Global land deal guidelines could pave way to world without hunger

[Darren]

  http://s.coop/meeq

New directives on access rights to land, fisheries and forests show 
constructive collaboration on food security is possible

A foreign-owned palm oil plantation in Ethiopia. Global land access 
guidelines promise to alter the shape of overseas investment. 
Photograph: José Cendon/Getty Images

The endorsement of voluntary guidelines to improve the way countries 
govern access rights to land, fisheries and forest resources 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/mar/14/negotiators-consensus-global-land-governance-guidelines> 
by the Committee on World Food Security 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/food-security> (CFS) on 
Friday marks a historic milestone not only for the way in which land 
tenure is managed, but also for international consensus-building.

The eradication of hunger 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/hunger> depends in large 
measure on how people, communities and others have access to, and 
manage, land, fisheries and forests. Pressure on these resources, and on 
tenure arrangements, is increasing as new areas are cultivated to 
provide food for a rapidly growing population, urban areas expand, and 
as a result of environmental degradation, climate change and conflict. 
Rural landlessness is often the best predictor of poverty and hunger. 
Moreover, insecure tenure rights can lead to instability and conflict 
when competing users fight for control of these resources.

Weak governance of tenure 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/12/global-land-grab-farmers?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487> 
hinders economic growth and the sustainable use of the environment. 
Small-scale farmers and traditional communities will not invest in 
improving their land, fisheries and forests if they could be taken away 
at any minute 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/oct/06/un-land-deals-governance-talks?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487> 
due to lack of recognition of customary rights, weak registration 
practices or corruption. In some countries, women, for example, despite 
doing all the farming, are denied legal recognition and protection of 
rights to their land plots.

The voluntary guidelines on the responsible governance of tenure of 
land, fisheries and forests in the context of national food security 
<http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/nr/land_tenure/pdf/VG_en_Final_March_2012.pdf> 
set foundations that are indispensable to resolve these issues. 
Responsible governance 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/governance-and-development> of 
tenure enables sustainable social, economic and environmental 
development that can help eradicate food insecurity and poverty, and 
encourages responsible investment 
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/mar/06/companies-guidelines-land-investing-africa>.

The guidelines cover a wide range of issues, including promoting equal 
rights for women in securing access to land, creating transparent 
record-keeping systems that are accessible to the rural poor, and 
helping with recognising and protecting informal and customary rights to 
land, forests and fisheries. They provide a framework that governments 
can use when developing their own policies and give investors and 
developers clear indications of what constitutes acceptable practice.

The guidelines are the result of a three-year inclusive process of 
consultation that was initially driven by the Food and Agriculture 
Organisationn (FAO). During this government, civil society, the private 
sector and academics assessed a range of issues and actions. 
Approximately 1,000 people from more than 130 countries participated in 
the 15 consultations held worldwide in conjunction with a global 
electronic conference.

The process moved on to the CFS, the inclusive international and 
intergovernmental platform dealing with food security and nutrition, 
under whose auspices the final negotiations were carried out. The 
negotiations involved nearly 100 national governments, NGOs, civil 
society, farmers' associations, private-sector representatives and 
research institutions.

This participatory, dynamic CFS-led dialogue was crucial to achieving 
consensus among disparate, sometimes conflicting interests, on a 
sensitive topic involving -- among other issues -- striking the right 
balance between attracting needed investment in agriculture and 
safeguarding the rights, livelihoods and wellbeing of traditional 
communities, indigenous people and small-scale producers.

The challenge now is for countries to adapt these guidelines to national 
conditions and needs before implementing them. This is an effort in 
which every stakeholder that participated in the consultation processes 
has a role to play, to transform these guidelines into national policies 
and concrete improvements in the lives of people worldwide.

The FAO stands ready to assist countries in areas such as institutional 
capacity development, advocacy, technical support and legal advice. The 
FAO will use the guidelines as the baseline for our partnerships, and we 
call on all our current and potential partners to endorse them.

Hunger eradication is a complex challenge. Only by working together can 
we make progress. Agreement on the guidelines shows that effective, 
concrete co-operation on sensitive issues central to food security and 
economic development is possible, offering cause for optimism as we 
address other challenges on the path to a world free from hunger.

It is our collective duty -- governments and NGOs, civil society and the 
private sector -- to ensure that the process of constructive 
collaboration bears fruit by promoting tenure governance consistent with 
21st-century needs and equitable access to the precious resources on 
which the world's food security depends.

And while work on the guidelines now moves to countries, our next global 
challenge is to establish principles for responsible agricultural 
investment. A substantial increase in investment, which has fallen 
precipitously in recent decades, is needed in developing countries. 
These principles will help assure that investments serve the needs of 
all stakeholders and enhance rather than compromise food security.

The same dialogue and collaborative process that underpinned the 
guidelines should inform discussions about agricultural investments and 
other challenges related to food security and rural development. The CFS 
is uniquely positioned to support this process, providing a forum in 
which different stakeholders can debate and reach the consensus the 
world needs.

Step by step, we are laying the groundwork for a food-secure world.

. /José Graziano da Silva is director general of the UN's Food and 
Agriculture Organisation/

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