This report is the product of a two-year collaboration between the four partners to: (i) improve the understanding of the complex relationship between women and natural resources in conflict-affected settings, and (ii) make the case for pursuing gender equality, women’s empowerment and sustainable natural resource management together in support of peacebuilding. Part 1 provides an analysis of the relationship between women and natural resources in peacebuilding contexts, reviewing key issues across three main categories of resources, including land, renewable and extractive resources.

A dry and dusty savannah, Emaciated cattle plodding dejectedly past the last remaining scraps of grass that have survived the merciless heat and sandstorms. Such images are all too familiar. Across the globe, soil degradation and desertification cost about 490 billion euros per year, according to expert estimates. "About 12 million hectares of land are lost to this every year" says Wageningen soil physicist Coen Ritsema of Alterra Wageningen UR. ‘That is equivalent to half the land surface of the UK.’

Rangelands provide numerous goods and services that have great economic, social, cultural, and biological value. Inhabitants of rangelands have engineered pastoral, hunter-gatherer, and farming systems that have sustained their livelihoods in these usually dry environments for centuries. Primarily, rangelands are grazing-dependent systems, characterised by dry periods and droughts. However, these characteristics should not be a barrier to development and can be managed through careful planning and management of resources.