The Federal government has kick-started processes for gender-responsive policies and action plans on land restoration, which will foster equitable access, management of land and other resources.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Ibrahim Yusuf, disclosed this at the World Desertification and Drought Day National Dialogue Workshop, entitled, “Her land, her rights: Advancing gender equality and land restoration goals” in Abuja.
Yusuf said women are agents of change and drivers of climate change adaptation, as well as sustainable development, stressing that gender-responsive land and forest sector laws, policies, strategies and interventions that protect, enhance women’s rights and access to restored land are important for women’s effective participation in land restoration.
“Towards this end, the government has developed and/or developing policies, action plans and land-restoration programmes or initiatives that are gender-responsive, such as the gender-responsive and transformative Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) programme in Nigeria, National Action Plan on Gender and climate change in Nigeria and the National Policy on Agriculture with the aim of enhancing food security,” Yusuf said.
Championing effective laws, policy and programmes in the area of women’s access to productive resources and land must take cognisance of the fact that women are not a monolithic group and must also embrace women’s inherent diversity.”
He stated that when it comes to issues of land, women are differentially impacted by discrimination related to marital status, economic status, widowhood, abandonment, racial/ethnic identity, health status, disability, age, sexual orientation and displacement.
According to him, Nigeria as a party to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is expected to consider and domesticate decisions of the conference of the parties, one of which is responsible land governance and tenure rights that are gender sensitive to enhance livelihoods and well-being of women, as well as the vulnerable groups and encourage inclusive participation of stakeholders in sustainable land management.
Yusuf said the government must find ways to promote women’s access to, use of and control over land and other productive resources because it is essential to ensure their right to equality and an adequate standard of living.
On his part, Director General National Council on Climate Change, Salisu Dahiru said that the council would continue to ensure that the objective of combating desertification is achieved.
He emphasised the need to design programmes that ensure women are given the specific role, such as to own, control and manage the land for the family, as well as and the environment.
“For the National Council on Climate Change, we operate under the guidelines of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, and that convention has a specific section that is focused on gender.
“In fact, there is a specific negotiation platform that is devoted to those gender issues, gender mainstreaming, for countries like Nigeria that are suffering the impacts of climate change, beyond what developed countries are doing,” Dahiru said.
Executive Secretary, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), Ibrahim Thiaw, said improving women’s land rights means enhancing food security.
To him, securing women’s land rights is an immediate necessity of the UNCCD collective journey towards sustainable land management and sustainable food production, which is a critical step towards achieving broader Sustainable Development Goals SDGs.
Also speaking, National Project Coordinator Agro-Climatic Resilience for Semi-Arid Landscape (ACRESAL), Abdulhamid Umar, said the ACRESAL project provided the avenues for women to have access to land, to restore the land, to make money and livelihood out of the land.
According to him, ACRESAL has provisions to support government departments, ministries and parastatals to ensure that policies that support women are empowered.
