6 September 2019: The Global Mechanism of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has published a briefing note and manual to advance gender equality in land degradation neutrality in (LDN) interventions. The Briefing Note titled, ‘Land Degradation Neutrality: Interventions to Foster Gender Equality,’ discusses the role that policymakers and implementers can play in integrating gender equality into LDN-based initiatives. The note emphasizes the need to avoid deepening inequalities or marginalizing women’s rights and calls for:

• gender-equal participation in land and natural resource governance at the national and landscape levels through inclusive national-level coordination and community and women-led participation, planning and leadership;
• strengthening legal protections for land rights of vulnerable groups including women;
• equalizing the access, use and control over land, forests and natural resources through better access to technology, services and resources, as well as gender-responsive land and natural resource use and management; and
• closing the gender gap and moving toward evidence-based interventions by, inter alia, tracking the land rights of women and men, pairing land degradation socio-economic indicators, and disaggregating data, gender targets and baselines by sex.

The Global Mechanism, with UN-Women and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), also launched a ‘Manual for Gender-responsive LDN Transformative Projects and Programmes,’ which provides guidance to Parties on integrating gender issues and promoting gender equality when designing LDN projects. The Manual aims to equip project developers with guidance for mainstreaming gender perspectives into LDN projects and programmes throughout their lifecycle, and help governments determine how best to integrate gender perspectives.

The briefing note and the manual were launched at a side event to the 14th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 14) to the UNCCD in New Delhi, India. [Publication: Briefing Note: Land Degradation Neutrality: Interventions to Foster Gender Equality] [Publication: A Manual for Gender-Responsive Land Degradation Neutrality Transformative Projects and Programmes]

In most parts of the world, women do not have land rights or tenure and, as a consequence, lack access to finance.

In related news, the UNCCD Secretariat convened its first Gender Caucus, which underscored the urgency of mainstreaming gender in addressing desertification. Speaking during the event, also held on the sidelines of COP14, UNCCD, Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw reminded attendees that in most parts of the world, women do not have land rights or tenure and, as a consequence, lack access to finance. The first Gender Action Plan was adopted in September 2017 at COP 13 to accompany implementation of the UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework. [UNCCD News Story on Gender Caucus]