Women’s formal access to land rights contributes to the fight against deforestation

Halting deforestation is a key issue for effective climate action, thus all members of society should be able to contribute to it. For indigenous and pygmy indigenous women, traditionally in charge of farming in the forest, and therefore of protecting of this endangered ecosystem, the recognition of their land and forest rights is an essential condition of their active participation in forest governance, and therefore in the fight against climate change.

According to a study conducted by CLFEDD in 2016, 70% of women in the DRC do not have access to land and forest titles. Their capacitation via training in advocacy and leadership and the formalization of their rights through legal texts, enable local and indigenous women to play an active role in forest governance. All power levels, customary chiefs, administration, legislature, executive, and judiciary, are aware and have committed through legal texts to guarantee gender equality and to protect the rights of women.

The concept of peaceful dialogues as an advocacy tool, supported by female leadership, form the basis of a replicable model. Women leaders, trained and mobilized, become actors of transmission and sustainability. CFLEDD Focal Points provide on-the-ground follow-up, working closely with local authorities and provincial assembly presidents. Information and awareness raising is broadly relayed by community radios.