Yet significant gender gaps in land tenure persist. Women continue to face barriers to owning, inheriting and controlling land due to discriminatory social norms, unequal power relations within households and communities, gaps in legal protections and weak implementation of existing laws. Access to justice and land administration systems also remains limited for many rural women. These challenges are often compounded for women experiencing intersecting forms of marginalization and discrimination, including Indigenous women, Afro-descendant women, migrant and displaced women, widows, elderly women, young women and women with disabilities. The explicit recognition of these intersecting inequalities in the ICARRD+20 declaration represents an important step forward.

ICARRD+20 culminated in the adoption by non-objection of a forward-looking Declaration. The commitment to the VGGT was reaffirmed, but the emphasis is now clearly on implementation and monitoring to deliver real change on the ground. Addressing extreme and growing inequalities, poverty, and hunger stands at the heart of the Declaration. Strong cross-sectoral alignment was underscored, including coherence with the Rio Conventions, sustainable water management, and the promotion of inclusive and sustainable land-use and farm models, alongside respect for traditional knowledge and collective and customary land rights.