Water is absent in the ‘Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of Food Security’ (FAO, 2012). This paper explored whether and how the people-centred approaches and the human rights values that underpin this document can be better applied in the water sector and how more recognition of the land-water interface can support this.

This document gathers a number of case studies on the use and application of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) in a wide range of projects, and highlights successes in these experiences. For each project, it includes a description of and information on the approach adopted, and provides additonal resources for stakeholders interested in learning more about these projects.

This article reflects on the Tenure Guidelines as a tool for addressing resource governance challenges. It outlines the process through which the Tenure Guidelines were developed and reviews key features of their content, and then focuses on two issues: the legal significance of the VGGT, and the nature of initiatives to advance their implementation.

This document provides information on implementation of VGGT and a number of checklists that might be helpful for investors and companies on the following topics: Tenure Rights Risk Management Checklist (II.B), Consultation and Negotiation Checklist (III.B), Grievances and Dispute Resolution Checklist (IV.B) and Transparency and Corruption Checklist (V.B).

The Social and Environmental Code of Practice (SECoP) for Responsible Commercial Agriculture is designed to help investors in ensuring that their investments are inclusive, sustainable, transparent, and respect human rights. While it focuses on Ethiopia, it will be a useful resource for investors and companies operating in other countries.

Interactive guide to the VGGT

Key messages:

The SPIRAL-Project (the "Project"), financed by the UK government under the LEGEND Challenge Fund and implemented by Deutsche Welthungerhilfe ("WHH") and a private-sector partner (the "Investor"), establishes and tests a fair, transparent, and inclusive business approach (the CPC model) for responsible land-based agricultural investments in the Sierra Leonean Cocoa Sector.

The goal of LEGEND is to apply and test the Analytical Framework for Due Diligence in Responsible Land-Based Agricultural Investments on a large-scale oil palm plantation by Natural Habitats Ltd. The programme is active in Zimmi, Makpele Chiefdom, Pujehun District and is aimed at protecting the land rights, livelihoods and food security of vulnerable people while promoting sustainable businesses. Furthermore, Solidaridad is testing the recent adoption of the New Land Policy (NLP) on Natural Habitat’s work in the chiefdom.

DFID is delighted to launch the first Land Policy Bulletin, which introduces a new land and responsible investment programme - Land: Enhancing Governance for Economic Development (LEGEND).

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) call for governments to clearly define the term ‘public purpose’ to allow for judicial review of the goals of expropriations of property. However, recent research indicates that national-level legal frameworks that govern expropriation decision-making not only vary greatly from country to country but also often fail to comply with the VGGT standards on expropriation. This creates the potential for unpredictable and, in some cases, arbitrary applications of expropriation law in practice.

This paper explores the challenges for democratizing land and natural resource control in Guatemala through use of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests (Tenure Guidelines). This international human rights instrument comes at a critical moment, in which the current global land rush has shaped contemporary agrarian transformation with serious implications for the right to food and control of natural resources.