FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) were endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security in May 2012. These Voluntary Guidelines have been described as a catalyst leading to improvements in the conditions under which land is held or occupied in the agriculture sectors. The Guidelines address problems of weak governance of tenure and the growing pressure on natural resources, thereby assisting countries to achieve food security for all.

Given the complementarities that exist between the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa (F&G), there is a need to achieve a coordinated approach to their application to ensure that the objectives they pursue are attained in a coherent, sustainable, efficient and mutually supportive manner.

The recognition of customary tenure systems and responsible land-based investments that safeguard legitimate tenure rights and right holders are the interconnected main themes for mainstreaming the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam.

The VGGT Popular Version for Communal Land Administration was developed to support the Parliament of Namibia in delivering training to traditional authorities and regional institutions to enhance their capacity to administer communal land within their jurisdictions. This was carried out in line with the Communal Land Reform Act, Act 5 of 2002 and the resolutions of the 2nd National Land Conference. The Popular Version outlines 14 pertinent land governance issues in Namibia’s communal areas.

The forum was co-hosted by the Mekong Region Land Governance Project and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Co-Conveners of the programme includes the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Regional Center for Social Science and Sustainable Development (RCSD) and the Independent Mediation Group (IMG). The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg supported the Forum.

This policy brief was developed in order to enable a meaningful engagement and policy dialogue with government institutions and other relevant stakeholders about challenges and opportunities related to the recognition of customary tenure in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Customary tenure is understood to be the local rules, institutions and practices governing land, fisheries and forests that have, over time and use, gained social legitimacy and become embedded in the fabric of a society.

Tenure governance is a complex and multi-dimensional issue that requires cross-sectoral and holistic approaches, gathering the resources, information and expert skills of a variety of actors while exploring innovative, polycentric multi-stakeholder governance arrangements to address collective action challenges. To do this, multi-stakeholder partnerships are formed where public and private partners pool their resources and competencies to address mutual goals more effectively.

The dynamics of current global challenges—like food and nutrition security, environmental degradation, climate change, and emergencies—reduce the availability of and/or access to natural resources, and thereby underline the urgency of achieving transformational changes in the governance of tenure. This is increasingly required to bring the greatest good to the most people, in line with human rights.

The Sustainable Development Goal 15 “Life on land” commits world leaders to work together to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN) for safeguarding life on land. One of the objectives that comprise LDN is to reinforce responsible governance of land tenure. Land rights are a key factor for achieving LDN. This publication by the UNCCD CSO Panel aims to analyze and highlight the linkages between land rights and land degradation with the objective of offering policy recommendations to enhance land rights for both the prevention of land degradation and the recovery of degraded lands.

Promoting the provision of legitimate land tenure rights using Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT) in the Context of National Food Security for conflict-displaced communities, including small‐scale rural farmers, pastoralists, and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Greater Darfur region of the Sudan