Activists: Land justice for women key to climate change mitigation
Celestine Owiti on her maize farm in Gem, Siaya County, on July 2, 2020. Gender equality advocates want land injustices against women addressed to enable them to effectively contribute to the mitigation of climate change.
What you need to know:
- According to UN Women, women own less than 10 per cent of land in Africa, although 70 to 90 per cent of all wealth on the continent is generated through land.
- In Kenya, data from Kenya Land Alliance shows that of the 1,000,099 title deeds issued by the government from 2013 to 2017,only 103,043 went to women.
Gender equality advocates have said land injustices against women must be addressed to enable them to effectively contribute to the mitigation of climate change.
During a joint side event at the ongoing 66th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66), the activists said lack of land ownership limits women’s ability to participate in reducing global warming emissions.
“I see big agricultural companies coming to Africa and owning land, displacing people, but these issues are not heard during climate justice conversations,” said Mphatso Jumbe, executive director at MOVE, a Malawi-based women’s rights organisation.
“But these are real everyday experiences that keep pushing women into poverty,” she added during the March 14 forum co-hosted by Liberal International, National Democratic Institute, and International Network of Liberal Women.
Ms Jumbe said for women, the push for climate justice cannot be separated from the quest for land justice.
Ownership
Already, African governments and activists are making efforts towards enabling women to own land.
Recently, Landesa launched Stand for Her Land in Africa initiative, a campaign that involves more than 100 civil society organisations across Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. It seeks to promote women’s land tenure.
According to UN Women, women own less than 10 per cent of land in Africa, although 70 to 90 per cent of all wealth on the continent is generated through land.
In Kenya, data from Kenya Land Alliance shows that of the 1,000,099 title deeds issued by the government from 2013 to 2017,only 103,043 went to women.
Further, of the 10,129,704 hectares titled, women owned 163,253 hectares, equivalent to just 1.62 per cent.
Susanna Rivero-Baughmann, foreign affairs and cooperation adviser at the secretary for climate action in the government of Catalonia, said climate change worsens women’s vulnerabilities due to their high dependence on natural resources.
Resource depletion
“Climate change intensifies depletion of the already stressed resources…. We need to be more effective in addressing the root causes of the vulnerabilities,” she said.
“It is a fact that fragility and climate threats amplify potential conflict risks and in turn conflicts diminish people's ability to cope with future climate shocks,” she noted.
She said natural resource-based interventions have proved to be powerful tools for strengthening women's participation in conflict resolution and prevention efforts, as well as democratic governance, economic recovery, and sustainable development.
