This paper analyses briefly the reasons why enclosures of the rangelands is taking place, the short and long term impact on different groups, and the technical and environmental issues. Examples are given from Kenya and Somalia.

The 2008 report by ActionAid suggests that, since women and girls are overrepresented among poor and excluded people, the food crisis is having a particularly harsh impact on them.  According to the FAO, even before the current crisis women made up 60% of the chronically hungry.

[adapted from UNDP] May, 2008- This UNDP discussion paper ‘Pro-Poor Land Tenure Reform and Democratic Governance’ provides a review of how different types of land tenure reform relate to decentralization and local governance, in theory and in practice.  The discussion suggests that in order to create more democratic and transparent local management of land resources, special mechanisms to protect women against direct and indirect discrimination, as well as the establishment of local land committees and land tribunals for conflict resolution are needed.

See attached the 10 points of the agreement signed around land rights between Ekta Parishad and the Indian Government.

[adapted from GTZ] 1999- More than one hundred technical co-operation projects on three continents supported by the various technical departments of GTZ were involved in this discussion on Land Use Planning, paying specific attention to gender and women’s promotion through its pilot program “Gender and Women’s Promotion”.

[adapted from ActionAid] October, 2012- The report states that the importance of land to rural women goes beyond growing food. Having secure access to, and independent control over, land can mean the difference between, on the one hand, enjoying rights such as education and freedom from violence or, on the other, continual subjugation in society. ActionAid view security of land tenure for impoverished rural communities as a fundamental component of dignified, sustainable development and a crucial step towards reducing poverty and reducing inequality.

Through case studies from Asia, Africa, eastern Europe and Latin America, this book by Manchester Metropolitan University’s Susie Jacobs presents an overview of global gender and agrarian reform experiences.  Recognising the widespread marginalisation of gender issues from policy and theoretical discussions of agrarian reform,  Jacobs attempts to highlight the profound implications that redistribution of land has for women and for gender relations.  The book compares land and agrarian reforms in which land has been redistributed collectively and to individual households.

[September 2008]

Within this report, the FAO outlines its efforts to reinforce local institutions and promote policies and legislation that aim for fairer access for both women and men to natural resources (particularly land, water, fishing and forestry) and to the relevant economic and social resources.

It goes on to approach the reasons why land tenure should be taken into account in project design, highlighting ecological issues, questions of gender, conflict and migrations, and the relationships between them.

[via UN-HABITAT] How can we judge if a land tool is responsive to both women and men’s needs?

Despite progress on women’s rights, rights to land and security of tenure are not enjoyed equally by women and men in many parts of the world. This goes against international human rights, and also impacts negatively on households and the economy.

[via UN-HABITAT] GLTN considers gender as a critical cross-cutting theme in the work on promoting pro-poor, large-scale land tools (for more information on GLTN see www.gltn.net). This short report summarises an analysis undertaken by the GLTN Secretariat to assess how women’s rights, and specific needs, are being addressed by selected projects in the GLTN land tool inventory—a database consisting of numerous international development projects in the land sector is available on the website.

[via UNDP, 2008] These 4 Policy Briefs from UNDP show how increasing knowledge about gender relations and empowerment has highlighted the importance of access to and control over land within intra-household gender relations, and what this implies for broader concerns about empowerment of the poor.  Moreover, significant knowledge gaps are also found in discussions on the link between land policies and cultural, territorial and gender empowerment issues.