What are the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and Other Natural Resources and why do they matter?

This brief produced for the Dialogue Initiative on Large-Scale Land Acquisitions and their Alternatives provides an overview of the  Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and Other Natural Resources.

Since 2005, the FAO has been working on the governance of land tenure and has noted wide-spread interest in the devel­opment and adoption of related voluntary guidelines at the international level with national-level implementation.

The VG are also being developed as a response to increasing pressure placed on land and natural resources as new areas are being cultivated, occupied by urban expansion, through shifts of access and control, or abandonment.

The Initiating Committee of the Dialogue is formed by three regional farmers’ organizations; Asia Farmers Association (AFA),Organización de Organizaciones de Productores Familiares del MERCOSUR (COPROFAM) and Réseau des organisations paysannes et des producteurs agricoles de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (ROPPA; Network of Peasants’ & Agricultural Producers’ Organizations of West Africa), ActionAid International (AAI), and the International Land Coalition (ILC). Oxfam is a supporting partner of the Dialogue. For more information about the Dialogue, or to get involved, check out: https://www.landcoalition.org/global-initiatives/commercial-pressures-land/dialogue-initiative