CEDAW/C/GC/34 organizations, rural workers’ organizations, self-help groups and agro-processing entities. Rural women and their representatives should be able to participate directly in the assessment, analysis, planning, design, budgeting, financing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all agricultural and rural development strategies; (e) Ensure that rural development projects are implemented only after participatory gender and environmental impact assessments have been conducted with the full participation of rural women, and after obtaining their free, prior and informed consent. The results of participatory assessments shall be considered to be fundamental criteria for taking any decision regarding the implementation of such projects. Effective measures should be taken to mitigate possible adverse environmental and gender impacts; (f) In the case of States parties in conflict or post-conflict situations, ensure the participation of rural women as decision makers in peacebuilding efforts and processes, in line with general recommendation No. 30. G. Land and natural resources (art. 14, para. 2 (g), read alongside art. 13) 55. Rural women often have only limited rights over land and natural resources. In many regions, they suffer from discrimination in relation to land rights, including with respect to communal lands, which are controlled largely by men. 1. Land and natural resources 56. The Committee considers rural women’s rights to land, natural resources, including water, seeds and forests, and fisheries as fundamental human rights. Barriers that prevent them from enjoying these rights often include dis criminatory laws, the lack of harmonization of laws and their ineffective implementation at the national and local levels, and discriminatory cultural attitudes and practices. 57. States parties should take all measures, including temporary special measures, necessary to achieve the substantive equality of rural women in relation to land and natural resources, and design and implement a comprehensive strategy to address discriminatory stereotypes, attitudes and practices that impede their rights to land and natural resources. 58. States parties should pay special attention to customary systems, which often govern land management, administration and transfer, in particular in rural areas, and ensure that they do not discriminate against rural women. They should raise awareness about rural women’s rights to land, water and other natural resources among traditional, religious and customary leaders, lawmakers, the judiciary, lawyers, law enforcement authorities, land administrators, the media and other relevant actors. 59. States parties should ensure that legislation guarantees rural women’s rights to land, water and other natural resources on an equal basis with men, irrespective of their civil and marital status or of a male guardian or guarantor, and that they have full legal capacity. They should ensure that indigenous women in rural areas have equal access with indigenous men to ownership and possession of and control over land, water, forests, fisheries, aquaculture and 16-03601 17/25