World Day against Desertification and Drought

Women have the right to a land that nourishes

This year, the theme of the World Day against Drought and Desertification is as significant as ever because it suggests the relationship between women’s caring functions and their need for land to be protected and made fertile. “Her Land. Her Land. Her rights” the focus is, therefore, on women’s land rights as a key element in achieving the related global goals of gender equality and neutrality of land degradation by 2030.

Photo: www.lifegate.it

We know that where land is the most important economic resource for most poor rural communities, women around the world have fewer opportunities to own or manage land than men, which exposes them to poverty, hunger, gender-based violence and migration.

Photo: https://www.unhcr.org/

Droughts have always existed in the history of our planet, and always will. The problem is that, with climate change, such events have increased in frequency, severity and duration. Leaving many populations with no way out, and placing an unbearable burden on the living conditions of women and their children.

Photo: www.meteoweb.eu/

As a result of poor land management, many areas of our planet are faced with the progressive drying up of the soil, which – exacerbated by the effects of climate change – creates an economic and social crisis that becomes more difficult to manage year by year. Of these areas, Africa is particularly exposed to the problem because more than 90 per cent of its economy is based on agriculture and animal husbandry.

PROFOUND AND LASTING TRANSFORMATIONS
AGAINST DESERTIFICATION AND DROUGHT
REQUIRE A HOLISTIC APPROACH

… ‘aimed at ensuring equal opportunities in women’s access to productive resources, employment and market opportunities, while ensuring the involvement and commitment of men. In essence, complementarities must be maximised, inequalities healed and deep and lasting transformation ensured’ … (source: https://www.lifegate.it/ifad-donne-bangladesh-cambiamenti-climatici)

JUST AS IN THE PROCESS OF RADICAL TRANSFORMATION
IN WHICH WE, AS A CONGREGATION, ARE ENGAGED