Women's land rights were in the spotlight on Friday on the eve of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, celebrated on June 17, at events around the world, from Kenya to Viet Nam, including a high-level event at UN Headquarters in New York.

By ensuring equality in land rights, we protect land and advance gender equality, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a video message, urging all governments to remove legal barriers that prevent women from owning land and involving them in policy-making.

The earth is precious to us to survive; yet we treat it as if it were worthless, the UN chief added, stressing the need for action.

Women's access to land is not only a matter of rights, it is first and foremost a matter of dignity.
- Ibrahim Thiaw

Women make up nearly half of the world's agricultural workforce, but discriminatory practices related to land ownership, access to credit, equal pay and decision-making often prevent them from actively participating in maintaining the health of the land.

Today, fewer than one in five landowners worldwide is a woman, according to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

"Half of humanity is more or less discriminated against," Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the Convention, told UN News.

"When it comes to land registration and appropriation, women's land rights are far from equal with men," Thiaw said, explaining that "when you don't have land rights, you don't optimize its production."

"The land is being further degraded rather than managed," he continued, "and when the land is degraded, it is the most vulnerable populations who bear the brunt of the victims. And it's mostly women and children."


Women have less control
"Unsustainable agricultural practices are damaging our land at 100 times faster than the time it takes them to regenerate naturally. The planet now has 40% of land degraded, endangering food production, threatening biodiversity, and worsening the climate crisis," Mr. Guterres said.

"Women and girls are hardest hit," he said, adding that "they suffer disproportionately from lack of food, water scarcity and forced migration caused by our disastrous treatment of the land" while "they have the least power."

Together, let's end land degradation by 2030
- António Guterres

"They are the ones who go to get firewood. They are the ones who fetch water to drink. And when the land deteriorates, the means of production are much lower and therefore the incomes of families are affected," Thiaw said.

"But when they own land and have a significant income, the primary beneficiaries are the family, the children, the children's education and clothing," the Executive Secretary stressed.

Calling for support for women and girls to play their part in protecting "our most precious resource", the UN chief said: "Together, let's end land degradation by 2030."

Soundcloud

This land is #HerLand
Ahead of the International Day, UNCCD launched the #HerLand campaign to raise awareness of women making a difference today and the challenges ahead.

When given equal access, women and girls can increase agricultural productivity, restore land and build resilience to drought, according to the UNCCD.

At the beginning of the high-level event, Inna Modja, Malian singer and UNCCD Goodwill Ambassador performed the world premiere of the song "Her Land" to mark the day.

"As a woman, an artist and a climate and social justice activist, I believe it is vital to empower women and youth and promote gender equality. in combating desertification and land degradation," she said. "Together, we can create a better and sustainable future."

High-level speakers, women leaders, leading scientists, land activists and youth representatives agreed that much had been done but that more efforts were needed to standardize the rules of land ownership.

Tarja Halonen, former president of Finland and ambassador for the Convention on Biological Diversity, said the time to act is now.

"Addressing gender inequalities is not just a good thing to do," she said. "If we ensure that women are fully able to use their abilities, knowledge, talents and leadership potential, our societies will simply be better off."

Ethiopia's Somali region experiences prolonged drought
© WFP/Michael Tewelde Ethiopia's Somali region experiences prolonged drought
Unfinished business
"When women farmers have access to their own land, they develop more and so do their nations," said Csaba Kőrösi, President of the UN General Assembly. "Strengthening women's land and property rights increases food security and reduces malnutrition."

"These positive changes have a ripple effect," he added.

"What we lack are political decisions and measures that recognize their role in land management," he said. "We should do our best to remove barriers to women's participation in decision-making.

The Executive Secretary of UNCCD stated that the Day on Desertification and Drought was aimed at mobilizing the international community in that direction.

"Of all the gender inequalities we face in the world, the imbalance in women's access to fertile land is perhaps the most shocking," Thiaw said. "Around the world, closing this particular gender gap remains an unfinished business."

According to Mr. Thiaw, women's access to land is not only a matter of rights, it is above all a question of dignity.

"We cannot continue to act as if we have equality between men and women in access to this essential resource," he insisted during the interview.

"We will not achieve the well-being we all aspire to, which is to ensure that no one is left behind, if we fail to solve this problem," concluded the head of the Secretariat of the Convention on Desertification.