Session 2: Access to natural resources and land for rural women: Porperty rights, secure tenure, and resource management

Background

The FAO Regional Technical Platform for Family Farming continues with the fourth edition of the Cycle of Technical Exchanges. Following three editions dedicated to family farming registries (2023), public procurement (2024), and rural youth (2026), this fourth edition focuses on rural women and their fundamental role in agrifood systems.

The designation of 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer by the United Nations, together with the ongoing United Nations Decade of Family Farming, provides a timely context to deepen the discussion on the structural challenges faced by women who live and work in rural areas.

The first session of this edition, organized jointly with the Specialized Meeting on Family Farming of MERCOSUR (REAF/MERCOSUR) and UN Women, addressed access to financing adapted to their realities and needs.

To further consolidate a line of work that has proven effective in generating dialogue, cooperation, and horizontal learning among countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the second session will address access to and control over land and other natural resources, a fundamental requirement for rural women to exercise economic autonomy, make productive decisions, and transfer assets to future generations.

Objective

• Review the status of rural women's access to land and natural resources, examining legal, institutional, and sociocultural barriers.
• Explore different land tenure regimes (individual ownership, joint ownership, community access, and collective titling in Indigenous and Afro-descendant territories) and analyze the mechanisms that provide greater security and recognition of women's rights.
• Learn about experiences with policies on access to and management of natural resources that incorporate a gender-responsive perspective and have sought to make women’s rights more visible and better protected.

Target audience

The fourth cycle of technical exchanges provides a space for horizontal dialogue and seeks the participation of technical experts, specialists, government representatives, and especially organized rural women from different countries across the region.

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