analysis to capture and address gender-spe- at all levels, and enhance the empowerment of cific impacts of land degradation, to include gender women, girls and youth in the affected areas. The components in the reporting and monitoring frame- newly adopted UNCCD Gender Plan of Action will work of the new 2018-2030 Strategic Framework and support gender-responsive implementation of to capture gender statistics and sex-disaggregated the Strategy (see discussion in in the sections on data to tailor policies and gauge progress.67 Advocacy Policy Framework on Gender and Gender Plan of Action below).63 Workplans The new Strategic Framework itself explicitly refers to women only once under strategic objective 2 “to The comprehensive multi-year workplan for the improve the living conditions of affected populations” Convention (2018–2021) and two-year costed work (2.3) so that “local people, especially women and youth, programme for the Convention (2018–2019) (“work- are empowered and participate in decision-making plans”)68 operationalize the 2018–2030 Strategic processes in combatting DLDD.”64 The Committee for Framework through a decisive gender mainstream- the Review of the Implementation of the Convention ing mandate evidenced by the adoption of the (CRIC) has previously stressed the need to clearly Gender Plan of Action and specific internal refer- articulate concerns affecting women in the context ences to such priorities. of the objective on the living conditions of affected A main outcome for the 2018-2021 workplan requires populations.65 The Strategic Framework contains that “[g]ender issues are increasingly taken into several gender-neutral expected outcomes that bear account in plans to address desertification/land particular relevance and disproportionate impact on degradation and drought.”69 In defining Strategic women. Expected outcomes in terms of adequate Objective 2 on improving the living conditions of af- food security and access to water (2.1), improved and fected populations, the workplans’ results framework diversified livelihoods (2.2), community resilience to outcome 2.2 calls on affected Parties to draw on drought (3.2), enhanced land productivity (1.1) and “UNCCD guidance and technical advice on integrat- sustainable land management (1.4, 4.1) could be ing gender issues into UNCCD implementation and significantly enhanced by identifying and addressing design of transformative LDN projects” as part of the difficulties faced by rural and indigenous women plans to address desertification, land degradation and in achieving these goals given their insecure tenure drought. As with guidance on operationalizing the rights and obstacles to accessing inputs required for drought initiative and voluntary sand and dust storm investment in land conservation and yields. framework, the Secretariat and partners should focus The Strategic Framework contains no mention of on developing, disseminating and bolstering capacity “land tenure” or “land rights” critical to supporting to provide “technical advice, policy guidance and part- incentives for effective DLDD implementation, but nerships on integrating gender issues and promoting

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 14 gender equality in UNCCD implementation and de- these efforts must be executed within “existing sign of transformative LDN projects.”70 resources.” Given the great need and demand for ca- pacity development on gender issues, DLDD and LDN, The detailed workplans, referenced as ICCD/COP(13)/8- such limitation will likely curtail the reach of efforts ICCD/CRIC(16)/2 further call on the Secretariat to due to the currently inadequate human and financial focus, inter alia, on supporting “UNCCD stakeholders resources dedicated to the development of a gender in taking a pragmatic, results-oriented approach to unit and architecture within the UNCCD Secretariat. issues that are critical for effective implementation but often difficult, for various reasons, to work on. Such issues include the role of women in managing Advocacy Policy Framework on and using land, and land rights in a broader sense” Gender (2011) (para. 10 (a)).71 The New York Liaison Office of the UNCCD Secretariat is tasked with promoting land- Although not formally adopted, the 2011 Advocacy related partnerships and initiatives involving various Policy Framework (APF) on Gender76 contains 20 stakeholders, notably youth, women, civil society and time-bound and action-oriented targets for gender academia” (para. 18).72 It will be important to develop mainstreaming across four spheres: policy, organiza- clear parameters to capture how these activities will tional, constituency and delivery, and it is aimed to be monitored and progress assessed. The Gender Plan serve as a key guiding instrument for the implemen- of Action should clearly instruct that such steps must tation of the UNCCD and its strategy.77 The 2011 APF be prioritized and adequately resourced. policy process-oriented approach was interpreted as focusing primarily on women’s participation and During 2018-2019, the External Relations, Policy and gender-balance in representation, particularly among Advocacy (ERPA) programme will prioritize support experts and civil society representatives. Nevertheless, for implementation of “critical elements of the pro- this APF remains relevant and instructive on creating posed gender plan of action to aid Parties in their an enabling environment for implementation of na- efforts to increase the share of women benefitting tional plans, as well as concrete guidance on paths for from the implementation of LDN, and drought and enhancing robust, gender-equality advocacy within risk mitigation efforts” (para. 23(b)).73 The focus on the UNCCD framework and processes. increasing the number of possible female beneficia- ries is a critical and positive step and should serve as the impetus to systematically address and barriers Gender Plan of Action (2017) to women’s engagement and to seek deeper gender Accompanied by a landmark decision on “gender equality outcomes. equality and women’s empowerment for the enhanced The Secretariat’s capacity-building activities aim to and effective implementation of the Convention,”78 strengthen staffing competency for gender main- UNCCD Parties adopted the Convention’s first Gender streaming (para. 38) and provide a “toolbox” for Plan of Action (GPA) during COP 13 in September 2017. gender matters (para. 39(e)).74 The budget allocation The GPA aims to advance national efforts to achieve proposed for these activities bear examination to the LDN target. assess whether the amount will be sufficient for ef- The GPA is designed to support gender mainstreaming fective and thorough execution. in the implementation of the 2018-2030 Strategy and The COP 13 decision on capacity-building (decision to supplement rather than replace the existing APF on 8/COP.13) requests the Secretariat to “develop and Gender. Drawing on the Convention, it outlines three strengthen partnerships to build the required capaci- key implementation areas for women’s engagement: ties to mainstream gender in the implementation of (a) awareness-raising and participation in the design the Convention in order to enhance the role of women and implementation of programmes; (b) decision- and youth in combatting [DLDD] and increase the re- making processes at the local level in the governance of silience of the women vulnerable to DLDD.”75 However, development, implementation and review of regional

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 15 and national action programmes (RAPs and NAPs); and in piloting it, stressing synergies and the promotion of (c) capacity-building, education and public awareness, women’s and girls’ empowerment in the implementa- particularly at local level through the support of local tion of the Convention.80 organizations (para. 6). Importantly, the GPA recognizes The GPA provides a critical basis and launch pad structural inequalities that curtail women’s land use for more systematic and consistent gender main- and management rights (para. 11) and asserts that streaming in implementing the Convention, new gender mainstreaming is essential “to address the strategy and workplans. Despite strong objectives for gender inequalities that disproportionately undermine integrating a gender perspective, the GPA’s proposed women’s effectiveness as agents of change in the im- mechanisms for implementation focus on access to plementation of the Convention, [and] would enhance resources, rather than tackling needed structural and the achievement of land degradation neutrality (LDN) institutional changes (paras. 18-21), such as the estab- targets” (para. 8). lishment of a dedicated UNCCD Women Major Group The GPA outlines four priority thematic areas to close and mandated gender reviews of LDN target-setting the gender gap: (a) Participation in decisions taken programmes and NAPs. during the design, planning, implementation and evaluation of initiatives to implement the UNCCD; (b) Integrating women’s economic empowerment Gender Analysis in LDN in UNCCD implementation activities in order to The UNCCD Science Policy Interface recommends eradicate their extreme poverty; (c) Strengthening integrating gender considerations into imple- women’s land rights and access to resources; and (d) mentation of the UNCCD, including through LDN Enhancing women’s access to improved knowledge planning and implementation, decision-making, and technologies that relate to effective UNCCD stakeholder engagement and the preliminary implementation (para. 17). The GPA’s five objec- assessments for LDN. In particular, SPI argues tives for potential interventions are to: (a) enhance that excluding gender from the analysis of pre- women’s role as agents of change by addressing the liminary assessment data for LDN activities will gender inequalities they face; (b) build the capacities lead to incomplete or misleading findings. of women and girls to access the resources they need to improve their livelihoods, manage land sustainably Source: UNCCD Secretariat, Advocacy Policy and become resilient to drought; (c) build the techni- Frameworks: Gender, Drought and Sand and cal capacities of UNCCD stakeholders at all levels Dust Storms (2017), para. 12. to design and implement gender-responsive plans and programmes, including in LDN interventions; (d) develop a baseline on gender-related issues in land The GPA’s conclusions and recommendations section degradation and desertification, and monitor, report “encourages” Parties to “incorporate gender perspec- and regularly review progress in the implementation tives into their activities towards implementing the and achievement of objectives; and (e) mobilize ad- Convention” (para. 66 (a)(ii)). The integration of a equate resources to achieve these objectives (para. 15). gender perspective in implementation of the UNCCD should be seen as an integral prerequisite of all such Refining the GPA activities, including through conditioning of financial In adopting the GPA, the COP invited Parties and other resources support. stakeholders to use the plan and, based on lessons In rolling out the GPA, Parties and supporting UNCCD learned, contribute to its refinement at the next bien- entities should at a minimum require a gender analy- 79 nial meeting. It further called on UN Women and sis and collection and use of sex-disaggregated data other relevant UN entities, international organizations — a foundational aspect of any gender mainstream- and partners to roll out the plan and to support Parties ing work — at the outset and throughout a policy or

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 16 intervention process (e.g., in implementing the strat- tools to support gender-responsive implementation egy and workplans, developing an LDN Target Setting of national policies on drought and sand and dust Program, NAPs and RAPs) to its lessons-learned storms (SDS). phase.81 Gender mainstreaming would delineate and Finally, the GPA (as well as the policy advocacy elucidate the impacts on all women and men to en- framework on drought and SDS) 85 should consider sure targeted and effective policies and interventions. adopting an explicit human rights-based approach GPA implementation should set as a clear objective rooted in equality and non-discrimination, human that Parties ensure a national legal and regulatory dignity and empowerment that challenges power framework for gender equality, especially in areas dynamics through participation, transparency and related to the Convention such as women’s rights to accountability.86 land and productive resources. Given that women are more harshly affected by land tenure insecurity due to direct and indirect discriminatory laws and practices Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) at the national, community and family level, the GPA efforts could promote changes to laws and social norms that The UNCCD’s focus on Land Degradation Neutrality impose barriers to such rights. (LDN) efforts have noticeably shifted towards The GPA recognizes as one of four priorities the need inclusion of gender issues.87 The SPI’s Scientific to strengthen women’s land rights and access to Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation resources (para 17(c)). In doing so, GPA pilots should Neutrality, released in conjunction with COP 13, clarify that land rights are not limited to ownership instructs Parties to integrate a gender perspective and tenure security but account for a range of land in planning and implementation of LDN, man- rights that must be legally recognized, socially legiti- dates preliminary LDN assessment that includes matized, enforceable and include women’s right to consideration of gender inequality and women’s participate in decision-making about land use and land tenure security, calls for ensuring women’s governance.82 genuine contributions in stakeholder engagements accounting for gender imbalances in power and In addition, the GPA rollout should reinforce the COP access to information and requires inclusion of decision on integrating SDG 15 in UNCCD imple- gender-sensitive indicators and sex-disaggregated mentation (Decision 3/COP.13) by ensuring the wider data to accurately monitor progress. 88 elements of the 2030 Agenda, including promoting gender equality and empowering all women and The LDN Scientific Framework contains a specific girls.83 GPA pilots should address SDG 5 (gender equal- section on “Gender considerations for the design of ity), but equally account for SDG 1 (end poverty). This preliminary assessments” setting out recommended goal is especially relevant to women’s land rights practices ranging from gender-sensitive data collection (indicator 1.4.2), and covers all types of land (not only agricultural land as under indicator 5.a.1) and a broader set of land tenure regimes and rights. In assessments and implementation of LDN, if women are not actively invited to participate The GPA should closely inform the implementation of and regularly engaged, the impact of interven- the Policy Advocacy on Drought (Decision 29/COP.13) tions designed to avoid, reduce or reverse land and Policy Advocacy Framework to Combat Sand and degradation will be much less than their po- Dust Storms (Decision 31/COP.13)84 by providing prag- tential because the strong influence of women matic guidance and concrete measures for gender in most land-based livelihood systems. mainstreaming in those policy frameworks, insisting on gender-responsive implementation and equipping - SPI, Conceptual Framework for LDN, p. 74 the Secretariat and Global Mechanism (GM) staff with expert personnel, structures, mechanisms and

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 17 to engagement of gender experts to refine research methodology and incorporate a nuanced context anal- Scientific Conceptual Framework ysis of the factors that undercut women’s land rights for LDN (2017) by the Science Policy (see text box). Interface By the end of COP 13 in September 2017, 113 countries Recommended practices include: had joined the LDN target-setting programme which • Collect information about both men and supports countries in the establishment of voluntary women. Ask questions about specific indi­ LDN targets, accelerating the implementation of viduals or groups and identify them by sex. transformative programmes and projects with posi- • Collect information from men and women. tive changes. Equipped with new, gender-sensitive guidance by the SPI, UNCCD organs and Parties are • Those collecting and analyzing the data need poised to more systematically and consistently main- to understand gender roles and social dy- stream gender in the definition of meaningful targets namics, with questions adapted for context. at national level. In addition, transformative projects • Budget and plan for the collecting of sex- and programmes will take a strategic gender-respon- disaggregated data. sive approach, contribute to the achievement of LDN • Work with a gender expert early in the and address the needs of the most vulnerable groups, pro­cess to define the research question and such as small farmers, rural communities and indige- methodology. nous peoples, with a particular focus on women and young people, while securing local communities’ and • Make use of FAO’s Gender and Land Rights women’s land tenure, as well as other land-related Database which highlights the major politi- rights. They will also contribute to creating jobs and cal, legal and cultural factors that influence­ additional sources of income. the realization of women’s land rights throughout the world. Notably, of 14 summary reports from participating Parties in the initial LDN pilot target-setting project in 2014-15, only two, Chad and Ethiopia, mentioned women or gender issues,89 though most of the pilot Finance mechanisms countries have made efforts to ensure a balanced rep- Several major international mechanisms disburse resentation of men and women in their LDN Working environmental and climate financing, including Groups that led the LDN target-setting process at the for implementation of the UNCCD and other Rio country level. Conventions. Over the past few years, most such major The Global Mechanism (GM) has also been support- financing institutions have adopted gender-specific ing countries in the definition of LDN targets and will policies and action plans. The Global Environment continue to provide support to countries in designing Facility (GEF), for example, has led efforts through and implementing LDN transformative projects and the adoption of a Gender Equality Action Plan91 with programmes and mobilizing necessary resources. In requirements for national-level project design and addition to translating the LDN conceptual frame- financing, such as: undertaking project gender analy- work90 into practice and fostering alliances among sis; consulting with women, individuals and networks financing partners, the GM will promote gender- that work on gender equality and including gender responsive and socially-inclusive LDN transformative experts in projects; developing project components projects and programmes, demonstrating economic with gender targets; collecting sex-disaggregated benefits of LDN investments, in particular for women. data; and creating budget items for gender-related activities.92 In addition, the GEF Accreditation Panel requires that all applicants seeking to become a GEF

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 18 Project Agency must demonstrate compliance with National-level entry points the minimum gender equality action requirements.93 The GEF, for example, reviews member entities to en- Parties have a unique opportunity to promote gender sure compliance with its Gender Equality Action Plan, equality in the Land Degradation Neutrality Target- which revealed general compliance with incorporat- Setting Program. Gender considerations are critical to ing gender perspectives in project development.94 the formulation of voluntary targets to achieve LDN at national and sub-national levels by 2030. During The Green Climate Fund (GCF) has a gender policy the LDN target-setting processes, Parties, with sup- and strategy currently under review. In late August port from the GM and regional bodies, facilitated the 2017, the GCF launched its first gender equality guide convening of women’s organizations and indigenous, 95 to climate finance. The GCF is now the first and only rural and community women leaders to gather climate finance mechanism to mandate an initial inputs and ensure that gender perspectives are sys- gender and social assessment and a gender and social tematically reflected in LDN targets and measures. inclusion action plan as part of its funding proposal The development of transformative projects and 96 submission process. It provides guidance to accred- programmes to achieve the nationally determined ited entities submitting funding proposals on the type targets will also require a gender-responsive approach of gender-related documentation required during the to ensure successful implementation and delivery project planning, preparation and development stage. of multiple benefits to women. The GM is currently To date, 84 per cent of all GCF’s approved funding pro- working on developing a gender and social framework posals contained an initial gender assessment and 67 for transformative projects and programmes and will per cent contained a project-level gender and social provide support to national entities in ensuring that 97 inclusion action plan. the realization of LDN ambitions is gender-responsive.

Decision 3/COP12 mandates the Global Mechanism to UNCCD-mandated National, Regional and Sub- assist in the creation of an independent LDN Fund to regional Action Plans should undergo gender equality be made available for the full realization of LDN ini- and gender-responsiveness analysis, including of ele- tiatives. The Fund was launched at COP 13 to invest in ments to strengthen women’s land rights. This review sustainable land management and land restoration can be carried out by an entity designated by the projects worldwide, within a strict environmental UNCCD Secretariat and national women’s rights or- 98 and social safeguard framework. The new LDN Fund ganizations with relevant expertise.100 is touted as a “first-of-its-kind investment vehicle leveraging public money to raise private capital for The new UNCCD workplans referenced above likewise sustainable land management and land restoration outline several potential entry-points of support to projects worldwide.” Such public-private partnerships Parties by UNCCD structures, as cited above, such as have been criticized in other contexts as tending to the ERPA 2018-2019 priority “to aid Parties in their ef- sideline gender issues and prioritize “return on invest- forts to increase the share of women benefitting from ment” over a rights-based perspective that aims to the implementation of LDN drought and risk mitiga- ensure that those most marginalized and affected tion efforts” (para. 23(b)). 99 benefit. A micro-financing component is also con- While not currently called for under the GPA, templated to bridge women and women’s groups Parties should conduct (or draw upon existing) access to financing. The GPA framework can provide gender-sensitive review of national land and property institutional legitimacy in devising thoughtful, rights-related laws (this would include an analysis of enforceable social and gender safeguards and trans- gender equality provisions in the constitution and parent gender-responsive monitoring and reporting laws on land, inheritance, family and marital property to guide the LDN Fund. and community governance). Such information can help feed into existing indicators, such as those for 101 reporting under SDGs 1, 5 and 15 a.

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 19 Section IV Highlights: UNCCD-Related Entry Points for Gender Mainstreaming

UNCCD Strategic Workplan Gender Plan of Advocacy LDN Efforts Finance (Convention) Framework (2018–2021) Action (2017) Policy Frame- -LDN Frame- Mechanisms 2018-2030 and costed plan -Link to APF works on work (SPI) -LDN Fund (2018–2019) Gender 2011 Drought and -LDN Target Set- on Dust and ting Programme Sand Storms

• Focus on participation • Take a human rights-based approach in connection to Parties’ UNCCCD obligations • Set clear objective that Parties ensure a national legal and regulatory framework for gender equality, women’s land rights • Clarify that land rights are not limited to ownership and tenure security • Mandate gender analysis and review • Specify how to equip Secretariat & GM, national focal points to support gender-responsive implementation of national policies for drought, SDS, LDN. • Establish dedicated gender mechanisms (Women’s Major Group or WGC) • Utilize CRIC, Committee on Science and Technology/SPI to integrate gender indicators and sex-disaggregated data, take a gender approach, and promote a focus on gender issues in thematic reviews • Promote and fund inter-Rio Synergies, joint initiatives and trainings for, at a minimum, secretariat staff and national focal points

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 20 PROMISING GENDER MAINSTREAMING PRACTICES IN LOCAL EFFORTS TO ADDRESS LAND DEGRADATION

This section outlines promising practices in integrating a gender perspective in policies, programmes, interventions and initiatives aimed to prevent and mitigate land degradation and desertification or decrease rural poverty. Successful cases typically employ a combination of complementary strategies and approaches. The examples outlined below highlight several critical aspects of gender mainstreaming.

Addressing gender roles to Emission from Deforestation and Degradation) project with funding from the state of Amazonas, Bradesco empower women Bank and the Coca-Cola Company, the Bolsa Floresta Women-led mitigation of land Program provided a combination of payments to families, community associations, social development degradation and desertification projects and income-generating activities as incen- Affected countries offer examples of women’s mitiga- tives to avoid deforestation. The monthly payments to tion and adaptation measures in water management, families, modeled on the highly popular Bolsa Familia, land conservation and land rehabilitation. Rural and were issued through bank cards in the name of mar- indigenous women and men have continued to strug- ried women with children to maximize women’s role gle to save their natural resources from deforestation in the family and ensure more efficient spending on and damaging extraction of minerals, oil and gas and immediate family needs.103 Equipped with bank cards, against further expansion of corporate-led mono- women were able to access formal economy inputs crop plantations. Women’s agro-ecological approach and increased their participation in community meet- has helped in coping with desertification through ings due to their enhanced social status and personal practices such as water harvesting, agroforestry, use confidence.104 The programme also led to greater reli- of simple structures like farm ponds for building ance on non-timber forest products for income.105 resilience on farms, enhancing soil fertility through Senegal: A USAID-funded Feed the Future project organic means to improve water holding capacity, allocated parcels of degraded, abandoned land to changing the way crops are grown and introducing women and provided training and inputs in exchange drought-resistant crop varieties.102 for land restoration.106 From the beginning, the broad- Brazil: Aimed to empower women in their role as er programme hired women as project implementers, “guardians of the forest,” the Bolsa Floresta Program with women constituting 40 per cent of programme is an example of women leading restoration and leadership positions and 25 per cent of programme rehabilitation of degraded forest lands. Brazil’s first positions. Additionally, women comprised 25 per project to be nominally recognized as a REDD (Reducing cent of the agents and 25 per cent of the members

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 21 of the community working groups. The intervention the productivity of land, but also and more important- increased women’s knowledge of agricultural tech- ly in women’s self-esteem and social position. These Kenya: National Gender Machinery and its Role for Intra-Governmental Environment niques and diverse sources of nutrition, appointed indigenous and rural women advocated at various and Gender Integration them as gatekeepers of new technologies (such as local, regional and international forums to maintain While gender issues related to UNCCD have been advanced by the two bodies. It has coordinated biofortified foods), enabled equal participation in sustainable production and consumption thereby in- articulated, the relevant strategies and implemen- with the Ministry of Environment and Natural governance-related activities and provided access to creasing economic resiliency and capacity to address tation frameworks for addressing these issues Resources on climate change matters under the land. By 2014, the programme had 52 locations, which desertification and improve local livelihoods.109 need to be addressed at the country level. In par- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate spanned 80 hectares and benefitted nearly 4,000 India: India’s flagship rural employment programme, ticular, national gender equality mechanisms are Change (UNFCCC), and identified the need to add thousand women.107 The programme delivered on se- the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment needed to provide capacity, guidelines and tools a focus on the UNCCD. The NGEC was appointed curing women’s land rights, which boosted incentives Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, with the participa- on how to mainstream a gender perspective in by the Ministry of Environment and Natural for restoring land and promoted sustainable agricul- tion/involvement of a significant number of women, Rio Convention implementation processes; oth- Resources to integrate a gender perspective in tural practices. The women used a suite of innovative has created jobs and improved wages. It is tailored to erwise a common default is for implementers to Kenya’s Nationally Determined Contributions plan. conservation agricultural techniques to make the provide equity for women. Its green jobs have pro- “turn a blind eye” on such matters. In Kenya, the Under the legal mandate of Kenya’s new climate land more productive and resilient and to sustain low duced environmentally sound productive assets National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), change law, which requires a gender strategy for maintenance, micro-nutrient-rich crops. In addition to under the decentralized administration of village local established by the Constitution, plays that role by its implementation, the NGEC is working with restoring lands, the crops produced provide women councils (Gram Panchayats). These productive assets actively engaging national ministries, county-level national and county-level bodies to develop gen- with nutritious food and a new stream of income.108 include durable and sustainable water conservation, government offices and public and private actors der-responsive implementation frameworks. It has China and India: In 2004-05, the International Fund water harvesting and irrigation works, drought proof- on gender mainstreaming, and by producing a also convened public and private actors to engage for Agricultural Development (IFAD), in collaboration ing through afforestation and tree planting, rural government “score card” on gender integration. in the issue of gender-responsible implementa- with national governments, launched two major proj- connectivity, renovation of traditional water bodies The NGEC ensured Kenya’s national Gender Policy tion actions and plans to monitor and evaluate ects in China and India. In the desert-like land area and land development. Research has validated the provisions on gender and the environment include the inclusion of gender perspectives in all climate of Wulin Mountains, efforts were made to overcome impact of the productive assets produced under clear implementation frameworks to be jointly change programming. gender-based discrimination while promoting land MGNREGA, finding improvements in the environment Source: Commissioner Winfred Lichuma, The NGEC Collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and conservation. Women were trained for food and cash and natural resource regeneration. Specifically, water Natural Resources as a Good Practice presentation, COP 13: Gender Day, Ordos, China (2017). crop production through a series of land improve- availability has expanded, dual cropping has been im- ment activities, including the conversion of dryland plemented and agricultural output has improved (due to paddies, livestock and fish production. Likewise, to better irrigation access supporting crop diversity). a year earlier IFAD supported a project for revival of Independent research has also found that the eco- traditional soil and water conservation methods (e.g., nomic opportunities afforded under MGNREGA were percolation ponds and pitcher irrigation) for indige- linked to women’s broader mpowerment.110 nous women in drylands of Andhra Pradesh, India. The results of these projects noted increases not only in

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 22 the productivity of land, but also and more important- ly in women’s self-esteem and social position. These Kenya: National Gender Machinery and its Role for Intra-Governmental Environment indigenous and rural women advocated at various and Gender Integration local, regional and international forums to maintain While gender issues related to UNCCD have been advanced by the two bodies. It has coordinated sustainable production and consumption thereby in- articulated, the relevant strategies and implemen- with the Ministry of Environment and Natural creasing economic resiliency and capacity to address tation frameworks for addressing these issues Resources on climate change matters under the desertification and improve local livelihoods.109 need to be addressed at the country level. In par- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate India: India’s flagship rural employment programme, ticular, national gender equality mechanisms are Change (UNFCCC), and identified the need to add the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment needed to provide capacity, guidelines and tools a focus on the UNCCD. The NGEC was appointed Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, with the participa- on how to mainstream a gender perspective in by the Ministry of Environment and Natural tion/involvement of a significant number of women, Rio Convention implementation processes; oth- Resources to integrate a gender perspective in has created jobs and improved wages. It is tailored to erwise a common default is for implementers to Kenya’s Nationally Determined Contributions plan. provide equity for women. Its green jobs have pro- “turn a blind eye” on such matters. In Kenya, the Under the legal mandate of Kenya’s new climate duced environmentally sound productive assets National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC), change law, which requires a gender strategy for under the decentralized administration of village local established by the Constitution, plays that role by its implementation, the NGEC is working with councils (Gram Panchayats). These productive assets actively engaging national ministries, county-level national and county-level bodies to develop gen- include durable and sustainable water conservation, government offices and public and private actors der-responsive implementation frameworks. It has water harvesting and irrigation works, drought proof- on gender mainstreaming, and by producing a also convened public and private actors to engage ing through afforestation and tree planting, rural government “score card” on gender integration. in the issue of gender-responsible implementa- connectivity, renovation of traditional water bodies The NGEC ensured Kenya’s national Gender Policy tion actions and plans to monitor and evaluate and land development. Research has validated the provisions on gender and the environment include the inclusion of gender perspectives in all climate impact of the productive assets produced under clear implementation frameworks to be jointly change programming. MGNREGA, finding improvements in the environment Source: Commissioner Winfred Lichuma, The NGEC Collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and and natural resource regeneration. Specifically, water Natural Resources as a Good Practice presentation, COP 13: Gender Day, Ordos, China (2017). availability has expanded, dual cropping has been im- plemented and agricultural output has improved (due to better irrigation access supporting crop diversity). inequalities, it is common for women to be excluded. Independent research has also found that the eco- Enshrining rights in law and In collectively-held or community-based land systems, nomic opportunities afforded under MGNREGA were practice the community group holds the rights to the land and linked to women’s broader mpowerment.110 Gender-responsive recognition and typically allocates rights to households or individuals documentation of land rights based on their membership in the group. Women – especially those who marry into a community – may Communities reap impressive benefits in countries not always be seen as equal members, stripping them with progressive laws and gender-responsive in- of land security. terventions to ensure social acceptance of gender Ethiopia: The land certification and registration equality laws. Collectively-held land covers the ma- process in Ethiopia undertaken in the early 2000s jority of the world’s land, but the rights of its users increased tenure security and boosted by 20 to 30 are largely undocumented and as such vicarious.111 per cent landowners’ likelihood to invest in soil and While titling is not a panacea, legal rights to land water conservation measures. As a result, landowners’ especially for women have been shown to not only income and agricultural outputs have increased.113 enhance tenure security but to lead to multiple ben- Furthermore, the process included women. Specifically, efits such as greater status within the household, a the process instructed that land certificates issued for greater decision-making role and greater likelihood spouses should contain the names of both spouses of investing in soil conservation and agroforestry.112 as joint holders and a federal regulation mandated However, where the titling process fails to ensure that the consent of both spouses is required to sell the protection of women’s rights and address gender

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 23 or rent land. Given the lower status, education level measures than unregistered owners. This included and participation in public activities by women in women-headed households, leading to increased in- rural Ethiopia, the programme undertook several comes and enhanced socio-economic resilience.117 gender-specific measures. The local committees that Brazil: A sustainable development project, called defined the boundaries of common-use areas and the Dom Hélder Câmara Project, funded by the registered individual farmers’ plots included women International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) who headed households, including widows and divor- from 2005-2010 in a semi-arid region of northeast cees. Methodologies were developed collaboratively Brazil, focused on fostering sustainable relationships through local participation and legitimation (impor- between farmers and environment. A key campaign fo- tant given the dominance of the customary tenure cused on securing land rights for women and livelihood system in rural areas). States that required photo- improvement. It included a campaign to provide iden- graphs of both spouses and had dedicated space on tity documents for more than 14,000 women, in order the land certificate form for such photos had a higher to recognize citizenship and ensure secure land rights rate of joint certification.114 Such registration and the and other state benefits. Their secure land rights led resulting increases in tenure security had a strong to community organizing, increased agricultural and positive effect on conservation, maintenance and im- income-generating activities and leadership among provement of plots, which has increased agricultural women. The project improved women’s empowerment productivity and contributed to reducing poverty.115 and farmers’ relationship to the environment.118 Brazil’s Rwanda: The establishment and implementation of Ministry of Agricultural Development subsequently new legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks scaled the campaign to provide women with identity was aimed at increasing land tenure security of vul- documents.119 nerable groups, including women. The community Northern Madagascar: The German-Malagasy was consulted at all phases of the process, from the Environmental Programme initiated by Deutsche preparatory and consultation phase to the legisla- Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit tive reform phase. The land registration process was (GIZ) promoted sustainable charcoal production participatory and community-led, with members as a means to reduce deforestation while meeting managing parcel demarcation, adjudication, dispute domestic energy needs. Key to reforesting degraded resolution and issuance of land leases. Women were state lands was a focus on afforestation achieved not merely consulted but played an active role in run- through allocating households private long-term use ning the reform programme. All land commissions rights to degraded land, which were documented and land committees had to have at least 30 per and also endorsed by a community council decree. cent women. Both men and women had to be pres- Land users who became landowners through the ent during registration of land ownership, ensuring programme own three hectares of wood-fuel forests joint title of married property owners. Children were and have enjoyed an approximate 40 per cent in- registered as individuals with beneficial interest in crease in their income. Importantly, women can enroll parents’ land, ensuring equal inheritance rights for in the afforestation programme, increasing women’s sons and daughters. Women’s land rights were pro- opportunity to own land and resources and thereby tected in land transactions, as land transfer template strengthening women’s economic position.120 forms require dual consent of joint owners (i.e., a wife and husband must both agree and sign contracts). With their names on land parcels, women were able Enforcement of women’s equal rights to use the land as collateral for loans from banks and to land microfinance institutions.116 Research found that after the Government of Rwanda implemented the 2006 China: Local governments and women’s organiza- land registration programme, registered owners were tions tackled the lack of review or appeal process of over two times more likely to invest in conservation village committee decisions concerning women’s land and inheritance rights, showcasing the key role

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 24 local government can play to effectively monitor and and restoration of agricultural land and natural re- amend village rules that infringe on gender equality. sources, as well as positive socio-economic impacts The Nanhai district government of Foshan City in such as women’s economic empowerment and focus Guangdong Province actively addressed the violation on kitchen gardens.122 of the land rights of women who, as typical in the com- South Africa: To combat land degradation, South munity, marry and relocate to their husbands’ village Africa’s UNCCD National Action Plan explicitly em- (termed “married-out” women). The district govern- phasized the role of women, promoting alternative ment established a working group of government livelihood strategies aimed at income-generating officials to review village rules and work together activities for women. Implementation has reduced with villagers to change discriminatory provisions on pressure on natural resources, improved income for land rights, complemented by judicial procedures to rural families and increased women’s participation in enforce compliance where villages refused to change decision-making processes.123 rules that discriminated on the basis of gender. One year of the intervention resulted in 18,000 married Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal: A programme women obtaining equal land rights (approximately focused on the Sahel, financed by the Swedish 95 per cent of married women in the district). In ad- International Development Cooperation Agency dition, women’s organizations carried out training (SIDA) in collaboration with the Office to Combat and educational initiatives to shift norms relating to Desertification and Drought, promoted local land use women’s land rights among village leaders and com- management that included resource management munity members with a focus on active participation training, income-generating activities and micro- and open discussion where community members, financing for women. Findings concluded that all both women and men, reflect on traditional norms efforts to combat desertification must begin and end and identify for themselves those that are discrimina- with local land users, women and men.124 tory towards women. Some villages involved in the Niger: In the context of reduced legal restrictions project amended rules through democratic processes on tree cutting and legal recognition of customary to guarantee women equal land rights.121 rights in forest reserves, a reforestation initiative known as farmer-managed natural regeneration Equalizing access, use and control of (FMNR) enabled farmers to re-green 5 million hect- land and resources ares of land. FMNR offered incentives to encourage farmers to experiment with low-cost conservation Gender-responsive land use andresource methods to promote natural regeneration of natu- management rally occurring trees and forests. FMNR (and its ability to restore formerly degraded land) specifically Senegal: The Climate Change Adaptation Project sought to benefit women and widows by increasing in the Areas of Watershed Management and Water their land access, income-generating opportunities Retention, part of the Agricultural Value Chains and social status.125 Support Project (PAFA), 2012-2016, aimed to increase resilience of agricultural production systems and as- Jordan: The Zarqa Basin restoration project restored sociated value chains to climate impacts on water the local Hima resource tenure system as a means to resources. The approach included: 1) capacity-building, secure land rights and to reverse rangeland degrada- awareness-raising and knowledge management at tion by supporting sustainable land management the national level; 2) water harvesting and watershed for Jordan’s pastoral communities living within that management; and 3) water conservation and efficient area. Developing and implementing grazing pro- irrigation. The capacity-building component includes tocols through the Hima system’s grazing enabled targeted training and workshops on improving forage growth to improve while also recognizing and gender-sensitive agricultural productivity. Successful “respecting women’s rights to use and benefit from 126 practices/actions included improved rehabilitation Hima land.”

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 25 Uganda: Gender Smart, Climate Smart Agriculture In northern Uganda, a UNDP- and FAO-funded might otherwise produce and could market. At project focused on assisting districts in scaling the same time, many women-led households re- climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and supporting a ported facing transitional food insecurity. Because CSA taskforce. It aimed to: 1) scale the number of the project held the view that women and men farmers using CSA in five districts; 2) establish sys- should enjoy equal access to productive resources, tems to develop input supply and create markets it targeted women when scaling up CSA. Several to foster sustainable CSA initiatives; and 3) bolster strategies were used to tackle gender issues, in- research geared at producing national-level rec- cluding: prioritizing co-ed farmer groups to enable ommendations for CSA promotion. The project women to access productive resources through targeted multiple beneficiaries, including women these programs; setting targets for equal numbers and men farmers, Uganda’s government ministries, of men and women to partake in trainings; pro- district-level government, community-based orga- moting climate-smart technologies that reduce nizations and civil society organizations, private workload for women and increase productivity sector actors, primary schools, and researchers. and allow women to have additional income, such The project identified several gender-based con- as from selling their own crops; and encourag- straints, such as: inequitable access to productive ing newly formed farmer cooperatives to include resources(e.g., land, tools, seeds, information/ women in leadership roles and “treat them equal- knowledge), especially for women, which limits ly” (with equal explained as giving them “equal their engagement; women engaged at the low- opportunity to get what men get, do what men est level of the production chain, and very few do, learn what men learn, and sell their products at participating in the marketing of produce; more same prices as men”). men involved in decision-making in the value As a result of the project, 212 women and 270 men chain than women; women carrying out most of became CSA farmer champions, 1,500 hectares of the work load; inadequate knowledge across ac- land used CSA and sustainable land management tors about the role and contribution of women in practices, another 1,500 hectares are under CSA by development; and low interest and engagement of those who have learned from project beneficiaries, youth in agriculture. 100,000 agroforestry trees were planted, and the The project found that women’s lack of access to average maize and bean crop yield has tripled in productive resources relegated them to subsis- project sites. tence production, constraining the surpluses they

Source: Stephen Muwaya, Presentation on CSA Pilot Project in Eastern Uganda, COP 13 Gender Day, Ordos, China (2017).

Syria: In response to the crisis in Syria, programming Seventy-five per cent of these households were head- has aimed to restore livelihoods, improve food security ed by women. As a result of this initiative, reasonably and create jobs, particularly for women-headed priced dairy products were more available at local households. Specifically, the Dar Al Salam Food markets. This benefitted 3,000 people, 60 per cent of Processing Initiative created a dairy farm and process- which are women.127 ing unit and has employment beneficiary households.

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 26 Ensuring women’s participation also exclude women tasked with care duties. When women do partake meaningfully in land governance in land governance and decision- structure, their interests and rights are more likely to be making recognized and the community as a whole to benefit. Gender-sensitive, community-led Peru: Peru recognizes the autonomy and property sustainable natural resource and land rights of indigenous and peasant communities who in management turn set their own rules of membership, participation and decision-making. In the Sierra region women are Jordan: An agricultural resource management project, generally excluded from leadership and participation Mainstreaming Sustainable Land Management (SLM) in such governance structures, often because they Practices, 2010-2015, focused on building local and are not considered as qualified community members. national capacities and improving income-generating While rules over who is a community member vary, activities, especially for women. The strategy to im- they can require that the person be the head of the prove the quality of life of rural communities affected household (typically men) or allow only one vote by land degradation consisted of: 1) gender-sensitive per family (which the man typically makes without empowerment of communities; 2) supporting SLM necessarily consulting female household members). best practices at the local level; and 3) embedding SLM While many men have migrated for work, they remain best practices into local and national frameworks. The the family representative, despite women taking up project evaluation found overall successful restoration family and farm work, leading to the breakdown of and rehabilitation with critical uptake of agroecosys- the governance systems. A local network of nongov- tem restoration and reduced erosion; climate change ernmental organizations led by Servicios Educativos adaptation and mitigation; and improved biodiversity. Rurales (Rural Educational Services) helped facilitate Socio-economic impacts included reliable water supply, targeted interventions in two communities to sup- increased productivity and community empowerment, port women’s participation in community governance especially of women. Community Action Plans, driven of communal land. by local people, were the sole mechanism for allocat- The intervention included capacity development train- ing resources to farm and community investments. ing for the indigenous and rural women on gender The elected “local community committees” were equality and land rights, leadership and negotiations encouraged to ensure representation of all targeted skills; arranged for experiences exchanges between community members, with representation of women. rural women leaders at the local, national and regional Other targeted efforts to engage women included level; advised and prepared women ahead of participa- participation in training and entrepreneurship (i.e., tion in land governance meetings; increased community income-generating activities and credit). 128 awareness about the importance of women’s engage- ment; encouraged modification of community laws to Women’s equal and meaningful uphold women’s right to participate in decision-making participation in land governance and hold land rights; and helped communities to de- velop proposals for funding from local government. As Land, particularly community-based/collectively-held a result of the intervention, six communities success- land, is typically governed by male-dominated systems fully amended their laws to mandate women’s right and structures. While some laws—for example in of participation and decision-making, certifying both Tanzania and Kyrgyzstan—require a quota of women men and women as qualified community members participants, meaningful engagement entails more and discarding outmoded notions of head of house- than mere presence. It requires knowledge and un- hold (which previously only counted widows and single derstanding of the issues, confidence, skills and an mothers). Women were elected to leadership positions enabling environment of respect to express views safe- on communities’ boards in 75 per cent of project target ly. The timing, place and format of the meetings might

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 27 communities, including one community in which the and water management). Additionally, the programme president is a woman and four communities in which created and bolstered a “Network of Locally Elected USD 1.7 million). The programme pursued a gender participation of women’s organizations. Such or- the vice president is a woman.129 Women” as a means to boost their capacity and their approach140 and provided rural women a means for ganizations “have proposed social projects with role in decision-making processes.132 accessing markets, entering the economy and en- gender-equal practices that benefit vulnerable Senegal: In 2014, Senegal launched a national multi- hancing economic independence, enabling more (poor) groups in communities.”142 Additionally, the stakeholder platform on the Voluntary Guidelines Tunisia: In rural areas of Tunisia, the Rural Water equitable futures.141 programme has trained over 2,000 male and female on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Governance Programme improved access to safe drink- leaders of citizen power cabinets, spanning 153 mu- Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National ing water for 18,500 people—over half of whom were Further, under the NHDP, “Direct Democracy for nicipalities.143 This type of initiatives appear to have Food Security, using it as a tool for incorporating the women. It restored and upgraded 14 drinking water Municipal Planning” is a crosscutting program that had a positive influence in empowering women’s Voluntary Guidelines into the National Tenure Reform networks. Women were trained and actively involved in works to share the responsibility for municipal equal and meaningful public participation. As of Commission. The platform provides a vehicle for mul- 14 water users’ associations.133 planning and development amongst municipal and December 2017, Nicaragua ranked fourth globally in tiple stakeholders at multiple levels of governance regional government and the citizenry. Significantly, Mali: A World Bank’s Natural Resource Management terms of women’s representation in parliament.144 to engage in participatory dialogue.130 With targeted citizen power cabinets have included the direct Project focused on gender mainstreaming ensured capacity development activities, non-state actors have the entire project staff was equipped to address been able to participate in the platform and to access gender issues in day-to-day operations, particularly state actors, which has been important in enabling the in skills-development, decision-making and manage- inclusion of women.131 ment aims. The development of the project included Morocco: The Programme Oasis Sud spent 25 to 26 per consultation with local women and women’s groups cent of its total budget to advance women’s empower- and ensured implementation of women’s input via a ment (and other activities included local development “women’s veto right.” 134 planning, livelihoods enhancement, sustainable land

Nicaragua: Strong Laws, Gender-Responsive Land Rights, Access to Market and Governance Nicaragua’s National Human Development Plan potential to enable improvements in people’s (NHDP) aimed to simultaneously spur economic quality of life.137 At the passage of the law, it was es- growth, increase jobs, decrease inequality and timated that there were a little over a million rural reduce poverty. From 2007 to 2010, the NHDP de- women in Nicaragua, most of whom did not own creased inequality as measured by improvements land. The law, if implemented, could help rectify in living conditions, especially among groups gender inequality in land ownership and control138 suffering from poverty. The NHDP had a focus on that are key for sustainable land management and secure land and property rights. The government efforts to reach land degradation neutrality. has designed strong legal frameworks and is Redistributive government policies have contribut- “implementing a nationwide property regulariza- ed to such results.139 For example, the government’s tion plan to contribute to comprehensive property Food Production Program, also known as the “Zero titling.”135 This included “[t]itling of land for rural Hunger” Program, has been highly successful women and titling of properties to female heads in quickly fulfilling the food needs of rural poor of families.”136 Moreover, Nicaragua’s Law No. 717 families. The programme helped capitalize women (2010) created a gender equity fund for purchasing by issuing a Food Production Bond in their name. land for rural women, creating a means for women From 2007 to 2010, the programme organized to enjoy physical possession and legal ownership nearly 60,000 women, had a goal to capitalize over land. It provides the legal framework for 84,000 families, and by 2010 enabled programme families to access finances, with female heads of beneficiaries to save C$51.9 million (approximately household enjoying a priority. This law has the

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 28 and water management). Additionally, the programme created and bolstered a “Network of Locally Elected USD 1.7 million). The programme pursued a gender participation of women’s organizations. Such or- Women” as a means to boost their capacity and their approach140 and provided rural women a means for ganizations “have proposed social projects with role in decision-making processes.132 accessing markets, entering the economy and en- gender-equal practices that benefit vulnerable hancing economic independence, enabling more (poor) groups in communities.”142 Additionally, the Tunisia: In rural areas of Tunisia, the Rural Water equitable futures.141 programme has trained over 2,000 male and female Governance Programme improved access to safe drink- leaders of citizen power cabinets, spanning 153 mu- ing water for 18,500 people—over half of whom were Further, under the NHDP, “Direct Democracy for nicipalities.143 This type of initiatives appear to have women. It restored and upgraded 14 drinking water Municipal Planning” is a crosscutting program that had a positive influence in empowering women’s networks. Women were trained and actively involved in works to share the responsibility for municipal equal and meaningful public participation. As of 14 water users’ associations.133 planning and development amongst municipal and December 2017, Nicaragua ranked fourth globally in regional government and the citizenry. Significantly, Mali: A World Bank’s Natural Resource Management terms of women’s representation in parliament.144 citizen power cabinets have included the direct Project focused on gender mainstreaming ensured the entire project staff was equipped to address gender issues in day-to-day operations, particularly in skills-development, decision-making and manage- ment aims. The development of the project included Closing the Gender Data Gap enable them to respond to rural women’s concerns and consultation with local women and women’s groups provide more accurate information to inform policy and ensured implementation of women’s input via a Collecting gender-sensitive and sex- and implementation reform.145 “women’s veto right.” 134 disaggregated data to better inform Guyana: The Government of Guyana increased aware- programmes and policies ness and facilitated the participation of women in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan: UN Women provided UNCCD implementation initiatives.146 The government extensive training to government staff and civil society participated in UNCCD’s global LDN Target Setting Nicaragua: Strong Laws, Gender-Responsive Land Rights, Access to Market and groups to improve gender sensitivity and enhance un- Program to stop land degradation through establish- 147 Governance derstanding about laws governing land rights. Capacity ing targets for managing land degradation. The Nicaragua’s National Human Development Plan potential to enable improvements in people’s development activities targeted local government. programme activities include a National Survey to (NHDP) aimed to simultaneously spur economic quality of life.137 At the passage of the law, it was es- Heads of village councils heard directly from women identify land degradation hot spots with participation growth, increase jobs, decrease inequality and timated that there were a little over a million rural about women’s land rights violations they faced and from over 205 men and 241 women, identifying and reduce poverty. From 2007 to 2010, the NHDP de- women in Nicaragua, most of whom did not own about laws relevant to women’s inheritance and land. addressing issues arising at the intersection of gender creased inequality as measured by improvements land. The law, if implemented, could help rectify Village and district-level land specialists were further and land use and land management and engaging in 148 in living conditions, especially among groups gender inequality in land ownership and control138 trained on gender-sensitive data collection to better gender-responsive monitoring and reporting. suffering from poverty. The NHDP had a focus on that are key for sustainable land management and secure land and property rights. The government efforts to reach land degradation neutrality. has designed strong legal frameworks and is Redistributive government policies have contribut- “implementing a nationwide property regulariza- ed to such results.139 For example, the government’s tion plan to contribute to comprehensive property Food Production Program, also known as the “Zero titling.”135 This included “[t]itling of land for rural Hunger” Program, has been highly successful women and titling of properties to female heads in quickly fulfilling the food needs of rural poor of families.”136 Moreover, Nicaragua’s Law No. 717 families. The programme helped capitalize women (2010) created a gender equity fund for purchasing by issuing a Food Production Bond in their name. land for rural women, creating a means for women From 2007 to 2010, the programme organized to enjoy physical possession and legal ownership nearly 60,000 women, had a goal to capitalize over land. It provides the legal framework for 84,000 families, and by 2010 enabled programme families to access finances, with female heads of beneficiaries to save C$51.9 million (approximately household enjoying a priority. This law has the

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 29 INTEGRATION OF A GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN THE OTHER RIO CONVENTIONS: LEARNINGS AND SYNERIES

While the UNCCD is the only of the three Rio Conventions that contains gender concerns in the Convention text itself,149 the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have made important gains towards integrating gender perspectives and including women into their implementation processes. Perhaps because these conventions lacked gender-sensitive language, advocates have demon- strated innovative entry points and coordinated advocacy.

UN Framework Convention on An FAO analysis of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), which, Climate Change (UNFCCC) under the Paris Agreement of December 2015, Women’s rights organizations and their allies have will guide country-level action on climate successfully introduced gender equality and human change in the coming years, shows that in rights approaches to the UNFCCC, a convention all regions agriculture will play a pivotal role which lacks textual foundation for either. Given the in accomplishing the goals related to climate prominence and urgency of climate change in public change by 2030. Of the 188 countries that sub- discourse, civil society mobilized for effective engage- mitted INDCs, more than 90 per cent included ment. Established in 2009, the Women and Gender agriculture as a sector considered for mitiga- Constituency (WGC) is one of the nine official stake- tion and adaptation initiatives…With regard to holder groups of the UNFCCC. Together with other gender equality, agriculture is highlighted as a women’s organizations, including networks compris- sector which — more than any other — pro- ing civil society organizations representing the Global vides diverse opportunities for empowering South and Global North, the WGC works to ensure women as well as reducing their vulnerability that women’s voices and their rights are embedded to climate change. in the work and outcomes of the UNFCCC.”150 This — FAO, The State of Food and Agriculture, Climate advocacy was later on supported by Parties, promi- Change, Agriculture and Food Security (2016). nent figures and UN system entities, including the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC secretariat, all of which helped ensure that gender equality and wom- en’s human rights became central to the ongoing

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 30 discussions. The engagement of Parties was critical To date, despite calls for setting up a gender-focused in bringing gender issues in the frontline of key pri- UNCCD constituency, such as a UNCCD Women Major orities of the UNFCCC, which led to the adoption of Group,152 coordinated efforts around gender perspec- gender-specific decisions and the reflection of gender tives and UNCCD need greater attention and visibility. perspectives in UNFCCC decisions regarding adapta- tion, finance, technology development and transfer, capacity-building and loss and damage, and other Convention on Biological Diversity relevant issues. (CBD) All these constituencies and voices elevated the pro- Despite a solitary mention of women’s vital role in file of and made a strong case for the consideration conservation and the need for their participation in of gender equality, women’s rights and women’s em- its preamble,153 CBD has adopted and implemented powerment in climate action. Research and analysis, gender plans of action since 2008. The current Gender case studies, data, tools and methodologies were Plan of Action 2015-2020 tackles gender mainstream- developed, published and presented to show gender- ing through proposals by Parties (for which the Plan specific impacts of climate change and women’s outlines specific possible actions) and integration of leadership in climate action. The adoption of the a gender perspective framework by its secretariat.154 “Doha Miracle” – the decision on improving women’s A 2016 IUCN assessment of Gender Action Plan imple- participation in the UNFCCC process (Decision 18/ mentation in 254 National Biodiversity Strategies and CP.23) which formally included gender and climate Action Plans (NBSAPs) from 174 countries submitted change as a COP agenda item – has allowed the con- between 1993 and May 2016 found that only slightly sideration of gender equality at the annual COPs and more than half (56 per cent) of plans contained refer- at their subsidiary meetings. By having a dedicated ence to “gender” and/or “women” with overall limited agenda item, the consideration of gender equality consideration of women and gender issues. Also, al- and women’s rights has advanced at the UNFCCC far though many countries flagged the importance of ahead of the two sister Conventions. In 2014, the Lima women as stakeholders, few specified the measures Work Programme on Gender was adopted, and in needed to support women’s engagement.155 Of the 2015, at COP 21, the Paris Agreement became the first 17 per cent of countries that raised women’s vulner- climate agreement to recognize gender equality and ability to climate change, their plans largely failed to women’s empowerment as critical to climate action. account for gender-differentiated resource use and In November 2017, Parties of the UNFCCC adopted a management. A mere 4 per cent of countries charac- gender action plan to ensure an effective implemen- terized women as agents of change.156 Yet progress tation of the decisions in all work areas of the UNFCCC has been encouraging when more recent NBSAPs (5th with gender-related mandates. National reports, 2014-2016) were analysed and 67 per The most recent decision—Decision 21/CP.22 on gen- cent countries included at least one reference to “gen- der and climate change —illustrates effective merging der” and/or “women”, and over a third (34 per cent) of political will with concrete action points for all included activities for women or addressed gender stakeholders including the UNFCCC secretariat, sub- issues.157 The Gender-Responsive NBSAPs Pilot Project, sidiary and constituted bodies, the Parties, UN system launched in 2016 with funding from the Government entities and civil society organizations. The decision, of Japan, seeks to develop the capacity of developing following the mandate of the Lima Work Programme, country Parties to integrate gender considerations also calls on Parties to equip female and male del- into their NBSAPs, conduct global analysis of gender egates with technical understanding on gender and integration in the NBSAPs and support three pilot climate change as well as with skills and capacity to country initiatives – in Brazil, Mexico and Uganda – participate effectively in UNFCCC meetings.151 to foster gender integration in the process of NBSAP revision.158 In addition to systemic gender integration review in national plans, the CBD has also produced

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 31 guidelines to support countries to mainstream gender specifically mention gender mainstreaming, 161 its activities in the Development and Implementation of publication on gender in the Rio Conventions prepared Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans159 and within for RIO+20 outlines important areas for individual national biodiversity planning processes (NBSAPs). and cross-convention gender mainstreaming.162 The These guidelines present the background and legal potential for leveraging the inter-related knowledge, framework for gender mainstreaming in NBSAPs and solutions and advocacy platforms of the three Rio suggest step-by-step guidance.160 conventions is immense. It could include: (i) bringing the gender and environment groups and constituen- cies to work jointly across the Rio Conventions; (ii) Cross-coordination potential combining gender responsiveness and skills trainings The Joint Liaison Group (JLG), made up of the Executive for secretariat staff and delegates; (iii) streamlining Secretaries of the CBD, UNCCD and UNFCCC, aims to en- overlapping mandates for ease of gender integration hance coordination among the three Rio Conventions and reporting in national plans and programmes; and and explore options for further cooperation. While (iv) identifying points of leverage for effective imple- currently JLG’s key areas of thematic synergy do not mentation across the conventions.

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 32 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

This section outlines select pragmatic policy recommendations to guide Parties, the UNCCD Secretariat and its implementing entities, including UN agencies, inter-governmental organi- zations, regional organizations, financial mechanisms (e.g., GEF, GCF) and civil society actors in systematically integrating a gender perspective into efforts to implement the UNCCD and address land degradation. This preliminary guidance reflects key elements discussed above as critical to gender mainstreaming in policies and actions to combat desertification and land degradation, namely: gender roles and perspectives; laws and practices; equal access, use and control over land and natural resources; gender-sensitive resilience and implementation strategies; and closing the gender data gap.

Integrate a gender perspective participate effectively in UNCCD meetings, includ- ing negotiation skills, legal drafting and strategic and increase women’s full and communications. meaningful participation • Incorporate assessments of how gender inequal- Parties, UNCCD Secretariat and ity and its impacts are addressed in LDN and DLDD implementing entities: implementation plans. • Disseminate and build national-level capacity, in- • Ensure representation of women in Sustainable Land cluding by UNCCD focal point ministry staff, about Management (SLM) and DLDD policymaking and integrating the 2017 UNCCD Gender Plan of Action, finance strategies, including of women delegates, including greater emphasis on working with and women’s rights groups and experts, and women through women’s organizations. from affected countries. • Include measures and policies on gender equality • Conduct gender sensitization training for key techni- and DLDD into reporting to regional and interna- cal and management staff, particularly those who are tional bodies, such as under the Convention on the engaged in implementing the land conservation/soil Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against management policies at the local and national levels. Women, to feature and elevate such gender equality- • Condition funding for LDN programmes (including promoting efforts. through the new LDN Fund) and UNCCD-related funding initiatives on integration of a gender per- UNCCD Secretariat: spective in implementation and ensuring outcomes • Adopt a gender-responsive human rights-based that promote gender equality and women’s and girls’ approach to UNCCD implementation strategies, empowerment. workplans, frameworks and financing mechanisms, Parties: focusing on women and men as rights holders and accounting for gender dimensions of unpaid care • Equip female and male delegates with technical and domestic work and political power. know-how on gender perspectives and SLM, LDN and DLDD, as well as with the skills and capacity to

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 33 • Develop concrete, practical guidance protocols, tools UNCCD Secretariat and implementing and policy guidance, and provide supplementary, entities: on-going technical support on integrating gender is- sues into UNCCD implementation, including uptake • Address systematically gender issues among deliver- and application of the 2017 UNCCD Gender Plan of ables in financing and partnerships. Action, and design of transformative LDN projects, operationalizing the drought and sand and dust Equalizing access, use and control storms initiatives. over land and natural resources • Develop, in conjunction with other UNCCD entities and stakeholders, gender-specific reporting, monitor- UNCCD Secretariat, Parties and ing, and evaluation frameworks and tools to capture implementing entities: and analyze such information. • Equip rural and indigenous women with skills and • Coordinate with other Rio Convention mechanisms, new technologies to conserve and manage their including through the Joint Liaison Group, to or- land and related resources. Provide a scholarship ganize joint gender training for Rio Convention programme for skills development for rural and in- focal points and other relevant decision-makers and digenous women to encourage more participation of implementers, and develop cross-cutting tools to women in land management and agriculture. respond to implementation and impact needs of the three interrelated conventions. Parties: • Ensure rural women receive land documents and Robust and enforced legal technical solutions, financial services, subsidized frameworks equipment and access to free basic energy for house- hold consumption and production use, including for Parties: agriculture and small-scale enterprises. • Review laws, policies and practices, including by com- • Mandate and facilitate women’s equal and meaning- munities and officials, to identify and address direct ful participation and leadership in land and natural and indirect gender-based discrimination. resource governance, decision-making and in conflict resolution mechanisms addressing land and natural • Issue clear guidelines and directives to government resource disputes. agencies, local authorities and justice institutions to ensure gender-equal implementation in effect, and • Monitor large-scale land-based investments to require sex-disaggregated data on implementation ensure gender-responsive, socially-responsible con- of programmes and services. sultation and consent by indigenous peoples and communities. • Allocate funds and conduct outreach to increase wom- en’s and communities’ legal literacy about land rights. Gender-sensitive resilience and Civil society: implementation strategies • Advocate, monitor and point out gaps in law and implementation; advise on reforms based on Parties, UNCCD Secretariat and consultation with affected women; and provide implementing entities: legal literacy and support and advice to women and • Promote rural and indigenous women’s roles, knowl- communities. edge and agency in addressing desertification and preventing and reversing land degradation.Mandate consultations with rural and indigenous women,

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 34 women’s organizations and other concerned civil Closing the gender data gap society groups, as well as academics, researchers and practitioners in designing sustainable land manage- towards evidence-based responses: ment, land rehabilitation, land restoration and water Gender-responsive data collection, management projects and programmes. monitoring, review and reporting • Require a gender impact assessment of UNCCD- Parties, UNCCD Secretariat and mandated National, Regional and Sub-regional Action Plans and ensure that such plans include implementing entities: measures on strengthening women’s land and re- More accurate data collection: source rights. • Ensure data collection that is sex-disaggregated • Develop and disseminate, including through training and gender-sensitive per UNCCD implementation, of UNCCD Secretariat staff and nationally designated including the LDN programme and SDGs indicators authorities, technical guides and tools on integrat- (integrating Indicators 1.4.2, 5.a.1, 5.a.2 and 15.3.1). ing gender-responsiveness in LDN and DLDD plans, programmes and interventions and on reporting and • Fund and conduct larger-scale, longitudinal, com- monitoring progress and impact. parative or multi-country quantitative studies to bolster the evidence base on varying responses of • Through COP action, establish formal gender expert gender-based design interventions to address land groups/mechanisms (possibly modeled on UNFCCC degradation, their impact and outcomes, to compare Women and Gender Constituency) for systematic their effectiveness to reduce vulnerability and en- engagement on integration of a gender perspective hance adaptive capacity across regions. into UNCCD implementation; review procedures to ensure participation of women’s organizations. • Develop gender targets and approaches for training and skill development to support greater access to • Strengthen cross-cooperation and knowledge shar- technology and skills for women to address DLDD; ing among the three Rio Conventions and their collect sex-disaggregated information, including secretariats and JLG. through participatory monitoring by affected wom- • Develop strategic partnerships with civil society en, on policy impact; and monitor effects of gender organizations engaged in the other Rio Conventions, mainstreaming policies to flag policy and program- including through JLG facilitation and with academic matic shortfalls for course correction. institutions and UN Women. • Incorporate gender indicators and disaggregation requirements into all relevant elements of UNCCD Parties: reporting to strengthen the ability, including of the • Bolster and resource rural livelihood schemes to Science Policy Interface (SPI), to use gender data teach and incentivize sustainable land use man- analysis to inform science–policy knowledge and 163 agement, soil conservation and drought proofing advice on DLDD. through water harvesting, agroforestry and other Review process: green economy measures that at the same time strive to empower rural women. • Review the implementation reporting tools, includ- ing the Performance Review and Assessment of Implementation System (PRAIS), to ensure they contain specific requirements for Parties to report on progress on gender analysis, integration and impact; and supplement mandatory reporting requirement with practical, detailed guidance to Parties for con- sistent reporting on gender.164

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 35 • Ensure that the CRIC review process mandates by Parties and other stakeholders, and identify gender-related reviews and dedicates a thematic research gaps to generate evidence and lessons report and interactive session to gender equality from impact and resilience strategies for women and empowerment of women and girls in the con- affected by land degradation and desertification text of the implementation of the Convention to inform more effective programmes and poli- based on the qualitative information submitted by cies.166 Provide access to knowledge sources of Parties on the implementation framework of the partners in order to facilitate the dissemination UNCCD 2018–2030 Strategic Framework.165 of relevant knowledge to all stakeholders. 167

• Ensure that the SPI synthesis report to COP 14 • Task specific entity with mandate to collect best contains sex-disaggregated data, gender-specific and promising practices on actual and poten- indicators and analysis to inform policy recom- tial SLM- and LDN-focused interventions and mendations on ways LDN implementation can policies and their impact on gender equality, the better enhance the well-being of both ecosystems role of and impact on women and link to the and people affected by land degradation (L.4). Management Knowledge Platform, such as the UN Environment Knowledge Repository, as well Reporting and research: as the UNCCD Knowledge Hub and new digital • Strengthen the Rio Convention Secretariats’ co- communication platform initiatives, such as the ordination and institute joint, periodic thematic UNCCD’s Global Land Outlook. reports on gender equality in the context of the • Draw on evidence base and emerging trends Conventions. Institute a financing mechanism to mobilize resources, better implement and to support reporting on gender-specific activities advocate for more effective, gender-responsive and outcomes. approaches to DLDD and environmental concerns. • Invest in compiling experiences, best and promis- ing practices related to implementation activities

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 36 APPENDIX 1: ACRONYMS

APF Advocacy Policy Framework

CBD Convention on Biological Diversity

CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

COP Conference of the Parties

CRIC Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention

DLDD Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought

ERPA External Relations, Policy and Advocacy

GCF Green Climate Fund

GEF Global Environment Facility

GM Global Mechanism

GPA Gender Plan of Action

INDCs Intended Nationally Determined Contributions

ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

IFAD International Fund for Agricultural Development

ILO International Labour Organization

JLG Joint Liaison Group

LDN Land Degradation Neutrality

NAPs National Action Programmes

NBSAPs National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans

PRAIS Performance Review and Assessment of the Implementation Strategy

RAPs Regional Action Programmes

SDGs Sustainable Development Goals

SDS Sand and Dust Storms

SLM Sustainable Land Management

SPI Science–Policy Interface

UNCCD United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

UNDRIP United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

UNFCCC UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

WGC Women and Gender Constituency

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 37 APPENDIX 2: SELECT REFERENCES

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towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 39 ENDNOTES

1 Global Environmental Facility, 5 Orr, B.J., and others (2017). 24 August 2017. “In addition to death of a partner or the dissolu- “Land Degradation.” Available Scientific Conceptual Framework providing 40% of the labor in tion of the relationship. Where from http://www.thegef. for Land Degradation Neutrality: crop production, rural women such legal frameworks do not org/topics/land-degradation A Report of the Science-Policy in Africa are almost exclusively exist, women may be exposed to Accessed 24 August 2017. Interface (Bonn, Germany) responsible for food processing economic risks when a cohabit- Landscape degradation, UNCCD, p. 73. Available from and preparation, child care, care ing relationship ends, including worsened by desertification http://www2.unccd.int/ of the sick and elderly, laundry, when they have contributed to and drought caused by climate sites/default/files/docu- gathering water and firewood maintaining a household and to change, affects an estimated ments/2017-08/LDN_CF_re- and cleaning the house. Any building other assets.” See e.g., 1.5 billion people: 42 per cent of port_web-english.pdf. programs that increase their In Rwanda, Landesa found that those who are very poor, and 32 6 Ibid. productivity, whether specifical- about one in three women in per cent of those who are mod- 7 Villamor, G., and others ly in crop production, agriculture Kayonza and Nygatare Districts erately poor (Agostini, P. and E. (2014). “Gender Differences more generally, or their house- are in informal unions and as Connor (2017). “Programmatic in Land-Use Decisions: hold labor, may have a positive such lack formal legal protections Approach to Land Degradation Shaping Multifunctional benefit on the welfare of these of their land and property rights. in Burundi,” paper presented Landscapes?” Current Opinion women and their families.” 16 Rights and Resources Initiative at the World Bank Land and in Environmental Sustainability, (Doss, Cheryl (2015) “Debunking (2017). Power and Potential: Poverty Conference, Washington vol. 6. (February). Available the Myth of Female Labor in A Comparative Analysis of DC, 20-23 March 20-23, p. 1). from http://www.sciencedi- African Agriculture”, 25 June. National Laws and Regulations Moderate or severe impacts of rect.com/science/article/pii/ Available from http://pim.cgiar. Concerning Women’s Rights drought alone affect a striking S1877343513001760#bib0045 org/2015/06/25/debunking- to Community Forests, p. 8. 52 per cent of agricultural land. Accessed 24 August 2017. the-myth-of-female-labor-in- Available from http://right- Note however that there is 8 BRAC & Landesa (2017). african-agriculture/. sandresources.org/en/publica- currently no standardized global Issue Brief: Land Tenure as 13 Aguilar, L., and others (2015). tion/power-and-potential/#. assessment and monitoring a Critical Consideration for Roots for the Future: The WZ8jEih97IU Accessed 24 system of land degradation and Climate Change-Related Landscape and Way Forward August 2017. estimates have ranged from Displacement in Slow-Onset on Gender and Climate Change 17 Salcedo-La Viña, C., and M. 15 per cent to 63 percent of all Disaster Zones (Hilton Prize (Washington, DC) IUCN and Morarji (2016). “Making land (See International Union Coalition). Available from http:// Global Gender and Climate Women’s Voices Count in for Conservation of Nature prizecoalition.charity.org/ Alliance, p. 32. Available from Community Decision-making (IUCN) (2015). Land Degradation wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ http://wedo.org/wp-content/ on Land Investments”, Working Neutrality: Implications and HPC_CollaborativeIssueBrief_ uploads/2015/12/Roots-for-the- Paper (Washington DC) World Opportunities for Conservation Landesa_BRAC_053117.pdf. future-final-1.pdf. Resources Institute, p. 13. (Nairobi). 9 International Labour 14 Mor, Tzili (2016). “Why Land is a 18 UN Women, “Facts and Figures. 2 United Nations Convention Organization (2016). Women Feminist Issue”, 8 September. Poverty and Hunger”. Available to Combat Desertification at Work: Trends 2016 (Geneva). Available from http://www. from http://www.unwomen. (UNCCD) (2016). Land Available from http://www.ilo. landcoalition.org/en/regions/ org/en/news/in-focus/ Degradation Neutrality: The org/wcmsp5/groups/public/-- global-including-europe/blog/ commission-on-the-status-of- Target Setting Programme -dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/ why-land-feminist-issue/ women-2012/facts-and-figures (2016). Available from documents/publication/ Accessed 24 August 2017. Accessed 24 August 2017. http://www.unccd.int/ wcms_457317.pdf Accessed 24 15 Gaps in legal protection further 19 “As of 2010, only 15% of land in Lists/SiteDocumentLibrary/ August 2017. deny land rights to women. For sub-Saharan Africa is man- Publications/4_2016_LDN_ 10 Agostini, P., and E. Connor. example, women in partner- aged by women. Rates are TS%20_ENG.pdf Accessed 24 “Programmatic Approach to Land ships not recognized as formal generally worse in Asia—only August 2017. Degradation in Burundi”, p. 1. marriages, such as long-term 13% of landholders in India are 3 UNCCD. Desertification, Land 11 Food and Agriculture cohabitating unions, may lack women, dropping to 11% in the Degradation & Drought Organization of the United legal protections. United Nations Philippines and 9% in Indonesia. (DLDD)–Some Global Facts Nations (FAO) (2016), The State Committee on the Elimination In Latin America, the situation is and Figures. Available from of Food and Agriculture, Climate of Discrimination Against slightly better—more than 25% http://www.unccd.int/Lists/ Change, Agriculture and Food Women (CEDAW) (2013). General of land managers are women in SiteDocumentLibrary/WDCD/ Security (Rome), p. 9. Available recommendation No. 29 at some Latin American countries, DLDD%20Facts.pdf Accessed 24 from http://www.fao.org/3/a- its fifty-fourth session. Article although some studies note August 2017. i6030e.pdf. 16-Economic consequences of continued disparities in access 4 See UNCCD (2017). The Global 12 World Food Programme, marriage, family relations and to land in parts of the region.” Land Outlook (Bonn, Germany). “Women and Hunger: 10 Facts”. their dissolution, CEDAW/C/ Global Gender and Climate Available from https://global- Available from https://www. GC/29, para 30: “Some States Alliance (GGCA) (2016), land-outlook.squarespace.com/ wfp.org/ou(2017)r-work/pre- provide a legal framework for Gender and Climate Change: the-outlook/#the-bokk; IUCN, venting-hunger/focus-women/ recognizing de facto unions at A Closer Look at Existing Land Degradation Neutrality, p. 2. women-hunger-facts Accessed some point, such as upon the Evidence, p. 10. Available from

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 40 http://gender-climate.org/wp- • In South Africa, female and maintain services…. At city level, to conserve the land and to en- content/uploads/2014/10/GGCA- male household heads own where women’s participation sure its long-term productivity. RP-110616.pdf. assets at similar rates, while was either very low or non- 37 Ibid. 20 Note however that there is no women who are not household existent, many of the committees 38 IUCN p. 3. Land data is generally systematically collected data on heads are substantially less have stopped functioning. City lacking. For example, there is women’s land rights or access likely to own assets than male Steering Committee meetings currently no standardized global to land. or female heads. with zero women participants assessment and monitoring 21 Landesa (2017), Women’s Land: • In Senegal and Benin, men are no longer taking place. … system of land degradation and Closing the Gender Gap in largely control the use of house- When projects not only support estimates have ranged from 15 Sub-Saharan Africa, Infographic. hold productive resources (such the participation of women but per cent to 63 per cent of all land. Available from https://www. as donkey carts and labor). As also enable them to be involved 39 Landesa, “Land & Gender”, Land landesa.org/resources/wlr-africa/ a result, women’s fields are meaningfully in decision-making, Portal. Accessed 24 August 2017. planted last, such that their development outcomes are im- 40 UNCCD, Land Degradation 22 BRAC & Landesa (2017), Issue crops are often not harvested proved. This may be linked to the Neutrality, Target 15.3: By 2020, Brief: Land Tenure as a Critical until well into the rainy season, fact that the planning and imple- combat desertification, restore Consideration for Climate when they are more susceptible mentation of activities tradition- degraded land and soil, including Change-Related Displacement in to failure from dry spells. ally associated with women’s land affected by desertification, Slow-Onset Disaster Zones (Hilton • In Ghana, women are less likely roles (including access to water, drought and floods, and strive Prize Coalition). Available from to have access to important healthcare, education) are more to achieve a land-degradation http://prizecoalition.charity.org/ resources, such as fertilizer or effective if women are fully neutral world. wp-content/uploads/2017/05/ insecticides, to adapt to rainfall involved and their knowledge is 41 Goal 1 on ending poverty stands HPC_CollaborativeIssueBrief_ variability. recognized.” In Peru, “women’s to generate comprehensive, Landesa_BRAC_053117.pdf. • In Kenya, female farmers are participation in decision-making systemic evidence of both state- 23 Meinzen-Dick, Ruth, and others substantially more likely to contributed to project sustain- documented land rights and (2017). “Women’s land rights as a manually till fields, rather than ability, including invoking more beneficiaries’ perceptions of their pathway to poverty reduction: A use animals or tractors” (GGCA, detailed analyses, more effective land tenure security (Indicator framework and review of avail- Gender and Climate Change). committee functioning, access 1.4.2). Indicator 1.4.2: Proportion able evidence,” IFPRI Discussion 27 FAO (2016). The State of Food to potable water and the uptake of total adult population with Paper 1663 (International Food and Agriculture, Climate Change, of community-based adaptation secure tenure rights to land, with Policy Research Institute). Agriculture and Food Security, techniques.” Ibid., p. 11. legally recognized documenta- Available from http://ebrary. p. xv. 32 Women head or chair councils in tion and who perceive their rights ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/ 28 Villamor, G., and others (2014). only 0.2 per cent in Bangladesh to land as secure, by sex and by p15738coll2/id/131359. “Gender Differences in Land-Use and 7 per cent in Cambodia type of tenure. Indicator 5.a.1: (a) 24 Ibid. Decisions”, p. 128. (Landesa, “Land & Gender”, Land Proportion of total agricultural 25 Ibid. Note that the study found 29 Ibid., p. 130, citing Assé, R., and Portal. Available from http:// population with ownership or “a high level of agreement, but J.P. Lassoie (2011). “Household landportal.info/book/thematic/ secure rights over agricultural weaker evidence on the relation- Decision-making in Agroforestry land-and-gender Accessed 24 land, by sex; and (b) share of ship between WLR and natural Parklands of Sudano-Sahelian August 2017. women among owners or rights- resource management, govern- Mali,” Agroforest Syst, vol. 82. 33 Ibid. bearers of agricultural land, type ment services and institutions, 30 Mwangi, Esther, and others 34 A 2014 study in 21 provinces in of tenure; 5.a.2: Proportion of empowerment and domestic vio- (2011). “Gender and Sustainable China found that 18 per cent of countries where the legal frame- lence, resilience and HIV risk and Forest Management in East married rural women lack docu- work (including customary law) consumption and food security,” Africa and Latin America,” mented rights in both their pa- guarantees women’s equal rights and called for more empirical Ecology and Society, vol. 16, rental village and their husband’s to land ownership and/or control. studies on these links. No. 1, p. 17; Mullaney, E.G. village. If the government or 42 Note that “Although some earlier 26 “Lack of access to cash and credit (2012). “Countertopographies investors take or convert the land, literature suggests that part of is in turn reflected in gendered of Agriculture, Gender, Food women who lack property rights the problem facing advocates of disparities in the ability to access Production, and Development within their communities stand gender mainstreaming is a lack of tools, seeds and fertilizer to help in a Globalizing World,” to lose everything and receive no sufficient gender-disaggregated adapt to climate disruptions. For Consilience: The Journal of compensation (Huiying, Li (2016). data on climate change issues, example: A cross-national study Sustainable Development, vol. 8, “Rural Land Rights Certificates this is becoming less of a problem examining India, Ghana, Uganda No. 1, pp. 101-114. Should Safeguard Women’s as more organizations recognize and Ecuador notes that women 31 Kratzer, Sebastian, and Virginie Le Legal Interests: Expert.” 22 April. the importance of gender and farmers are less likely than men Masson (2016). 10 Things to Know: Available from http://www.wom- climate linkages and changing to have access to small agricul- Gender Equality and Achieving enofchina.cn/womenofchina/ their data collection practices tural tools. Climate Goals. Available from html1/opinion/1604/1578-1.htm accordingly, allowing for the • Baseline data from a series https://policy.practicalaction. Accessed 24 August 2017. development of many … publica- of asset-building projects in org/component/dspace/item/10- 35 Ibid. tions.” (GGCA, Gender and Climate sub-Saharan Africa and Asia things-to-know-gender-equality- 36 Ibid. Without effective legal con- Change, p. 5). suggest that while men tend and-achieving-climate-goals trol over the land they farm or the 43 UNCCD Secretariat (2017). to claim sole ownership of Accessed 24 August 2017. “In proceeds of their labor, women Advocacy Policy Frameworks: more agricultural assets than India, the equal participation and often lack the incentive, security, Gender, Drought and Sand and women, many household leadership of women improved opportunity or authority to make Dust Storms, ICCD/COP(13)/19. assets are jointly owned by the sustainability of activities adaptation decisions about ways Available from http://www2. women and men. and institutions supposed to unccd.int/sites/default/files/

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 41 sessions/documents/2017-08/ development” and in, particular, upon the principle of mutual territories and resources that ICCD_COP%2813%29_19-1711042E. women’s right to “equal treat- benefit.” they possess . . .” Further, it calls pdf. “The Scientific Conceptual ment in land and agrarian 49 CEDAW, Article 5(a): States on States to legally recognize Framework for Land Degradation reform.” Article 15(2) mandates Parties shall take all appropriate and protect these rights. Article Neutrality states that the driv- equal rights to women “to admin- measures: (a) To modify the social 44 equally guarantees to all ers of land degradation are not ister property,” and Article 16(1) and cultural patterns of conduct individual indigenous men and gender neutral. It stresses that (h) extends equal rights to “both of men and women, with a view women all the rights recognized poverty is both a root cause and spouses in respect of the owner- to achieving the elimination of in UNDRIP. a consequence of land degrada- ship, acquisition, management, prejudices and customary and all 52 Under the 1995 Beijing Platform tion, with gender inequality administration, enjoyment and other practices which are based for Action, governments pledged playing a significant role in the disposition of property,” which is on the idea of the inferiority or to remove legal and custom- process, worsening the impacts interpreted to include land. the superiority of either of the ary obstacles and cement in on women.” 47 See e.g., equality (ICESCR Arts. 2.2, sexes or on stereotyped roles law “women’s equal access to 44 Orr, B.J., and others, Scientific 3), adequate standard of living for men and women. See also, economic resources, including Conceptual Framework for Land (ICESCR Art. 11.1), housing (ICESCR General recommendation No. land … as a means to further the Degradation Neutrality, p. 74. Art. 11.1), food security (ICESCR 28 (47th sess., 2010), The Core advancement and empower- 45 The Universal Declaration of Art. 11.2), education (ICESCR Obligations of States Parties ment of women and girls.” Beijing Human Rights (UDHR) (article Art. 13), and health (ICESCR under Article 2 of the Convention Declaration and Platform for 2) establishes the principle of Art. 12.1). CEDAW’s General on the Elimination of All Forms of Action. UN. The Fourth World non-discrimination based on Recommendation 21 clarifies Discrimination against Women, Conference on Women. 1995. sex, among other distinctions, that “[t]he right to own, manage, para. 31 (“States parties have an para. 35. http://www.un.org/ in the enjoyment of UDHR- enjoy and dispose of property is obligation to take steps to modify womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/ guaranteed rights, including central to a woman’s right to en- or abolish existing laws, regula- BDPfA%20E.pdf. to property. The International joy financial independence, and tions, customs and practices 53 See UNCCD articles 4, 19; Covenant on Civil and Political in many countries will be critical which constitute discrimination Decisions 8/COP9, 9/COP10, Rights guarantees equality to her ability to earn a livelihood against women.”) . 9/COP11, 36/COP11, and 3/ between the sexes (article 3) and and to provide adequate housing 50 CEDAW, General COP12; UNCCD, Mandate on prohibits sex-based discrimina- and nutrition for herself and Recommendation No. 34 on the Gender. http://www.unccd.int/ tion (article 2). The International for her family.” CEDAW, General rights of rural women (2016), UN en/programmes/Thematic- Covenant on Economic, Social Recommendation No. 21 (13th Doc. CEDAW/C/GC/34, para. 5. Priorities/gender/Pages/ and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) sess., 1994) Equality in mar- “Globally, and with few excep- UNCCDMandateOnGender.aspx; (article 3) binds States Parties to riage and family relations, para. tions, on every gender and devel- Poulsen, L. (2003). COP 6 and work to “ensure the equal right 26; see also, CEDAW, General opment indicator for which data the Promotion of Women. IUCN. of men and women to the enjoy- recommendation No. 27 (47th are available, rural women fare https://portals.iucn.org/union/ ment of all economic, social and sess., 2010) Older women and worse than rural men and urban sites/union/files/doc/cop6_and_ cultural rights.” The Convention protection of their human rights, women and rural women dispro- the_promotion_of_women.pdf on the Elimination of All Forms of para. 48 (“Laws and practices that portionately experience poverty (“COP 6 and the Promotion of Discrimination against Women negatively affect older women’s and exclusion. They face systemic Women: How the gender dimen- requires States Parties to end de rights to housing, land and discrimination in accessing land sion could be elevated during the jure and de facto discrimination property should be abolished. and natural resources. They carry 6th Conference of the Parties for against women. Article 14 focuses States parties should also protect most of the unpaid work burden the UN Convention to Combat on rural women, requiring States older women against forced evic- due to stereotyped gender roles, Desertification and Drought Parties to “take all appropriate tions and homelessness); para. intra-household inequality, and thereby promote the role of measures to eliminate discrimi- 52 (“States parties must repeal and lack of infrastructure and women in the implementation of nation against women in rural all legislation that discriminates services, including with respect to UNCCD.”). areas in order to ensure, on a against older widows in respect food production and care work.” 54 UNCCD (2017). Overview of basis of equality of men and of property and inheritance, and 51 International Labour gender mainstreaming in the women, that they participate in protect them from land grab- Organization (ILO) Convention implementation of the conven- and benefit from rural develop- bing.”); It further stressed that “[i] concerning Indigenous and Tribal tion: 1998-2018. ICCD/COP(13)/ ment ....” Article 15 requires States n countries that are undergoing Peoples in Independent Countries CRP.1 (7 September) http://www2. Parties to grant women equal a programme of agrarian reform (No. 169) of 1989 recognizes the unccd.int/sites/default/files/ses- rights to administer property and or redistribution of land among ownership and possessory rights sions/documents/2017-09/ICCD_ to form contracts. Article 16 binds groups of different ethnic origins, “of the peoples concerned over COP%2813%29_CRP.1-1715571E.pdf States Parties to “take all ap- the right of women, regardless the lands which they tradition- 55 For guidance on human rights propriate measures to eliminate of marital status, to share such ally occupy.” The principle of in the implementation of discrimination against women in redistributed land on equal free, prior and informed consent the UNCCD, see e.g., UNCCD all matters relating to marriage terms with men should be care- allows these communities to Secretariat and UN Special and family relations.” fully observed.” CEDAW, General grant or withhold their consent Rapporteur on the Right to 46 UN Convention on the Recommendation No. 21, para. 27. to projects impacting their Food, Human Rights and Elimination of All Forms of 48 ICESCR, Article 11(2)(a). Article 1.2 lands. Adopted in 2007, the UN Desertification: Exploring the Discrimination against Women asserts the right of peoples to Declaration on the Rights of Complementarity of International (CEDAW), Article 14(2) instructs “freely dispose of their natural Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), in Human Rights Law and the States to facilitate equal partici- wealth and resources …based article 26, recognizes indigenous United Nations Convention pation in and “benefit from rural peoples’ rights to “the lands, to Combat Desertification

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 42 (2008), http://www.ohchr. accompanies the strategy to unccd.int/sites/default/files/ 77 Joint Liaison Group (2012): org/Documents/Issues/ implement the 2018-2030 sessions/documents/2017-11/co- CBD, UNCCD, & UNFCC. Rio ClimateChange/Submissions/ Strategy. The Summary reads: p21add1_eng.pdf Conventions: Actions on Gender, UNCCD.pdf. “… this document proposes a 69 COP (2017). Multi-Year Workplans p. 9. http://www.unccd.int/ 56 The need for women’s partici- gender plan of action to support of the Convention Institutions Lists/SiteDocumentLibrary/ pation is first expressed in the gender mainstreaming during and Subsidiary Bodies, Decision Publications/rio_20_gender_bro- Preamble to the Convention, implementation in the context of 1/COP.13 (15 September), Annex, chure.pdf. which stresses the critical role the future strategic framework Outcome 2.2, at http://www2. 78 COP (2017). Gender equality women—particularly rural wom- (2018–2030).” http://www2. unccd.int/sites/default/files/ and women’s empowerment en in affected regions—must play unccd.int/sites/default/files/ sessions/documents/2017-11/co- for the enhanced and effec- at all programmatic levels of the sessions/documents/2017-11/ p21add1_eng.pdf tive implementation of the UNCCD. UNCCD, http://www2. cop21add1_eng.pdf. It presents a 70 COP (2017). Multi-Year Convention, Decision 30/COP. 13 unccd.int/sites/default/files/ revised advocacy policy frame- Workplans of the Convention (15 September). For a summary relevant-links/2017-01/UNCCD_ work on drought, and proposes Institutions and Subsidiary of gender-related COP decisions, Convention_ENG_0.pdf. This an advocacy policy framework on Bodies, Decision 1/COP.13, Annex: please see UNCCD, Overview of principle is reinforced in Article 19 the emerging issue of sand and United Nations Convention to gender mainstreaming in the on the significance of capacity- dust storms. The report concludes Combat Desertification Results implementation of the conven- building, in which Parties are with recommendations for action Framework for 2018–2021, out- tion: 1998-2018, ICCD/COP(13)/ called upon to promote the full for consideration by Parties at the come indicator 2.2. CRP.1 (7 September). participation of women in local thirteenth session of the COP. 71 Comprehensive Multi-Year 79 COP (2017). Gender equality efforts to combat land degra- 64 COP (2017). The future strategic Workplan for the Convention and women’s empowerment dation. Article 19(1)(a). Gender framework of the Convention, (2018–2021) and Two-Year for the enhanced and effec- equality is somewhat addressed Decision 7/COP.13 (15 September), Costed Work Programme for the tive implementation of the in the obligations of Parties to at http://www2.unccd.int/ Convention (2018–2019) ICCD/ Convention, Decision 30/COP. 13 the Convention, as the partici- sites/default/files/sessions/ COP(13)/8-ICCD/CRIC(16)/2 (21 (15 September), para. 3. pation of women is also briefly documents/2017-09/ICCD_ June 2017), at http://www2. 80 Ibid., para. 4. mentioned in Article 5 obligations COP%2813%29_L.18-1716078E_0. unccd.int/sites/default/files/ses- 81 For example, the GPA states that of affected country Parties. There pdf. Notably, the prior Strategy sions/documents/2017-07/ICCD_ women in DLDD-affected regions is no reference to women in the (2008-2018) prioritized this as CRIC%2816%29_2-1710706E.pdf produce up to 60-80 per cent of Article 6 obligations of developed the first Strategic Objective (“to 72 Ibid. the food in developing countries. country Parties. improve the living conditions of 73 Ibid. However, more nuanced research 57 See e.g., Regional Implementation affected populations”), but failed 74 Ibid. UNCCD Secretariat has also on agricultural labor provided by Annex for Africa, art. 8(c). to reference the disproportionate produced important publications men and by women in various 58 Conference of the Parties (2017). effect that land degradation has promoting gender integration, activities, from land preparation Ordos Declaration, Decision 27/ on women, particularly poor rural including substantive policy to harvesting, found that women COP.13 (15 September), see in par- women in either of its Expected briefs, reports and factsheets on provide an average of 40 per cent ticular para. 12, at http://www2. Impacts. See Strategic Objective dryland women’s empowerment. of the agricultural labor hours unccd.int/sites/default/files/ 1, Ten-year strategic plan and See http://www2.unccd.int/ in crop production across the six sessions/documents/2017-11/co- framework to enhance the imple- issues/gender. African countries, with wide varia- p21add1_eng.pdf mentation of the Convention 75 COP (2017). Enhancing the tion across countries and even 59 See the Namibia Declaration. (2008–2018), para.9, http://www. implementation of the UNCCD within countries. Researchers http://www.unccd.int/en/about- unccd.int/Lists/SiteDocumentLib in support of the 2030 Agenda cautioned against propagating the-convention/the-bodies/the- rary/10YearStrategy/Decision%20 for Sustainable Development the oft quoted 60-80 per cent fig- cop/cop11/Pages/default.aspx 3COP8%20adoption%20of%20 through the enhancement, ure, also cited in the APF, to stress 60 See the Ankara Initiative The%20Strategy.pdf. strengthening and promotion the importance of nuanced, launched in compliance with the 65 UNCCD (2017). Overview of of capacity building, 8/COP.13 (15 gender research to better identify decision COP12/29 http://www2. Gender Mainstreaming in September), para. 1(d), at http:// paths to enhanced productiv- unccd.int/ankara-initiative. the Implementation of the www2.unccd.int/sites/default/ ity and enhanced land use and 61 See Decisions 8/COP9, 9/COP10, Convention: 1998-2018, ICCD/ files/sessions/documents/2017-11/ management. Doss, C. (2015). 9/COP11, 36/COP11, and 3/COP12. COP(13)/CRP.1 (7 September), cit- cop21add1_eng.pdf Debunking the Myth of Female UNCCD Gender. http://www2. ing ICCD/CRIC(15)/7. 76 Draft advocacy policy frame- Labor in African Agriculture. unccd.int/issues/gender 66 COP (2017). Ordos Declaration, work on gender, ICCD/ CGIAR. 25 June. http://pim.cgiar. 62 COP (2017). Gender equality Decision 27/COP.13 (15 CRIC(10)/20 (2011), http://www. org/2015/06/25/debunking-the- and women’s empowerment September), Preamble. unccd.int/en/programmes/ myth-of-female-labor-in-african- for the enhanced and effec- 67 UNCCD, Gender and Thematic-Priorities/gender/ agriculture/. tive implementation of the Desertification (thematic fact- Documents/CRIC10_20_Gender_ 82 As the UN Working Group on Convention, Decision 30/COP.13 sheet series, No. 4). DraftAdvocacyPolicyFramework. Discrimination Against Women (15 September), at http://www2. 68 Comprehensive Multi-Year pdf; See also, UNCCD Brochure, in Law and in Practice recently unccd.int/sites/default/files/ Workplan for the Convention Advocacy Policy Framework on elucidated in its position paper sessions/documents/2017-11/co- (2018–2021) and Two-Year Gender at http://www.unccd. on Women’s Land Rights, “in p21add1_eng.pdf Costed Work Programme for the int/Lists/SiteDocumentLibrary/ elaborating policies which will 63 Draft Advocacy Policy Convention (2018–2019) ICCD/ Publications/gender%20flyer%20 change discriminatory practices, Frameworks: Gender, Drought COP(13)/8-ICCD/CRIC(16)/2 (21 web.pdf. women’s land rights must be and Sand and Dust Storms June 2017), at http://www2. recognized as going beyond

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 43 simply women’s right to ‘own’ human rights approach, see GEF_GenderEquality_CRA_lo- that includes specific gender- land. Across the globe, access to Asia Pacific Forum of National res_0.pdf. Accessed 24 August responsive activities the project and use of land is subject to a Human Rights Institutions and 2017. will undertake; provide relevant broad range of legal and custom- the Center for Economic and 92 Ibid. See also GGCA, Gender gender-performance indica- ary land tenure arrangements. To Social Rights, Defending Dignity: and Climate Change at p. 7. tors; sex-disaggregated targets; capture this broader and more A Manual for National Human Note however that the GEF’s timelines; responsibility lines; and accurate understanding of land Rights Institutions on Monitoring GEAP minimum requirement to a budget against each proposed rights, States should account for Economic, Social and Cultural “measures to minimize/mitigate activity. the quality, legality and effective Rights (2015), p. 11 at http://www. adverse gender impacts” (GEF 97 Ibid. implementation, participation and cesr.org/sites/default/files/down- GEAP, p. 5) must truly be seen as a 98 Decision 3/COP12 mandated the enforceability of land rights for loads/Defending_Dignity_ESCR_ floor and not a ceiling require- Global Mechanism to assist in women.” UN Working Group on Manual_for_NHRIs.pdf. ment; a do-better principle must the creation of an independent Discriminating Against Women 87 UNCCD (2016). Turning the Tide: replace the unacceptable norm of Land Degradation Neutrality in Law and in Practice, Position The Gender Factor in Achieving do-no-harm which reinforces and (LDN) fund. Paper: Women’s Land Rights Land Degradation Neutrality. entrenches rather than upends 99 See e.g., Hawkes, S., K. Buse and (2017) http://www.ohchr.org/ http://www2.unccd.int/sites/ gender inequality. A. Kapilashrami (2017). Gender EN/Issues/Women/WGWomen/ default/files/documents/2017_ 93 GEF, Gender Equality Action Plan, blind? An analysis of global Pages/WGWomenIndex.aspx. Gender_ENG.pdf. at p. 74. public-private partnerships for For additional concrete guid- 88 Orr, B.J., and others (2017). 94 GGCA, Roots, at p. 8. health. Globalization and Health. ance to Parties on women’s Scientific Conceptual Framework 95 UN Women and GCF developed 13:26 at https://doi.org/10.1186/ land rights and rural women’s for Land Degradation Neutrality. a handbook on Leveraging s12992-017-0249-1; Development rights, see CEDAW, General A Report of the Science-Policy Co-Benefits Between Gender Initiatives, Blended finance: Recommendation 34 on Rural Interface. United Nations Equality and Climate Action, Understanding its potential Women. Convention to Combat which focuses on “helping for Agenda 2030 (November 83 COP, Integration of Sustainable Desertification, pp. 62-63, 73-74, at practitioners and stakehold- 2016) at http://devinit.org/post/ Development Goal 15 and http://www2.unccd.int/sites/de- ers integrate gender equality blended-finance-understanding- related target 15.3 which states: fault/files/documents/2017-08/ considerations in climate projects its-potential/. “to combat desertification, LDN_CF_report_web-english.pdf and leverage co-benefits between 100 See UNCCD Secretariat, restore degraded land and 89 The report from Chad contained gender equality and climate National, Regional and Sub- soil, including land affected by the most extensive inclusion of action” and prepared a train- regional Programmes, at http:// desertification, drought and women, citing in several places ing manual on Mainstreaming www2.unccd.int/convention/ floods, and strive to achieve a the importance of women’s Gender in Green Climate Fund action-programmes. land degradation-neutral world,” participation and engagement Projects (forthcoming) with 101 See e.g., CEDAW, General into the implementation of the at all stages of the project as tools and methods to promote Recommendation 34 on Rights of UNCCD (2017), Decision 3/COP.13 well as a goal to increasing gender equality in the devel- Rural Women; UN DAW, Position (15 September) at http://www2. income of vulnerable groups opment of GCF projects and Paper: Women’s Land Rights. unccd.int/sites/default/files/ses- such as young women. Ethiopia’s programmes. Note also that 102 Climate Change and Agro- sions/documents/2017-09/ICCD_ report SWOP analysis identified the GCF has shared its experi- ecological Approaches, LEISA: COP%2813%29_L.7-1715955E.pdf. “limited socio-economic analysis ence and technical inputs with Low External input Sustainable 84 UNCCD Secretariat (2017). Policy in terms of institutions, custom- the UNFCCC Secretariat in an Agriculture (India), Issue No. 19.2 Advocacy on Drought (29/COP.13) ary laws, gender roles, pastoral effort to develop a gender ac- (June 2017) http://leisaindia. and Policy Advocacy Framework livelihoods, and encroachment tion plan to assist Parties to the org/magazines/english/climate- to Combat Sand and Dust Storms by invasive weeds” as among Convention implement gender- change-and-agroecological-ap- (31/COP.13) (15 September), at the challenges to combat de- related decisions and mandates proaches-june-2017-issue-19-2/; http://www2.unccd.int/sites/ sertification. Land Degradation under the UNFCCC process. Green Kelkar, G. (2009). Adivasi Women default/files/sessions/docu- Neutrality (LDN) Summary Climate Fund, Mainstreaming Engaging with Climate Change. ments/2017-11/cop21add1_eng. Country Reports at http:// Gender: Gender Action in Practice, UNIFEM (June), http://www.ref- pdf. The two policy frameworks knowledge.unccd.int/knowl- http://www.greenclimate.fund/ world.org/docid/4ab37acb2.html. lack any mention of gender and edge-products-and-pillars/ldn- how-we-work/mainstreaming- 103 Rival, L. M. (2013). From carbon social impact analysis and guid- target-setting-building-blocks/ gender/gender-action-in-practice projects to better land-use plan- ance and will require thoughtful lessons-learned-14-pilot-4. Accessed 29 August 2017. ning: three Latin American initia- application of the Gender Plan 90 UNCCD Secretariat, What is the 96 GCF requires: i) funding proposals tives. Ecology and Society 18(3): 17. of Action. land degradation neutrality to include an initial gender and https://www.ecologyandsociety. 85 The full frameworks are conceptual framework? http:// social assessment that includes a org/vol18/iss3/art17/. available at ICCD/COP(13)/19 knowledge.unccd.int/knowledge- snapshot of the gender equality 104 Agustsson, K.M., A. Garibjana, (2017) http://www2.unccd.int/ products-and-pillars/land-degra- situation in the region, country and E.C. Soto Rojas (2010). An sites/default/files/sessions/ dation-neutrality-ldn-conceptual- or project area; relevant gender assessment of initial impacts of documents/2017-08/ICCD_ framework/land Accessed 29 issues in the proposed project; applying a payments for environ- COP%2813%29_19-1711042E.pdf. August 2017. and the opportunities to bring nmental services programme on 86 See e.g., FAO. Fundamentals of 91 Global Environment Facility about “positive change for both forest protection and livelihood human rights-based approach (GEF). Gender Equality Action women and men;” and 2) accred- security: a case study of the including to guide process Plan. https://www.thegef.org/ ited entities to submit a gender Forest Allowance Program in the of development. For a chart sites/default/files/publications/ and social inclusion action plan Juma Sustainable Development comparing a development and at the project preparation stage Reserve, State of Amazonas,

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 44 Brazil. Norwegian University of 112 Land Rights, Climate Change, Sepp, K. Ackermann, D. Plugge, uploads/2016-Best-Practices- Life Sciences, MA thesis. and Environmental Stewardship. and M. Schauer (2014). 4.7 Case-Peru.pdf. 105 Elfving, M. (2010). Payment for Infographic. https://www.landesa. Modernization of Wood Energy 130 CSO Panel 2017 (citing FAO, 2016), Environmental Services. - a tool org/resources/climate-change/. in Northern Madagascar, Towards at 12. for forest conservation and Accessed 24 August 2017. Productive Landscapes, Tropenbos 131 Villarreal, Marcela, Towards a empowerment of the local people 113 CSO Panel 2017 (citing International, Wageningen, Culture of Good Governance: in the State of Amazonas, Brazil? Byamugisha, 2013) p. 6. No. 54, p. 146-148. http://www. Implementing the Voluntary A case study of Programa Bolsa 114 For more information, see tropenbos.org/file.php/1742/et- Guidelines on the Responsible Floresta. Linnaeus University Giovarelli, R., and E. Scalise frn56web.pdf. Governance of Tenure (n.d.), p. 6. Sweden, BA thesis, Peace and (2016). Global Scaling Up of 121 UN Women, Realizing Women’s 132 Kodasi, Elie, Sept. 8, 2017, slide 20. Development Studies, FU5313, Women’s Land Rights, Gender Rights to Land, at p. 30. 133 Ibid., at slide 21. at http://www.diva-portal. Resource Facility. Resource Equity. 122 IFAD (2016). The Drylands 134 FAO (2003), at p. 28. org/smash/get/diva2:612538/ November. pp. 14-16. http:// Advantage Protecting the 135 International Monetary Fund FULLTEXT01.pdf. Note that there landwise.resourceequity.org/ Environment, Empowering (IMF) (2011). Nicaragua: Poverty is a dearth of studies directly as- records/2838. Accessed 24 August People, p. 27. https://www.ifad. Reduction Strategy Paper— sessing the gender impact of the 2017; CSO Panel, 2017 (citing Roth org/documents/10180/e036916a- Progress Report on National BFP or providing a clear sense of and McCarthy, 2014). 9d15-463f-8952-56d1566d7ac8. Human Development Plan as participating women’s land rights. 115 Gorfu, Selam (2016). The Impact 123 FAO (2003). Gender and of 2010, IMF Country Report No. 106 UNCCD (2017). Civil Society of Ethiopian Land Certification on Sustainable Development in 11/323, Washington, DC., at 7. Organizations (CSO) Panel, Land Land Conservation, Maintenance, Drylands: An Analysis of Field 136 UNCCD (4 September 2017), Rights for Sustainable Life on and Tree Planting. Norwegian Experiences. p. 30. http://www. slide 5. Land, (citing USAID, 2015), p. 11. University of Life Science. https:// eldis.org/vfile/upload/1/docu- 137 Ibid. 107 USAID (2014). Audit of USAID/ brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/ ment/0708/DOC13899.pdf. 138 Silva, Jose A. (2016). Nicaragua Senegal’s Yaajeende Agricultural handle/11250/2403898/full%20 124 FAO (2003), at p. 24. Women Push for Access to Land, Development Program, Audit thesis.pdf?sequence=1. Accessed 125 CSO Panel 2017 (citing Stickler, Not Just on Paper. Inter Press Report No. 7-685-14-004-P, p. 8-9. 24 August 2017; CSO Panel, 2017 2012), at 6; Stickler, Mercedes Service, 5 December. http://www. http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/ (citing Roth and McCarthy, 2014). (2012). Rights to Trees and ipsnews.net/2016/12/nicaraguan- pa00k17c.pdf. 116 United Nations Human Rights Livelihoods in Niger, Focus on women-push-for-access-to-land- 108 UNCCD (2017). CSO Panel 2017 Office of the High Commissioner Land in Africa Brief, p. 4-6. https:// not-just-on-paper/. (citing USAID, 2015), p. 11; USAID and UN Women (2013). Realizing agriknowledge.org/downloads/ 139 IMF (2011), at 130. (2015). Conservation Agriculture Women’s Rights to Land and x346d4190. 140 Ibid., at 73. and Bioreclamation of Degraded Other Productive Resources. p. 43. 126 CSO Panel 2017 (citing FAO, 141 UNCCD (2017). Gender in Lands in Senegal: Restoring http://www.unwomen.org/-/ 2017), at 6; The Economics of Land Degradation Neutrality productivity and resilience of de- media/headquarters/attach- Land Degradation, Costs and Target Setting Programme graded lands to improve nutrition ments/sections/library/publica- Benefits of Communal Rangeland and Transformative Projects and women’s incomes. https:// tions/2013/11/ohchr-unwomen- Rehabilitation in Jordan: An [PowerPoint presentation], Ordos, rmportal.net/news-events/news- land-rights-handbook-web-pdf. Economic Valuation of a Large- China (4 September), slide 5. usaid-nrmd-video-spotlight/yaa- pdf?la=en&vs=1455. Accessed 24 Scale Rangeland Restoration 142 IMF (2011), at 130. jeende-conservation-agriculture; August 2017. Project through the Hima System 143 Ibid. See also, Sanjak, Jolyne, (2016). 117 CSO Panel 2017 (citing within the Zarqa River Basin in 144 Inter-parliamentary Union, Guest Commentary: Women’s Byamugisha, 2013), p. 11. Jordan (2015). https://www.iucn. Percentage of women in the low- Land Rights Can Help Grow Food 118 Forsyth, J. Quan, and others org/sites/dev/files/import/down- er or single House of Parliament: Security. https://www.landesa. (2015). Strengthening Drylands loads/eng__policy.pdf. http://archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/ org/womens-land-rights-can- Women’s Rights: Local contexts, 127 Kodasi, Elie (2017). Integrated classif.htm help-grow-food-security-blog/. Global change. UNCCD. Box 15, Drylands Development 145 UN Women, Realizing Women’s Accessed 26 September 2017. p. 37. http://www2.unccd.int/ Programme Promoting Rights to Land , p. 48, 109 IFAD, 2010. sites/default/files/relevant- Gender Equality and Women 146 Government of Guyana (2015). 110 Sharma, Amita, Mahatma Gandhi links/2017-03/Dryland%20 Empowerment [Global Policy Guyana’s National Action National Rural Employment women%20Land%20rights%20 Centre on Resilient Ecosystems Plan (NAP) to Combat Land Guarantee Act, p. 275-276; Kelkar; -%20Final.pdf; IFAD, Strategic and Desertification (GC-RED) and Degradation: Aligned to the Shah, M, Opinion: Multiplier Partnerships Breathe Life and UNDP PowerPoint presentation], UNCCD’s 10-year (2008-2018) Accelerator Synergy in NREGA, Hope into an Impoverished Gender Day Programme COP 13, Strategy. http://www.unccd.int/ The Hindu, Delhi, 30 April 2009. Community in Brazil. https:// 8 September, Co-organized by ActionProgrammes/Guyana_ 111 Communities and Indigenous operations.ifad.org/web/rural- UN Women, UNCCD Secretariat Aligned%20NAP.pdf. Peoples are estimated to hold poverty-portal/country/voice/ and UNDP GC-RED, Ordos, China, 147 Government of Guyana (2017). as much as 65 per cent of tags/brazil/camara. slide 21. Guyana on Target to Ratify the world’s land area under 119 IFAD (2011), Sustainable 128 IFAD 2016, at p. 15. UNCCD (31 August). http://gina. customary systems. Rights and Development Project for Agrarian 129 Leslie Hannay (2016). Landesa and gov.gy/guyana-on-target-to- Resources Initiative (2015). Who Reform Settlements in the Resource Equity, Peru: Supporting ratifying-unccd/. Owns the World’s Land? A Global Semi-Arid North-East: Dom Women’s Participation in 148 Henry, Paulette (2017). LDN: The Baseline of Formally Recognized Hélder Câmara Project: Interim Community Governance to Guyana Experience [Guyana Indigenous and Community Land Evaluation. https://www.ifad.org/ Strengthen Women’s Rights Lands and Survey Commission Rights (September), p. 1.http:// evaluation/reports/ppa/tags/ to Community Land in the PowerPoint presentation], www.rightsandresources.org/wp- brazil/1101/1868853. Sierra. http://zpmpd2mggw- Gender Day Programme COP 13, content/uploads/GlobalBaseline_ 120 CSO Panel 2017 (citing g34rgsm60didr9-wpengine. 8 September, co-organized by web.pdf. Ackerman), at 6; Etter, H., S. netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/ UN Women, UNCCD Secretariat

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 45 and UNDP GC-RED, Ordos, China, affirming the need for the full 160 Guidelines for Mainstreaming the Implementation of the slides 31-32. participation of women at all lev- Gender into National Biodiversity Convention, ICCD/CRIC(16)/L.6 149 Joint Liaison Group, Rio els of policy-making and imple- Strategies and Action Plans (Sept. 13, 2017), para. 1(f), at Conventions: Actions on mentation for biological diversity (CBD Technical Series No. 49), http://www2.unccd.int/official- Gender, p. 8. conservation.” Full text at https:// Secretariat of the CBD, July 2012. documents/cric16-l-documents/ 150 The main objectives of the Women www.cbd.int/convention/articles/ https://www.cbd.int/doc/pub- iccdcric16l6 (CRIC’s 17th session to and Gender Constituency include: default.shtml?a=cbd-00. lications/cbd-ts-49-en.pdf. Note review and discuss procedures for • Ensuring the representation 154 Decision adopted by the also CBD Article 8(j) uniquely communication of information, of women’s voices, experi- Conference of the Parties to the calls for promotion of conserva- as well as the quality and formats ences, needs and capacities Convention on Biological Diversity. tion and biological diversity of reports to be submitted to the in the UNFCCC process and to Mainstreaming gender consider- “knowledge, innovations and Conference of the Parties). provide gender perspectives in ations. 2015-2020 Gender Plan of practices of indigenous and local 165 CRIC (2017). Improving the all related discussions; Action. UNEP/CBD/COP/DEC/XII/7. communities.” While the article is procedures for communication • Developing and advocating for 17 October 2014. https://www.cbd. gender neutral in its implementa- of information as well as the common positions based on int/doc/decisions/cop-12/cop-12- tion, CBD has focused in part on quality and formats of reports to climate justice principles and dec-07-en.pdf. the participation and capacity be submitted to the Conference work together towards achiev- 155 Convention on Biological development for indigenous and of the Parties, h 16 Decision ing shared goals; Diversity Executive Secretary local women towards that goal. ICCD/CRIC(16)/L.3 (11 September), • Contributing women and (2016). Progress in Implementing 161 Joint Liaison Group. Note paras 5-6, at http://www2. gender-sensitive perspectives the Gender Plan of Action: also JLG’s document on “Rio unccd.int/official-documents/ and a wider critical analysis of Update on Mainstreaming conventions action on adapta- cric16-l-documents/iccdcric16l3. current developments within Gender Considerations in tion” (at http://www.unccd. 166 See e.g., Conference Conclusions and around the official nego- National Biodiversity Strategies int/Lists/SiteDocumentLibrary/ from the 3rd UNCCD scientific tiations to help foster com- and Action Plans. UNEP/CBD/ Publications/rio_20_adapta- conference (March 2015), para 6: munication between women COP/13/8/Add.3. 19 October, tion_brochure.pdf) which while “Systems analysis, including value and gender organizations and https://www.cbd.int/kb/record/ stressing that adaptation is chain and market analyses, is groups, and in national and meetingDocument/110542?Sub a major response to climate needed to identify incentives and international fora; ject=GEND. Note, however, the change, contained no mention of barriers to sustainable responses, • Facilitating and engaging commitment by Tanzania: “By gender perspectives, or women, including … gender inequities…”; in the daily women and 2020, ecosystems that provide or outlined the requirement to para. 20 “Satellite data must be gender caucus during the essential services related to visibly integrate gender con- integrated with and validated negotiations; water and contribute to health, siderations, impact and access by ground observations, using • Liaising with other caucuses livelihoods and well-being, particularities into adaptation technologies such as mobile and constituencies, especially are restored and safeguarded, mechanisms and strategies. The phones to engage citizens, includ- to identify and build upon taking into account the needs document stresses impact on ing women and the youth, in par- common ground; of women, local and vulnerable vulnerable and rural communities ticipatory monitoring.” UNCCD • Collaborating on funding communities.” para. 57(b). but failed to acknowledge the (2015). Conference Conclusions, opportunities in a transpar- 156 Ibid. About 25 per cent of coun- profound differential impact on 3rd Scientific Conference, ent manner and according to tries have at least one activity men and women in such affected Combating drought, land deg- agreed guidelines, in order to to address gender equality or communities. radation and desertification for support the collective work women’s empowerment in their 162 Joint Liaison Group. Rio poverty reduction and sustain- and diverse representation latest NBSAP (though most Conventions. able development. 9-12 March. of the constituency in the did not include corresponding 163 Current recommendations on Cancun, Mexico. http://3sc.unccd. UNFCCC process and allow for gender-sensitive indicators). reporting fail to include gender- int/documents-outputs/outputs. enhanced capacity building 157 Analysis of Gender Integration specific indicators or require sex 167 Committee on Science and and knowledge sharing. WGC in Fifth National Reports, Note disaggregation of data and in- Technology (2017). Promoting (2017). Welcome Letter to New by the Executive Secretary formation gathered. See UNCCD the analysis, dissemina- Members, 16 July (on file with (2016). UNEP/CBD/COP/13/ (2017). Committee for the Review tion and accessibility of best Landesa).; See also Women and INF/46. 10 December. https:// of the Implementation of the practices and the UNCCD Gender Constituency, About www.cbd.int/doc/c/2264/25e0/ Convention, Improving the Knowledge Hub, ICCD/COP(13)/ Us, http://womengendercli- a31ae6a436ce636242a5fa36/cop- procedures for communication CST/L.5 (9 September), paras. mate.org/about-us/ Accessed 13-inf-46-en.pdf. of information as well as the 1, 5, at http://www2.unccd. 24 August 2017. 158 Convention on Biological quality and formats of reports to int/sites/default/files/ses- 151 COP Decision 21/CP.22: Gender Diversity. NBSAPs and National be submitted to the Conference sions/documents/2017-09/ and climate change, FCCC/ Reports. https://www.cbd.int/ of the Parties, ICCD/CRIC(16)/5 ICCD_COP%2813%29_CST_L.5- CP/2016/10/Add.2. 31 January 2016 gender/nationalreports/ (June) at http://www2.unccd. 1715751E_0.pdf. http://unfccc.int/files/gender_ 159 Module 9 (B series): int/sites/default/files/sessions/ and_climate_change/application/ Mainstreaming Gender documents/2017-07/ICCD_ pdf/pages_17-20_from_10a02.pdf. Considerations in the CRIC%2816%29_5-1710703E.pdf. 152 Joint Liaison Group. Rio Development and Implementation 164 See also, Committee for the Conventions. p. 9. of Biodiversity Strategies and Review of the Implementation 153 CBD, Preamble: “Recognizing also Action Plans, https://www.cbd. of the Convention (CRIC), the vital role that women play in int/doc/training/nbsap/b9-train- Programme of work for the the conservation and sustainable gender-en.pdf. seventeenth session of the use of biological diversity and Committee for the Review of

towards a gender-responsive implementation of the united nations convention to combat desertif ication 46

1 PowerPoint presentation], 5 Joint Liaison Group. Rio Development and Implementation 17 See also, Committee for the Gender Day Programme COP 13, Conventions. p. 9. of Biodiversity Strategies and Review of the Implementation 8 September, co-organized by 6 CBD, Preamble: “Recognizing also Action Plans, https://www.cbd. of the Convention (CRIC), UN Women, UNCCD Secretariat the vital role that women play in int/doc/training/nbsap/b9-train- Programme of work for the and UNDP GC-RED, Ordos, China, the conservation and sustain- gender-en.pdf. seventeenth session of the slides 31-32. able use of biological diversity 13 Guidelines for Mainstreaming Committee for the Review of 2 Joint Liaison Group, Rio and affirming the need for the Gender into National Biodiversity the Implementation of the Conventions: Actions on full participation of women at all Strategies and Action Plans Convention, ICCD/CRIC(16)/L.6 Gender, p. 8. levels of policy-making and imple- (CBD Technical Series No. 49), (Sept. 13, 2017), para. 1(f), at 3 The main objectives of the Women mentation for biological diversity Secretariat of the CBD, July 2012. http://www2.unccd.int/official- and Gender Constituency include: conservation.” Full text at https:// https://www.cbd.int/doc/publica- documents/cric16-l-documents/ • Ensuring the representation www.cbd.int/convention/articles/ tions/cbd-ts-49-en.pdf. Note also iccdcric16l6 (CRIC’s 17th session to of women’s voices, experi- default.shtml?a=cbd-00. CBD Article 8(j) uniquely calls for review and discuss procedures for ences, needs and capacities 7 Decision adopted by the promotion of conservation and communication of information, in the UNFCCC process and to Conference of the Parties to the biological diversity “knowledge, as well as the quality and formats provide gender perspectives in Convention on Biological Diversity. innovations and practices of in- of reports to be submitted to the all related discussions; Mainstreaming gender consider- digenous and local communities.” Conference of the Parties). • Developing and advocating for ations. 2015-2020 Gender Plan of While the article is gender neutral 18 CRIC (2017). Improving the common positions based on Action. UNEP/CBD/COP/DEC/XII/7. in its implementation, CBD has procedures for communication climate justice principles and 17 October 2014. https://www.cbd. focused in part on the participa- of information as well as the work together towards achiev- int/doc/decisions/cop-12/cop-12- tion and capacity development quality and formats of reports to ing shared goals; dec-07-en.pdf. for indigenous and local women be submitted to the Conference • Contributing women and 8 Convention on Biological Diversity towards that goal. of the Parties, h 16 Decision gender-sensitive perspectives Executive Secretary (2016). 14 Joint Liaison Group. Note ICCD/CRIC(16)/L.3 (11 September), and a wider critical analysis of Progress in Implementing the also JLG’s document on “Rio paras 5-6, at http://www2. current developments within Gender Plan of Action: Update conventions action on adapta- unccd.int/official-documents/ and around the official nego- on Mainstreaming Gender tion” (at http://www.unccd. cric16-l-documents/iccdcric16l3. tiations to help foster com- Considerations in National int/Lists/SiteDocumentLibrary/ 19 See e.g., Conference Conclusions munication between women Biodiversity Strategies and Action Publications/rio_20_adapta- from the 3rd UNCCD scientific and gender organizations and Plans. UNEP/CBD/COP/13/8/Add.3. tion_brochure.pdf) which while conference (March 2015), para 6: groups, and in national and 19 October, https://www.cbd. stressing that adaptation is a ma- “Systems analysis, including value international fora; int/kb/record/meetingDocume jor response to climate change, chain and market analyses, is • Facilitating and engaging nt/110542?Subject=GEND. Note, contained no mention of gender needed to identify incentives and in the daily women and however, the commitment by perspectives, or women, or out- barriers to sustainable responses, gender caucus during the Tanzania: “By 2020, ecosystems lined the requirement to visibly including … gender inequities…”; negotiations; that provide essential services integrate gender considerations, para. 20 “Satellite data must be • Liaising with other caucuses related to water and contribute to impact and access particulari- integrated with and validated by and constituencies, especially health, livelihoods and well-being, ties into adaptation mechanisms ground observations, using tech- to identify and build upon are restored and safeguarded, and strategies. The document nologies such as mobile phones common ground; taking into account the needs stresses impact on vulnerable and to engage citizens, including • Collaborating on funding of women, local and vulnerable rural communities but failed to women and the youth, in par- opportunities in a transpar- communities.” para. 57(b). acknowledge the profound differ- ticipatory monitoring.” UNCCD ent manner and according to 9 Ibid. About 25 per cent of coun- ential impact on men and women (2015). Conference Conclusions, agreed guidelines, in order to tries have at least one activity in such affected communities. 3rd Scientific Conference, support the collective work to address gender equality or 15 Joint Liaison Group. Rio Combating drought, land deg- and diverse representation women’s empowerment in their Conventions. radation and desertification for of the constituency in the latest NBSAP (though most 16 Current recommendations on poverty reduction and sustain- UNFCCC process and allow for did not include corresponding reporting fail to include gender- able development. 9-12 March. enhanced capacity building gender-sensitive indicators). specific indicators or require Cancun, Mexico. http://3sc.unccd. and knowledge sharing. WGC 10 Analysis of Gender Integration sex disaggregation of data int/documents-outputs/outputs. (2017). Welcome Letter to New in Fifth National Reports, Note and information gathered. See 20 Committee on Science and Members, 16 July (on file with by the Executive Secretary UNCCD (2017). Committee for the Technology (2017). Promoting the Landesa).; See also Women and (2016). UNEP/CBD/COP/13/ Review of the Implementation of analysis, dissemination and acces- Gender Constituency, About INF/46. 10 December. https:// the Convention, Improving the sibility of best practices and the Us, http://womengendercli- www.cbd.int/doc/c/2264/25e0/ procedures for communication UNCCD Knowledge Hub, ICCD/ mate.org/about-us/ Accessed a31ae6a436ce636242a5fa36/cop- of information as well as the COP(13)/CST/L.5 (9 September), 24 August 2017. 13-inf-46-en.pdf. quality and formats of reports to paras. 1, 5, at http://www2. 4 COP Decision 21/CP.22: Gender 11 Convention on Biological be submitted to the Conference unccd.int/sites/default/files/ and climate change, FCCC/ Diversity. NBSAPs and National of the Parties, ICCD/CRIC(16)/5 sessions/documents/2017-09/ CP/2016/10/Add.2. 31 January 2016 Reports. https://www.cbd.int/ (June) at http://www2.unccd. ICCD_COP%2813%29_CST_L.5- http://unfccc.int/files/gender_ gender/nationalreports/ int/sites/default/files/sessions/ 1715751E_0.pdf. and_climate_change/application/ 12 Module 9 (B series): documents/2017-07/ICCD_ pdf/pages_17-20_from_10a02.pdf. Mainstreaming Gender CRIC%2816%29_5-1710703E.pdf. Considerations in the

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