Bringing good practice to the UNCCD conference
Access to, ownership and control over land is inherently part of a successful implementation of land degradation neutrality (LDN) and sustainable land management. Sustainability often means investing for the long term, and insecurity withholds land users to do so. In particular women's land use rights are fundamental as they are the ones working on the land and thus putting LDN into practice.
The drylands around Ordos
Last June I took part in community meetings on land tenure security in Monze District, Zambia. The communities engaged in participatory land use planning processes. This involved trainings of community parasurveyors, awareness raising activities, mapping of land user rights and an open dialogue within the community and with authorities. Besides a community land use plan, the most remarkable impact of this process was the stories women shared with me.
The women explained how their husbands engaged in conversations about their own land use rights. Some gave their wifes a part of the land and officially recognized it. Others started to collectively manage the lands. The women indicated that they now feel much more confident that they will be able to have ownership over the land in the long run –also in case their husband would die or they would divorce- and are increasingly engaged to invest in and sustainably use their land with a long-term view.
Community meeting about participatory land use planning in Zambia
This is just one of the numerous examples of community-driven initiatives to strengthen women's land tenure security. It illustrates the importance of recognizing women's land rights in sustainable land use and the implementation of LDN. Access to, ownership and control over land for women is a prerequisite to realize Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15.3: implement LDN and sustainable land use.
Fortunately, there are international guidelines that stress the importance of good land governance and strengthened land tenure rights, especially of women and small-scale farmers, pastoralists, youth, indigenous peoples and poor people. I'm referring to the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT). These guidelines were formulated in 2012 after profound consultations with all stakeholder groups and are adopted by the FAO Council and the UN member states as a response to the land (use) rights insecurities of local communities. The guidelines provide governments with guidance on how to ensure good land governance, which is crucial when restoring lands and implementing LDN. Both ENDS sees the VGGT as an opportunity for governments to ensure women's rights to land to enable them to sustainably use their lands.
Therefore, here in Ordos I'm doing everything I can to ensure the VGGT are adopted and implemented in the UNCCD Future Strategic Framework, National Action Plans and LDN target setting. This would lead to more cases of the above-mentioned gender-sensitive good land governance practices.
Themes
Read more about this subject
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Transformative Practice /Inclusive Land Governance
Both ENDS works with partners around the world to ensure that land is governed fairly and inclusively and managed sustainably with priority for the rights and interests of local communities.
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Dossier /The Netherlands and the SDGs: A better world starts with yourself
In 2015, the member states of the United Nations committed themselves to the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unlike their predecessors, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the SDGs recognise the importance of equality within and between countries, of decision-making processes in which all people are included and heard, and of legal systems that are independent and accessible to all.
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Dossier /Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP)
Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP) is a rights-based approach ensuring inclusive and gender-responsive land governance, especially for those whose rights to land are not fully acknowledged.
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News / 28 September 2017Both ENDS at UNCCD COP13: don’t forget about the people
This September, Both ENDS participated at the 13th Conference of the Parties of the UNCCD in Ordos, Inner Mongolia in China. We were part of the Drynet delegation, a network of CSOs, to bring local realities to the international UNCCD discussions.
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Publication / 1 September 2017
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Publication / 1 September 2017
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News / 29 October 2019What have we learned from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification?
The second United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was held from 2 to 14 September in New Delhi, India. Our colleague Nathalie has been working together with many civil society organisations for several years to show the UNCCD that large numbers of local communities around the world are working on sustainable land use and on combating desertification and land degradation, and that land-use security is essential.
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Event / 5 September 2017UNCCD COP 2017 - CHINA
From 6-16 september, the 13th Conference of Parties' of the UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification) took place, this time in Ordos, China. The UNCCD is the global convention of the United Nations on combating desertification and drought. Every country in the world has signed this convention. Canada withdrew in 2012, but in 2016 - under the Trudeau administration - started a process to re-enter the convention. Both ENDS is a member of Drynet, a network of local organisations and communities in dry regions searching for ways to use land in a sustainable manner.
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News / 30 August 2019Dealing with drought: the UNCCD COP in India
Worldwide, hundreds of millions of people live in areas where the soil is depleted; often they are forced to, or the region they have been living in for generations has become increasingly arid over time. The desert is advancing and this is a global problem. Opinions about the causes of land degradation and desertification, but especially about the solutions, are very divided. To discuss this, the biennial global conference on desertification will take place from 2 to 14 September. This is where policymakers, scientists, NGOs, female and male farmers and pastoralist, herders and companies from all over the world come together. Our colleague Nathalie van Haren is present at the conference and explains why.
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Publication / 15 August 2017
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News / 15 November 2018All Eyes on the Amazon: the future of protecting forests in Brazil
On Wednesday, November 14, Dutch Newspaper De Volkskrant published a joint op-ed by Both ENDS, Hivos, Greenpeace Netherlands and Witness about the deforestation in the Amazon region which is still going on rapidly, having disastrous consequences for the indigenous people who live in the area, for biodiversity and for the climate. The Netherlands is one of the largest buyers of Brazilian agricultural products such as soy and beef, and should ensure that deforestation, land grabbing and human rights violations do not occur in these production chains. Unfortunately, this is not at all the case yet.
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External link / 2 January 2015iSQAPER website
The website about the project iSQAPER: Interactive soil quality assessment in Europe
and China for agricultural productivity and environmental resilience. -
Publication / 8 January 2021
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News / 7 October 2018Our Director ranking 52nd on Dutch ‘Sustainable 100’-list
We are very proud that our director Daniëlle Hirsch has been included again in the ‘Sustainable 100’ (an annual ranking list published by Dutch newspaper Trouw), and has gone up more than 40 spots compared to last year! Danielle was included in the list because of the many things she does with her organisation as a whole, but she got the higher ranking for the way she combines her criticism of the destructive role of the Netherlands as a trading nation and large cause of CO2 emissions in the world (often supported by the Dutch government), with a constructive attitude when it comes to finding alternatives and solutions.
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Dossier /Rich Forests
Rich Forests promotes a sustainable and future-proof production system and supports, among other things, the transformation of degraded land into food forests. With this, people provide for their livelihood, increase their income and at the same time restore soil and biodiversity.
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News / 10 May 2022Lobbying for local and sustainable practices during the UNCCD summit
From May 9 to 20, the 15th Conference of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought (UNCCD COP15) will take place in Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire. Governments, policymakers, civil society organisations and scientists from countries all over the world will discuss the problems around drought, land degradation and desertification that are increasing. Colleagues Nathalie van Haren and Stefan Schüller will be there, as will a large number of representatives of organisations with which Both ENDS has been working together for decades. But what is the purpose of the meeting, what is discussed and why is it important to be present? We asked Nathalie and Stefan.
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News / 22 April 2013NEW VIDEO: 'Mapping our Future' for survival of local communities in Indonesia
Between 2010 and 2013, Both ENDS, within an alliance of Indonesian and Dutch organisations and universities, conducted a pilot project to improve the spatial planning in the district of Sanggau in West-Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, Indonesia, to help local communities with the recognition of their land rights. We can show you a beautiful documentary about one of the villages in this district, Terusan.
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Video / 18 November 2013Mapping Our Future
Between 2010 and 2013, Both ENDS, together with Indonesian and Dutch organisations and universities, conducted a project in the district of Sanggau in West-Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo, Indonesia. The project was meant to help local communities with the recognition of their land rights and. This is a beautiful short documentary about how the people of one of these villages responded to the ever expanding palm oil plantations around them.
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Dossier /The merits of community-based restoration
Globally, the area that is suffering desertification and land degradation is ever expanding. Unsustainable and often large-scale agricultural practices, including the copious use of pesticides and fertilisers, are a major driver of land degradation, aprocess that is further exacerbated by climate change, causing more erratic rainfall patterns, longer periods of drought and unpredictable growing seasons. This is very problematic not only for the hundreds of millions of people who directly depend on land and water for their livelihoods, but also for life on earth as a whole. It is clear that this process must be stopped and reversed, better sooner than later. But how to go about it?
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Event / 1 March 2023, 14:00 - 15:30Inclusive finance for land governance: A conversation with donors
Both ENDS and the Land Portal Foundation invite you to the fourth webinar in the Whose Land? Inclusive Pathways to Land Governance series. This fourth Whose Land? webinar will focus on the question: How can donors fund land governance initiatives through an inclusive process?
More information about this event is available on Landportal.org
