Consistent with its mandate to pursue a world free from hunger and malnutrition, the following “FAO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples” has been formulated so as to ensure that FAO will make all due efforts to respect, include and promote indigenous issues in relevant work.

The purpose of this document is to promote a dialogue about land issues between FAO and its member countries, indigenous peoples, the Permanent Forum and other interested organizations. It outlines a number of basic principles of a methodological approach for indigenous peoples’ territorial recognition, starting from the consideration that a simple legal recognition is often not sufficient to improve living conditions for these communities. A more open reflection on the delicate theme of ‘development’ is also promoted and sought.

Indigenous peoples1 must be considered an undeniable stakeholder in a development agenda shaped by such a mandate. Recent estimates indicate that although indigenous peoples make up approximately 5 percent of the world’s total population, they comprise about 15 percent of the global poor.2 The adversities faced by indigenous peoples have grown in the last few decades, but so too have the recognition of and appreciation for their potential contributions to sustainable development and natural resources management.

Durant l’Année internationale de la montagne en 2002, la FAO et ses partenaires ont lancé une évaluation à grande échelle et un examen mondial de l’état actuel et des tendances futures de l’aménagement intégré et participatif des bassins versants. Les objectifs généraux étaient de promouvoir l’échange et la diffusion d’expériences dans la mise en œuvre de ces projets durant la décennie 1990–2000, et d’aider à identifier une vision pour une nouvelle génération de programmes et projets.

This study investigates the political and contentious nature of access to mountain natural resources by poor, disadvantaged and marginalized people, including women and youth, and the policy processes associated with access and development over time. This study has been commissioned by FAO to look at sustainable livelihoods approaches to access to natural resources in mountain areas. We concentrate on access by poorer and marginalized groups to policy processes whereby long-term sustainable access to resources is achieved.

Since the 1970s and 1980s, community-based forestry has grown in popularity, based on the concept that local communities, when granted sufficient property rights over local forest commons, can organize autonomously and develop local institutions to regulate the use of natural resources and manage them sustainably. Over time, various forms of community-based forestry have evolved in different countries, but all have at their heart the notion of some level of participation by smallholders and community groups in planning and implementation.

El objetivo de este documento normativo es proporcionar a la FAO un marco para orientar su labor sobre cuestiones relativas a los pueblos indígenas. Las actividades actuales, que no siguen una estrategia sistemática en relación con estos asuntos, se beneficiarán considerablemente de la definición de una dirección y un enfoque comunes. Al mismo tiempo, también es importante para los mismos pueblos indígenas, ayudar a comunicar y clarificar lo que éstas pueden esperar razonablemente de la Organización.

Ill-regulated land acquisition and unilateral land concessions may often trigger forced relocations, conflicts and human rights abuses. This course introduces the concept of Free, Prior and Informed Consent that indigenous people and small family farmers can use to protect their customary or traditional land rights. The process ensures that communities can participate in decision-making processes and that their concerns, priorities and preferences are accommodated in any project affecting their lands, territories and resources.

This Guide aims to assist indigenous peoples and their organizations on how to use the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security1 (hereafter “Right to Food Guidelines” or “Guidelines”) to promote their own interests in the area of food security.

Documento de trabajo sobre la tenencia de la tierra 20. Este documento analiza las características del régimen comunal y su función en el sistema de gestión de los recursos naturales en diferentes contextos de algunos países asiáticos. Las presiones actuales del mercado sobre los recursos naturales suponen ya sea desafíos que oportunidades para que las comunidades y los gobiernos utilicen y refuerzen el régimen comunal para promover la gestión sostenible de algunos recursos naturales.

This paper represents part of an area of work in support of enhancing access to land and forest resources in support of rural livelihoods in Mongolia. . This synthesis report draws on field studies undertaken recently in five rural areas of Mongolia, covering all ecological zones from montane and northern taiga forest to arid forest in the Gobi. Our findings document and explain, with case studies and documentation from participatory analysis, the downward cycle of resource depletion and descend into poverty that is in action.