A/HRC/16/63 governmental organizations and academics estimate that dam projects alone have displaced up to 30 million people in the last decades,26 between 40 and50 per cent of the displaced are tribal people, most of them living from hunting activities in forest and hill areas, even though they make up only 8 per cent of the population. 16. In many countries, conflicts are also increasing between pastoralists and crop farmers, since farmers tend their own small animals and are less eager to allow pastoralists to graze their herds in the fields after harvest. In Ethiopia, for example, pastoral livelihoods are becoming increasingly vulnerable; pastoralists are affected by the lack of water, land degradation and competition with agriculturalists, and poverty has been compounded by the collapse of the export market for livestock to Arab nations following an outbreak of Rift Valley fever. In the Niger, these issues are addressed in the code rural, which set out clear rules for access to resources and sets up clearly marked corridors and areas of pasture in order to minimize conflict.27 The means to implement the code rural are, however, sorely lacking and criticism of the bias towards agriculture in it has given rise to calls for a new code pastoral that focuses more attention on the different and very specific problems of nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists.28 E. Peasant women 17. Women play a crucial role in the food security of households, producing between 60 and 80 per cent of food crops in developing countries and earning incomes to feed their families.29 In sub-Saharan Africa, women are estimated to contribute up to 80 per cent of labour for food production; Asian women produce 50 per cent of food products. South Asian women play a decisive role in rice production, mostly in informal labour schemes. Although agricultural production in Latin America has recently declined, women continue to contribute to approximately 40 per cent of the internal market's agricultural supply. Women, however, account for 70 per cent of the world’s hungry and are disproportionately affected by malnutrition, poverty and food insecurity. Globally, women cultivate more than 50 per cent of all food grown, yet they rarely receive any recognition for their work. Indeed, many are not even paid. 18. Peasant women in particular often face discrimination in gaining secure access to and control over other productive resources, such as land, water and credit, because they are often not recognized as producers or juridical equals. In understanding the problems faced by peasants and the discrimination they suffer, it is especially important to note the special situation faced by women peasants. While the proportion of women heads of rural household continues to grow (more than 30 per cent in some developing countries), less than 2 per cent of all land is owned by women.30 Customs and traditions in many parts of the world limit women’s equal access to productive resources. In some countries, 26 27 28 29 30 Harsh Mander and others, “Dams, Displacement, Policy and Law in India”, Displacement, Resettlement, Rehabilitation, Reparation and Development, contributing paper (Cape Town, World Commission on Dams, 1999). E/CN.4/2002/58/Add.1, para. 60. Nicoletta Avella et Frédéric Reounodji, La législation foncière pastorale au Niger et au Tchad. Une analyse comparative, « Savanes africaines en développement : innover pour durer », 20-23 avril 2009, Garoua, Cameroun. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Gender Food Security, Synthesis report of regional documents (Rome, 2004). Isabelle Rae, Women and the Right to Food: International Law and State Practice (FAO, Rome 2008). 7

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