This conmpendium of recent sustainable development initiatives in the field of agriculture and land management has been developed as a supporting document for the Task Manager's Report on the Land and Agriculture Cluster for Chapters 10, 12 and 14 of Agenda 21. The report draws together 75 cases from over 45 countries, illustrating the many features of improved land management and sustainable agriculture and rural development.

Extensive grazing is the predominant form of land use on at least a quarter of the world’s land surface, in which livestock are raised on food that comes mainly from rangelands. Extensive grazing differs from crop or forestry production, in which the produce remains in situ whilst growing. Evaluation for extensive grazing, unlike that for cropping or forestry, must take into account the production of both grazing forage, termed primary production, and the livestock that feed on this forage, termed secondary production.

At the request of its member countries, FAO has been carrying out global forest resources assessments (FRA) since 1947, in collaboration with countries and other partners, notably the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The global FRA reports on the worldwide status and trends of forest resources, their management and uses. It is based on nationally validated data from national forest inventories and assessments.

Issues relating to land and land reform have been moving up the agenda of rural poverty and food security in recent years with the increasing acceptance that the prerequisites for broad-based and equitable development include the essential need for people to have access to land and other natural resources. Access needs to be on an equitable basis allowing the poor and the disadvantaged, including women, to secure the assets needed for them and their families to generate sustainable livelihoods.

From the outset, the development of agriculture has been strongly associated

with women’s endeavour. In fact, women’s contribution to agriculture goes

back to the origins of farming and the domestication of animals when the first

human settlements were established more than 6 000 years ago. Over the

years, the division of responsibilities and labour within households and

communities tended to place farming and nutrition-related tasks under

women’s domain. Nowadays, in many societies women continue to be mainly

The Eastern and Anglophone Western Africa Regional Assessment meeting was organized by a task force consisting of FAO, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Land Policy Initiative, the United Nations World Food Programme, United Nations Development Programme, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme officials in Ethiopia.

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and other development partners are working together with countries to prepare Voluntary Guidelines that will provide practical guidance to states, civil society, the private sector, donors and development specialists on the responsible governance of tenure. By setting out principles and internationally accepted standards for responsible practices, the Voluntary Guidelines will provide a framework and point of reference that stakeholders can use when developing their own policies and actions.

With the continual rise of global commodity prices and increasing population pressures worldwide, the future of agriculture is looking increasingly unstable. As a result of this escalating demand and intensification of unsustainable agricultural techniques, natural resources are facing an increasing threat of depletion.

This Right to Food Study illustrates the legal significance of the Right to Food at national level and provides a series of concrete examples of the implementation of human right principles, the Right to Food, and State obligations regarding land tenure systems, food policies and institutional frameworks.

This paper discusses the natural resource implications of the latest FAO food and agriculture baseline

projections to 2050 (FAO, 2006a). These projections offer a comprehensive (food and feed demand,

including all foreseeable diet changes, trade and production) and consistent picture of the food and

agricultural situation in 2030 and 2050. The main purpose of this paper is to provide an indication of the

additional demands on natural resources derived from the crop production levels in 2030 and 2050 as

Concentration of land ownership, lack of access, insecurity of tenure and lack of efficiency and transparency in land administration services, are among the obstacles towards responsible governance of tenure of land and other natural resources in Latin America. These issues have been the subject of discussions and policy recommendations during many international forums, such as the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in March 2006.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and its partners will hold consultations on various issues relating to the voluntary guidelines on responsible governance of tenure of land and other natural resources. The voluntary guidelines aim to provide practical guidance for State governance bodies, civil society and the private sector. The voluntary guidelines will provide a basis, which interested parties can use when developing their strategies and activities.