Transcript Title
Civil society’s institutional battle: FAO Voluntary Guidelines on
Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and
Forests in the Context of Food Security
FIAN SEMINAR LAND GRABBING IN UGANDA,
AMSTERDAM, December 7, 2011
FoodFirst Information and Action Network
Civil society’s institutional battle
› FAO initiative Voluntary Guidelines on
Responsible Governance of Tenure
of Land, Fisheries and forests
› Why and How CSO engaged in the
process
› Where are we now
With Human Rights against Hunger!
Voluntary Guidelines
FAO is preparing Voluntary Guidelines to enhance
responsible governance of tenure of land and other
natural resources. In setting out principles and
internationally accepted standards, the Voluntary
Guidelines intend to provide practical guidance to
states, civil society and private sector on responsible
governance of tenure. The guidelines will constitute a
framework for policies, legislation and programmes.
Being voluntary, they will not establish legally binding
obligations nor replace existing national or
international laws, treaties or agreements.
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CFS
The Committee for World Food Security (CFS) is
the United Nations’ forum for reviewing and
following up on policies concerning world food
security. It also examines issues which affect
the world food situation.
In the 35th Session the members of CFS have
agreed on a wide-ranging reform that aims to
make CFS the foremost inclusive international
and intergovernmental platform dealing with
food security and nutrition
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CSM
The essential role of the Civil Society Mechanism
(CSM) is to facilitate the participation of CSOs
in the work of the CFS, including input to
negotiation and decision-making.
The CSM will also provide a space for dialogue
between a wide range of civil society actors
where different positions can be expressed
and debated.
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CSO in the process of the Voluntary Guidelines
Why to engage in this process
» to continue the multi-constituency dialogue started in
ICARRD, Porto Alegre, Brazil in 2006 and the Forum for
Food Sovereignty in Selingue, Mali in 2008
» to develop a systematic and comprehensive
interpretation of existing international human rights and
environmental law provisions protecting the rights to
land and natural resources of all rural constituencies.
» to contribute to a more democratic global governance of
food and agriculture based on the UN system,
participation of social movements and other civil society
organizations.
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CSO in the process of the Voluntary Guidelines
» “Civil Society Organizations’ Proposals the
FAO Guidelines on Responsible Governance
of Land and Natural Resources Tenure”
- Document based on the inputs from the 4 civil
society consultations + e-consultation
- Document has its own live and forms the basis
for CSO position through the process, no
matter the final outcome
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Where are we now?
Waiting for a 3th round of negotiations
Important achievements regarding land grabbing:
- Human Rights as overarching principles
- Right to Food and Food Security as main
objectives
- Recognition of Customary and Informal Tenure
- Protection of defenders of land / human rights
- Regulated spatial planning
- To bring the voice of the most affected by land
grabbing to the CFS: Dakar Appeal 2011 to
stop landgrabbing
- In general, CFS tackles the land question,
forgotten for long time
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Useful links
» http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-home/landtenure/en/
» http://cso4cfs.org/civil-society-mechanism/
» http://www.fian.org/
With Human Rights against Hunger!