CEDAW/C/GC/34 or use of land, water bodies, fisheries and forests, and from agrarian reform policies, rural investments and the management of natural resources in rural areas. Landless rural women should be given priority in the allocation of pub lic lands, fisheries and forests. H. 1. Adequate living conditions (art. 14, para. 2 (h)) Housing 79. The right to adequate housing is of particular concern in rural areas, where basic infrastructure and services are often inaccessible or of poor quality. Many of the measures that protect rural women’s rights to land (for example, the recognition of women’s legal capacity, the recognition of the security of tenure and the elimination of discrimination against women in registration and titling) can be applied to protect their right to adequate housing (see A/HRC/19/53). However, additional measures can also be taken to improve the conditions of rural housing from a gender-responsive perspective. 80. States parties should address housing as part of overall rural development and ensure that measures are developed in consultation with rural women. States parties should improve the quality of rural housing through the design and implementation of targeted policies and programmes that take into account the specific needs of rural women. Such efforts should be made in line with international housing rights standards, including the basic principles and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement (A/HRC/4/18, annex I), and should contain strong measures to protect rural women effectively from forced eviction by State and non-State actors. 2. Water, sanitation and energy 81. The rights of rural women and girls to water and sanitation are not only essential rights in themselves but also key to the realization of a wide range of other rights, including rights to health, food, education and participation. 82. Rural women and girls are among those most affected by water scarcity; a situation that is aggravated by unequal access to natural resources and the lack of infrastructure and services. Rural women and girls are frequently obliged to walk long distances to fetch water, sometimes exposing them to a heightened risk of sexual violence and attacks. Owing to poor rural infrastructure and services in many regions, rural women often spend four to five hours per day (or more) collecting water from sometimes poor-quality sources, carrying heavy containers and suffering acute physical problems, as well as facing illnesses caused by the use of unsafe water. Various forms of low-cost and effective technology exist that could ease the burden, including well-drilling technology, water extraction systems, wastewater reuse technology, labour-saving irrigation technology, rain-harvesting and household water treatment and purification systems. 83. In the absence of toilets or latrines, rural women and girls must also walk long distances in search of privacy. The lack of adequate sanitation also increases their risk of ill health. To remedy this situation, rural women and girls mu st have physical and economic access to sanitation that is safe, hygienic, secure and socially and culturally acceptable. 22/25 16-03601