At COP16 in Riyadh, the UNCCD launched a new book called Her Land, created to support the HerLand campaign (women, girls and land) campaign. With 15 in-depth articles from diverse stakeholders, the publication promotes inspiring examples of women and girls’ leadership in sustainable land management, mobilising support to secure land rights for women and girls in all their diversity across the world.

We were delighted to contribute an article entitled ‘Gender justice and transformative action in land rights for women’. Our article highlights the vital efforts of some of our global network partners who are working tirelessly to promote women’s rights to own, manage and make decisions on land in their communities. In doing so, they are not only securing an inherent human right, but also promoting climate and biodiversity action and progress towards the Rio conventions and the SDGs.

Our contribution contends that action and interventions to secure women’s land rights must be community-owned, respect diverse forms of knowledge, and challenge underlying structural inequalities. Gender justice and transformative change are not about incorporating women into ‘business as usual’: we need a systemic approach which addresses root causes, policy coherence, mindset change and respects women in all their diversity as agents of change.