Side event
Securing Landscape Rights as a Catalyst to Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality: A Multi-stakeholder Dialogue
Land is soil, land is food, land is life. However, to achieve sustainable landscapes and land degradation neutrality, it is imperative that governments embody a rights based landscapes approach to securing a variety of rights, of which land rights are one. This event will offer a broader framing of landscape rights - “a bundle of rights” that include the right to water, livelihood, justice, spatial decision making, and land rights among others. To support governments in holistically addressing desertification, land degradation, and drought, this side event will host a multi-stakeholder dialogue rooted in successful examples of achieving justice and securing land and resource rights for women, youth, and smallholder farmers to further the implementation of Land Degradation Neutrality.
While significant rights may be defined and protected by custom or law, intersectional inequalities often put women and youth in a highly disadvantageous position when it comes to exercising their rights. Securing their access to land and national resources is a key enabler of sustainable development, as estimates project a significant increase in agricultural productivity when women’s rights are secured. While equal ownership should be the ultimate goal, family-based or community-based approaches offer intermediate steps to secure women’s land rights.
CIFOR-ICRAF speaker
Further readings
