World Day To Combat Desertification and Drought Focuses On Women Land Rights

The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is a United Nations observance celebrated each year on 17 June.

Its purpose is to raise awareness of the presence of desertification and drought, highlighting methods of preventing desertification and recovering from drought.

Each year’s global celebration has a unique, novel emphasis that had not been developed previously.

Environment Correspondent, Gimalo-Angel Olowogoke takes a closer look.

This year’s theme is, Her Land. Her Rights.

This day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly resolution on January 30, 1995, after the day when United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification was drafted.

Objectives of Desertification and Drought Day are:

1. To promote public awareness of the issue

2. To let people know that desertification and drought can be effectively tackled, that solutions are possible, and that key tools to this aim lay in strengthened community participation and cooperation at all levels.

3. To strengthen implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa.

In this stirring message from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification Executive Secretary, Ibrahim Thiaw, we highlight the critical role women play in land restoration and sustainable farming.

Despite facing systemic challenges and owning less than 20% of the world’s land, women contribute significantly to agricultural labor and the global food supply.

Also in his video message, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres says women suffer from the lack of food, water scarcity, and forced migration that result from mistreatment of land.

In rural Nigeria, 80 percent of small scale farmers are women.

Yet very few own land — held back by a lack of resources and conservative male attitudes.

Activists are calling for more rights for women farmers, including access to land and credit.

In Ethiopia, with support from the World Bank and others, a program uses small booklets and simple photos to give women a clear hold on their own land.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will reaffirm its commitment with these Desertification and Drought Day 2023 objectives:

1. Raise awareness of the disproportionate impact of desertification, land degradation and drought on women and girls and the barriers they face in decision-making on land issues;

2. Highlight women’s contributions to sustainable land management and broader SDGs;

3. Mobilize global support to advance land rights for women and girls around the world.