Using International Law to Advance Women’s Tenure Rights in REDD+

The report examines how international law can address the systemic discrimination women face in forest tenure, which risks being exacerbated by REDD+. It provides a typology of relevant rights—including land tenure, gender-specific, procedural, FPIC, and environmental rights—and analyzes how these can be leveraged within the UNFCCC and World Bank's FCPF frameworks to ensure women are recognized as key stakeholders and rights-holders.

• Women are often excluded from REDD+ decision-making and benefit-sharing due to unclear, unsecure, and unequal tenure rights, which are frequently reinforced by both customary and statutory laws.
• International law serves as a critical tool for advocates to pressure states to reform legal frameworks and institutions to achieve 'gender mainstreaming' in climate policy.
• The report identifies five categories of international rights relevant to women's tenure: land tenure-related rights, women's and/or gender-specific rights, procedural rights, Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), and the right to a healthy environment.
• Explicit protections for women's property rights are found in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which is the only human rights instrument dedicated specifically to women's rights.
• Procedural access rights—access to information, participation in decision-making, and access to justice—are essential for women to operationalize their substantive tenure rights in REDD+.
• While FPIC is primarily recognized for Indigenous Peoples, it can be used to advance women's rights by ensuring that 'collective' community consent is inclusive of women and not limited to self-appointed male leaders.
• The UNFCCC REDD+ framework lacks detailed operational guidance on tenure, but its 'Cancun Safeguards' provide a basis for leveraging international law to protect the rights of local communities and women.
• The World Bank's Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) has significant loopholes regarding tenure, such as the lack of a requirement for a time-bound action plan to resolve tenure disputes before implementing emission reduction programs.

APA

Silverman, A. (2015). Using International Law to Advance Women’s Tenure Rights in REDD+. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WomensTenureRights_REDD_June2015.pdf

Chicago

Silverman, Allison. Using International Law to Advance Women’s Tenure Rights in REDD+. Center for International Environmental Law, 2015. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WomensTenureRights_REDD_June2015.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Silverman |first1=Allison |title=Using International Law to Advance Women’s Tenure Rights in REDD+ |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=June 2015 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WomensTenureRights_REDD_June2015.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{silverman2015using, author = {Silverman, Allison}, title = {{Using International Law to Advance Women’s Tenure Rights in REDD+}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2015}, month = jun, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/WomensTenureRights_REDD_June2015.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }