On the occasion of World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, UNCCD launched the campaign "Her Land, Her Rights" to raise awareness of the disproportionate impact of land degradation and drought on women and girls and share successful stories of their key contributions to the ecosystem services provided by sustainable soil management. In line with the theme of the campaign, FAO released the new guide ‘Addressing gender equality in sustainable soil management’, which provides a range of innovative strategies and tools aimed at supporting women's empowerment and increase their participation in sustainable soil management. This technical guide is targeted at policy-makers, field practitioners and researchers. It was jointly developed by the Land and Water Division and its Global Soil Partnership, and the Inclusive Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, building on the extensive experience of FAO related to natural resources management, ecosystem services and gender equality. The purpose of the guide is to facilitate the adoption of sustainable soil management practices, contribute to the achievement of gender equality and women's empowerment, and ultimately contribute to the objectives of the FAO’s Policy on Gender Equality (2020-2030) and the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, making sure to leave no one behind. Factors such as land and water scarcity, extreme climate events, household management, caregiving responsibility, and different access to technologies, markets and knowledge play an important role in shaping the experiences and challenges faced by women in relation to soil management and affect their productivity. By addressing these issues, concrete actions can be taken to address the specific needs and perspectives of women, ultimately supporting gender equality in sustainable soil management practices. In order to take into account these issues, the guidelines present a set of gender analysis tools that can help identifying the diverse needs and priorities of rural women and marginalized groups of farmers, including indigenous peoples and refugees. The results of gender analysis can also be used to plan gender training sessions and design gender-responsive interventions.

Practical suggestions that can be found in the guide on how to integrate gender equality in sustainable soil management include:

• Collecting and analyzing sex-disaggregated data about sustainable soil management practices and technologies, considering local and indigenous knowledge and the different access to resources and services of men and women.
• Monitoring the gender-related impacts of policies and projects on sustainable soil management, using an inclusive approach to facilitate the equal access to land and other productive resources, services and local institutions.
• Strengthening the capacities of academic institutions to conduct gender-sensitive soil research and produce the evidence to better understand and address the different constraints that men and women face.
• Developing gender-responsive agricultural programmes and policies. Supporting investments and incentives on sustainable soil management and women's leadership and technical skills.
• Identifying and disseminating gender-responsive good practices and techniques to decrease or deter soil degradation and support soil restoration and rehabilitation.
• Designing inclusive educational programmes with a focus on gender equality issues.
• Considering the gender implications in the analysis of sustainable measures and the formulation of policy recommendations to address different issues related to soil management.
• Increasing the use of gender mainstreaming tools and the adoption of gender-transformative and inclusive approaches in the design of projects related to sustainable soil management.

This set of actions aims to provide an accessible reference for building healthy soils and advancing gender equality in sustainable soil management, by empowering women and addressing discriminatory norms and practices.

Publication link: https://doi.org/10.4060/cc5289en 

For more information on FAO's work on soil visit the Global Soil Partnership website

Learn more about FAO's work on gender