Gender equality sometimes framed as feminist initiative and other times as a goal of equal rights but now more than ever before it is becoming a necessity.
Proof of that is the theme that was celebrated on World Desertification and Drought Day in June. What is the connection?
Every possible connection exists because women have known to work closely with nature since ancient days.
Whether it was agriculture, gathering food or drawing water and walking for km to take it home, women have been known to partner with nature.
According to the study by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) nearly half of the global agricultural labour force is female. But what the study discovered was that less than one in five landholders in the world are women. What has been an eye opener was also the fact that women were unable to inherit their husband’s property at least in over 100 countries.
In fact, women have also chosen in the past to write and publish their work using men’s names. Why did they feel so? We can only reflect.
This year UNCCD’s chosen theme for the campaign was, “By recognizing excellence, leadership and efforts in sustainable land management by women and girls.”
So this year the theme was - ‘Her Land, Her Rights,’ and it focused on women’s land rights: ‘Essential for achieving the interconnected global goals of gender equality and land degradation neutrality by 2030 and contributing to the advancement of several other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
The UNCCD was adopted in 1994 and binds the international agreement that links environment and development to sustainable land management.
So women have the significant role of protecting and managing natural resources such as soil, forests, agricultural land and water. Maybe the recognition has come in late, nevertheless it is important that the time has arrived.
Women have been responsible for the nutrition of the family and now she has the right to protect what goes into the soil and what is reaped from it and how the land is treated.
Women face the direct impact of environmental degradation. But now she has a say in how the land is used, especially when she owns it.
There is a symbiotic relationship between women and nature but now nature is leading women toward empowerment. Goes on to prove how silently nature has been teaching mankind. Women have been half of the workforce, yet in many countries women had not been enjoying the right to own the land and protect it.
It is not just the rights that can lead to the protection of land from desertification and drought, it still requires education, awareness and implementation of sustainable practices.
Growing deserts and eroding mountains demand urgent attention toward overgrazing and deforestation. As cities expand and real estate boom, land continues to shrink to catch water and preserve it by enriching the groundwater. Felling of trees leads to the imbalance that has brought in crises in various forms from lack of rain to water shortage and on the other hand flooding and erosion and landslides.
It is not just responsibility of protecting the environment that will lead the way to success, but what is important is to have the courage to dream and have hope and most significantly the ability to fulfill the dreams by being innovative.
Women might have been practicing all that for centuries but now they are in the spotlight to fight desertification and drought.
The stage is yours, ladies.
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