The Land Rights, Climate Justice and Gender Equality Conundrum: Human Rights Strategies and Practice

Climate change-related threats and land insecurities are increasingly impacting upon disadvantaged communities, especially women. In the context of evolving land policy discourse and priorities, intertwined land tenure, climate change, and gender equality require reference to global normative human rights and development frameworks. Human Rights treaties, the Paris Agreement, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda, among others have strategic policy implications. While professionals focus on land use planning, management, administration policy tools, climate change activists rely on a range of advocacy, mobilization and ‘justice’ approaches. For example, women’s rights and community groups have increasingly sought accountability through global human rights standards, environmental targets and enforceable gender equality norms. This article outlines how human rights play a vital role in these debates, seeking to mediate the tensions and synergies between competing approaches to land, climate and gender, despite gaps and inconsistencies which often frustrate their outcomes. Through human rights-based approaches (HRBAs) offer advocates for land rights, gender equality and climate action a hybrid, innovative and pragmatic platform to develop creative alliances with social justice and development partners to deliver incremental but tangible gender-responsive land and climate rights.