RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The major news from the desertification climate conference here was no decision on the major global matter of drought, following the lead of the earlier biodiversity and climate change COPs this fall, falling short on headline outcomes.
Land tenure and other more technical topics thus became the big news from the COP here in Riyadh, and there were significant results for gender equity, which the UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification), is fighting through many important efforts, including creating a gender caucus to bring women into the conversation with a designated platform.
“Women produce up to 80 percent of food in developing countries,” Ibrahim Thiaw, the outgoing executive secretary of the conference, said, “but only own 13 percent of agricultural land.” He emphasized that “there is no more shocking inequality in the world.”
PassBlue talked after the conference, which ended on Dec. 13, to various participants to gauge the impact of the small wins at what is called COP16.
Audrey N’goan, a “land young negotiator” representing Côte d’Ivoire, said, “Women, particularly in African rural areas, are often primary land users and stewards, yet their tenure security remains precarious.”
She praised the “significant strides in gender inclusivity made by closing this gap with regards to land use rights” and is relieved that delegates at COP16 acknowledged the value of empowering women in land tenure to achieve what is called land degradation neutrality (LDN).
The land tenure decision specifically enshrines the understanding that “responsible and inclusive land governance and improved tenure security is an important enabling factor for achieving LDN, addressing biodiversity loss, adapting to climate change, creating sustainable food systems and accelerating progress towards many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), calling attention to goals of other climate conventions and broader UN objectives.”
The decision also recognizes the need to provide incentives to other players with local and traditional knowledge, a sentiment echoed in the creation this year of an Indigenous peoples caucus and a local communities caucus.
Land degradation is beyond crisis proportions. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) highlights in a 2018 report that the world lost 100 million hectares of land every year since 2015 and that soil degradation has affected 3.2 billion (two out of five) people worldwide.
Venge Nyirongo, who followed the talks at Riyadh closely as the intergovernmental specialist for Climate Change, Sustainable Development and the Rio Conventions at UN Women, said, “If the role that women play is not considered enough, they will not be able to fully exercise the unique abilities that they have.” When women are left out, he added, “the world loses, and gender equality loses.”
However, Nyirongo emphasized that gender is not just about land tenure. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) indicates that women make up 43 percent of the agricultural labor force, whether or not they own the land. Nyirongo argues that the issue “is a little more nuanced.”
“Owning land doesn’t solve women’s problems,” he explained. “Even if they own land, it’s often husbands or male relatives who have the say in what to do with the land.” He added that more attention should be paid to the whole continuum of land rights and not just ownership.
Ruth Meinzen-Dick is a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRE), one of a constellation of research centers operating under the consultative group of the International Agricultural Research, or CGIAR. It had a very active presence at COP16.
In India, where she frequently works, local and Indigenous communities have collective rights to forests and rangelands, and she anticipates that those caucuses will advocate for more collective land rights, “because forests or rangelands are best held collectively. Ecologically speaking, it works better than dividing it up.” This action will create a new arena in which women will have to be given rights and be heard, she noted.
Data gaps also exist. N’Goan of Côte d’Ivoire pointed to data problems over persistent gender issues on land management, degradation and drought. “The most critical issue is the lack of effective measure when it comes to systemic exclusion of women from securing land tenure rights as a result of either discriminatory laws, cultural norms, or unequal access to resources.”
N’goan advocates for “enhancing data collection on gender-disaggregated land tenure statistics to inform evidence-based policy-making” and ensuring accurate progress evaluation on gender equality.
Looking beyond community-level data and impacts, at the high-level interactive dialogue on the gender caucus at COP16, panelists indicated that gender representation in environmental ministries around the world is at such a low rate that it will take 162 years to achieve parity in environmental leadership.
A few people expressed concerns to PassBlue that discussions involving gender throughout the whole UN system are facing clear pushback, something that can be seen from the Pact for the Future negotiations at the UN throughout 2024 all the way to the climate conferences.
Beth Roberts is the director for Women’s Land Rights at Landesa, which works to secure land rights for the world’s poorest people. She heard conversations in COP16 negotiations where there was substantial opposition “on gender language that is stronger than they might favor.” Specifically, there was talk “to eliminate terms ‘gender responsive’ and instead use ‘women’s rights’ or ‘women’s roles.'”
“I would say in terms of who is driving this, it is a combination of nonstate actors,” she said, “that are specifically pressing for this type of perspective within UN spaces. And if we’re talking about parties, it’s everyone from the United States, where there’s pushback on human rights language, to OECD countries and countries from every region in the world.”
More darkly, one observer speaking anonymously said that gender equality and human rights are actually being used as levers in negotiations in all COPs regarding money and subsidized tech transfer, so women’s rights become last-minute pawns in exchange for much-needed resources. The same observer pointed out that in the final-draft drought decision, which was not adopted, both gender and human rights were at one time removed from the draft, with only gender squeezing its way back in.
On a particular point about the UNCCD, civil society was strangely missing from the negotiations, as opposed to the climate change and biodiversity COPs, held in Azerbaijan and Colombia, respectively, this fall, making the desertification COP much less progressive.
Most people PassBlue spoke to would like to see more ambition to advance the gender platform. Roberts notes that in the context of the land tenure discussion (which is broader than the question of women’s land ownership) they decided to have a voluntary focal point, or a dedicated position within national delegations.
“It would be great to see something similar for gender,” she said, “whether that’s specific to the UNCDD or across the Rio convention.”
In general, Roberts of Landesa said: “I’d like to see the gender caucus be more robust and more vocal. We’re seeing these really great declarations and efforts coming out from the Indigenous People’s Group and the Youth Caucus, but didn’t have anything commensurate from a gender perspective.” She added that “part of that is that we’ve already achieved quite a bit,” but it doesn’t lessen the need for steady attention.
N’goan agreed that challenges remain, “including underrepresentation of women in negotiation delegations and leadership positions.”
“While the rhetoric of inclusivity was strong,” she said, “translating it into actionable and measurable outcomes will require sustained effort in the coming years.”
Maria Luisa Gambale, a graduate of Harvard University, lives in New York City. In addition to writing, she produces film and media projects and is director of the 2011 film “Sarabah,” about the Senegalese rapper-activist Sister Fa. She has produced and directed video for National Geographic, ABC News, The New York Times and Fusion Network. Gambale’s work in all media can be viewed at www.veradonnafilms.com.
