Gender

Gender equality is vital to deliver sustainable, progressive, and meaningful action to avoid, reduce, and reverse land degradation. UNCCD’s goal is to make sure women and girls are empowered in the global efforts to achieve land degradation neutrality.​

We cannot achieve land degradation neutrality without gender equality and equity. ​Gender inequality is pervasive. In a majority of the world’s countries, laws or customs hinder women’s access to land or ownership. Widely, women are denied equal inheritance rights.​

Gender inequality affects women’s access to resources and their ability to control resources or knowledge. It limits their access to financial and support structures. It lowers their influence in community, cultural and formal networks. It reduces their input into collective decision-making processes. ​

When land becomes degraded and usable land is scarce, rural women are usually worst affected. They are often more vulnerable to poverty and have typically weaker legal protections and social status. ​But when women are empowered, entire families and communities benefit, and these benefits can be passed onto youth and to future generations.​

Similarly, when women and men have equal land tenure rights, women are more likely to invest in soil conservation and sustainable land management practices like tree planting.​ The UNCCD’s Gender Action Plan places gender equality firmly at the core of its mandate as a vital catalyst of environmental progress. ​​

Our focus is on working with partners to promote gender positive policies and governance, community awareness raising and advocacy, and documenting progress by capturing and championing transformative action.​