Land is at the heart of women’s rights in the Global South: so why no mention of it in this year’s UN political declaration?

Naomi ShadrackGender, Land rights, Women's Economic Empowerment

While the landmark Beijing declaration 30 years ago on women’s rights mentioned land rights 30 times, this year’s UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) declaration fails to mention them at all. Naomi Shadrack explains why we need to put land firmly back on the global feminist agenda.

How the surge in land seizures and violence by Israel in the West Bank adds up to a brutal new level of oppression

Bushra KhalidiHumanitarian, Influencing, Rights

The incursion of Israeli tanks into the West Bank this week is just the latest step in an intensifying and systematic crackdown. Bushra Khalidi on five repressive tactics the Israeli government has been using, including new laws that will accelerate annexation. The strategy, she says, is now clear: make Palestinian life unlivable.

Why the campaign for reparations must put gender justice at its heart

Lurit Yugusuk and Hazel BirungiLand rights, Research, Women's Economic Empowerment

Millions of women in the Global South earn a pittance, own no wealth or land and do far more unpaid care than men – and much of their condition today can be traced back to the economic devastation caused by both colonialism and the extractive economic system it created. That’s why any plan for redress must include justice for women. In the latest blog in our World Economic Forum series, Lurit Yugusuk and Hazel Birungi set out five ways to do that…

How are land rights connected to climate justice?

Pubudini WickramaratneClimate Change, Land rights, Research

Pubudini Wickramaratne and Rashmini de Silva introduce a new paper that spotlights the voices of rural Asians suffering loss and damage to their land and explain how secure land rights are essential to increasing climate resilience.

Love in the drylands, how irrigation is changing lives in Zimbabwe

Martin WalshClimate Change, Drought, Food security, General

Climate change is placing increasing stress upon the livelihoods of people living in the world’s drylands. Smallholder irrigation can help improve food security in areas with unpredictable rainfall. Here Senior Researcher Martin Walsh discusses the findings from an evaluation of an Oxfam-supported irrigation scheme in Zimbabwe. Reports about irrigation schemes are typically quite dry compendia of facts and figures about intakes …