To coincide with International Women’s Day, the World Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) hosted a global webinar in March that brought together more than 150 people from 55 countries to discuss how emission reductions programs can be more inclusive to women.
The webinar, entitled “Women’s Land Rights and Access to Results-Based Climate Finance in REDD+ Programs” presented the FCPF’s most recent studies and knowledge products on strengthening women’s participation in REDD+ and forest-related programs. These studies assess how women can better access benefits emanating from emission reductions (ER) programs in the FCPF Carbon Fund’s 15 participant countries.
One recent FCPF study analyzed land tenure legislation, along with customary law and practices to identify current barriers and opportunities for women to play a more active role in ER program implementation. The study’s conclusions emphasized the need to conduct in-depth gender analyses before starting any project related to natural resources.
“What we have found in our research is that Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities are often historically matrilineal and matrilocal, which means that women inherit land rights,” says Renee Giovarelli, co-founder of the World Bank’s Resource Equity team. “However, that matrilineal practice can be set aside if a project or program follows dominant patrilineal land administration that assigns land rights to heads of households that are almost always men. As we implement large-scale emission reductions programs and related benefit-sharing plans, we need to respect the historical land tenure systems of Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities.”
Moderated by Anne Larson, Principal Scientist at the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), the webinar featured presentations from several expert panelists who underscored the importance of gender inclusion in ER program implementation.
Jorge Luis Castaneda Nunez, an author of the Behavioral Diagnostics Tool developed by the World Bank and financed by the FCPF, shared findings related to the behavioral barriers women face when accessing information and participating in decision making processes. Cécile Ndjebet, Founder and President of the African Women’s Network for Community Management of Forests (REFACOF) shared her experience of working on gender equity in forest management in Africa from the CSO perspective.
María Elena Herrera Ugalde, representing National Forest Financing Fund of Costa Rica (FONAFIFO) talked about the importance of gender strategies and action plans for identifying gender gaps and measures to address them. And Modibo Camara, President and CEO of the A2F, reflected on challenges women face in value chains and getting into higher income positions due to their lack of the land rights.
The webinar is the second in the World Bank’s Social Inclusion in Climate Finance knowledge series. To further support inclusion across results-based climate finance programs, the World Bank launched in 2020 the Enhancing Access to Benefits while Lowering Emissions (EnABLE) fund.
EnABLE has started working with FCPF Carbon Fund participant countries to identify and pursue opportunities to enhance social inclusion and gender equality. EnABLE does this through addressing enabling environments, building capacities of these stakeholders and providing resource to engage in the implementation of the benefit sharing plans.
Global context
The IPCC’s most recent report (AR6) is clear: no climate change action can be effective and sustainable without advancing gender equity. It confirms that gender inequalities can act as a risk multiplier for climate change impacts and magnify adverse outcomes.
Gender in many developing countries still determines the level and quality of access to land and other natural resources, with often only men’s names appearing on land titles. Women’s lack of access to land and natural resources can in turn inhibit their access to information, decision making processes, and climate finance. Often membership in community groups, or in the forest users’ groups is linked to formal land ownership, and that requirement further excludes women from decision making on management and use of forest resources. And if women are not at the table where decisions made, they can be left behind even further from allocation of resources, participation in climate actions, and receiving benefits.
The FCPF Carbon Fund is starting implementation of ER programs in fifteen tropical countries. Together, these 15 programs represent commitments to reduce more than 140 million tons of carbon emissions and receive more than $720 million in payments.