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Advancing equality, transforming futures: a path to resilient and productive food, land and water systems in 2050

Year: 2026

Type: report

Abstract: Gender inequality and exclusion are persistent challenges in current food, land and water systems (FLWS) and will likely continue to be in the future without deliberate intervention. Women, youth and socially excluded groups play crucial roles in these systems, but face systemic barriers to greater productivity, earnings, decision-making power, food security, and resilience to climate shocks and other stressors. The polycrisis risks exacerbating existing inequalities, while emerging trends like structural transformation and rapid digital transformation offer both opportunities and challenges for equality and inclusion in future FLWS. Identifying pathways to enhance equality and inclusion in FLWS is therefore critical both to the empowerment of women, youth and socially excluded groups in FLWS, and to communities’ ability to feed themselves, sustain ecosystems and biodiversity, and pursue dignified and resilient livelihoods in the face of the polycrisis. This report moves beyond diagnosis of current inequalities to offer a forward-looking and solutions-oriented contribution to global dialogues on intersectional gender equality and resilience in FLWS, in the context of the UN’s International Year of the Woman Farmer. It examines how emerging trends and the polycrisis may shape future FLWS and the constraints and opportunities women, youth and socially excluded populations are expected to encounter by 2050 (chapter 1). The report draws on the latest interdisciplinary gender in agrifood systems research, feminist theories and the Gendered Food Systems Framework to identify pathways for a transformation toward inclusive and resilient FLWS by 2050 through actionable evidence-based solutions promoting: i) equitable resilience capacities in the face of the polycrisis (chapter 2); ii) inclusive land and water access, rights and governance (chapter 3); iii) digital inclusion (chapter 4) and iv) the empowerment of young women as drivers of transformative change (chapter 5).

Source: CGSPace A Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research)

Authors: Lecoutere, Els, Muchiri, Caroline, Voss, Rachel

Institution: International Livestock Research Institute

Language: English

Topic: Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development

Subfield: Development

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Gender equality, Zero hunger, Climate action

Open Access status: green

Funders: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete, Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

OpenAlex ID: W7214513530

Cites: 256

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Related to: 10