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Use: Influencing policy for gender and inclusion

The following indicator is under consideration for this pilot edition of the Barometer: To what extent is there evidence that land data is being used to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use?

Definitions and Identification

Land data might not always be easy to find in a country, it might not cover all land or also land registries and documents might not capture a complex reality of different land tenure systems or gender particularities. However, when it is available, land data is key to identify gender and other inequities and propose paths to reduce it, and this can be carried out by governments as well as external actors.

The main highlighted issue regarding land and gender and inclusion in reviewed research is that women, along with other traditionally disadvantaged groups, such as indigenous people, suffer land tenure insecurities to a greater extent. However, this is not the only challenge for which land data could be used. Through this indicator, we aim to track examples of land data being used to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use in a wide range of ways and to tackle multiple inclusion issues.

The type of data that is expected to be used in these cases is on land tenure and existing land use, described in the previous land module indicators, for example:

Along with use towards gender inclusion, this indicator aims to gather examples of land data being used to advocate for more equitable land tenure and land use in many different ways. For example, but not only, to strengthen indigenous people' land rights, well-being and sovereignty over resources, for example:

  • Land tenure data might be used by journalists to track over how much land indigenous people have rights over an area in different contexts, for example analysing land management to address climate change.
  • Land tenure data, along with land use, might be used by scholars to analyse the impact of tenure changes of indigenous occupied land in landscape conservation.
  • Data on protected areas might be used by civil society organisations and scholars to identify indigenous communities living in them, since the relation between indigenous people´s territories and protected areas has been evident and sometimes contradictory.

Land policies may be influenced by several means and by different actors and consequently this indicator could be answered pointing at a wide range of products (reports, activities, tools, forums, etc) carried out by several stakeholders (journalists, lobbyist, NGOs, grassroot organizations, academics, etc) that, through the use of land data, point out and raise attention over certain inclusion challenges, and that could also include concrete paths to address them with policy reforms.

Starting points

  • Sources:
    • News media for articles on women and indigenous tenure insecurity and land rights.
    • Google Scholar, arXiv, or ResearchGate for examples of academic research drawing on land use data and inclusion
    • Websites of local organisations with focus on land rights.
  • Consult:
    • Journalists who cover gender and land or land and indigenous issues.
    • Civil society organisations on land rights.
    • Scholars at local universities that work with land and city planning themes.

What to look for?

Taking into account land tenure, existing land use and planned land use data, look for evidence that can answer the following questions

  • Is this type of data being used by journalists, civil society organisations, academics and other stakeholders to address gender and inclusion issues and to influence policy towards more equitable land tenure and land use? Or it is perhaps only used infrequently? Or never, as far as you can determine?
  • What kinds of impacts on policies do you see from these uses, and how significant are these impacts?
  • To what extent is there evidence that land data is being used to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use?

Show/hide supporting questions

Existence

  • Is there evidence of this data being used to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use?
    • No evidence of actors or entities using this data to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use.
    • There are isolated cases of actors or entities using this kind of data to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use.
      Supporting questions: Please provide url of this use cases, and if there is any, inform what kind of stakeholders are using this data: Academics, Civil Society Organisations, Journalists, etc.
    • There are a number of cases of actors or entities using this kind of open data to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use.
      Supporting questions: Please provide url of this use cases, and if there is any, inform what kind of stakeholders are using this data: Academics, Civil Society Organisations, Journalists, etc.
    • There are widespread and regular cases of actors or entities using this kind data to influence policy in the interests of more equitable land tenure and use.
      Supporting questions: Please provide url of this use cases, and if there is any, inform what kind of stakeholders are using this data: Academics, Civil Society Organisations, Journalists, etc.

Extent

  • Is there evidence that these uses are having meaningful positive impacts on land policy? Even though it is hard to link advocates´ actions to an effective policy change towards more equitable land tenure and land use, evidence could be tracked about policy updates after public debates and lobbying strategies.
    • No
    • Partially
      Supporting questions: Please provide URLs to documentation of this evidence.
    • Yes
      Supporting questions: Please provide URLs to documentation of this evidence.

Gender and inclusion awareness have been identified as key areas of concern by land governance authors. There is a clearly identified inequity that leaves women and traditionally disadvantaged groups vulnerable, highlighting the need for data to address these concerns. Migrants, indigenous people, or herders are among vulnerable categories suffering land tenure insecurities across the world. Legislation, along with cultural or religious biases also supports land tenure policies barring women from owning, inheriting, and retaining land and property in cases where they divorce.

Additional concerns have been raised in urban planning literature, as authors question if planned cities are taking into consideration women’s needs as they might experience cities in different ways than men do (Malaza et al., 2009; Micklow et al., n.d.)(UNHabitat). While in rural areas the impact of gender on land-use decisions has also been analysed (Villamor et al., 2014).

This indicator is aligned with SDG indicators 1.4.2: “Proportion of total adult population with secure tenure rights to land, with legally recognized documentation and who perceive their rights to land as secure, by sex and by type of tenure” and 5.a.1 “(a) Proportion of total agricultural population with ownership or secure rights over agricultural land, by sex; (b) share of women among owners or rights-bearers of agricultural land, by type of tenure” and UN-Habitat Policy and Plan for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women in Urban Development and Human Settlements program. It is also aligned with SDG goal 11, Sustainable Cities and Communities.