SOLA & Open Tenure are open-source software to help protect tenure rights and support the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security.

This paper analyzes the state’s Land Governance in terms of the five themes for
administrators, technicians and professionals working in the land sector as per the gender-framework of FAO’s VGGT along with an additional theme on community perspectives on women land rights, and recommends strategies for moving towards it.

The technical guide on improving the governance of pastoral lands is designed for several audiences including government and non-government actors. It covers specific challenges of pastoral tenure that are unique to pastoralism and considers how these different facets of pastoralist tenure (issues of the commons; free, prior and informed consent (FPIC); gender etc.) can be combined in a coherent approach to securing pastoral lands.

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security represent an inclusive, transparent international agreement on the governance of tenure to promote food security and sustainable development by protecting the legitimate tenure rights of millions of people and improving secure access to land, fisheri (Read more at

The project “Increase the use of the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security among CSOs and grassroots organizations” has started in September 2014 thanks to a contribution of the Kingdom of Belgium. Its first phase, ended in December 2015, has involved seven countries: Guatemala, South Africa, Malawi, Myanmar, Niger, Senegal and Nepal.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: "In recent years, many governments globally have formally recognized community land and natural resource tenure, either based on existing customary practices or more recently established land governance arrangements.1 These tenure arrangements have been called by a variety of names, such as community, customary, communal, collective, indigenous, ancestral, or native land rights recognition. In essence, they seek to establish the rights of a group to obtain joint tenure security over their community’s land.

This publication is intended to support the use of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security. It is not intended to contradict the language of the Guidelines as endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security on 11 May 2012 nor the role of states in their implementation

The Land Tenure Journal is a peer-reviewed, open-access flagship journal of the Climate, Energy and Tenure Division (NRC) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The Land Tenure Journal, launched in early 2010, is a successor to the Land Reform, Land Settlement and Cooperatives, which was published between 1964 and 2009. The Land Tenure Journal is a medium for the dissemination of quality information and diversified views on land and natural resources tenure. It aims to be a leading publication in the areas of land tenure, land policy and land reform.

This edition of the Land Tenure Journal features a selection of articles from Central and Eastern Europe to Francophone and Anglophone West Africa, through East Africa and back to Northern Europe. The focus of the topics spans land consolidation approaches in Europe, experiences of land colonization and an overview of tenure reforms in Burkina Faso, post-conflict land policy in Liberia, land reform in Malawi, and community commons in Norway.

This guide has been developed in response to concerns regarding large-scale land acquisitions and the need to increase investment in agriculture. The guide supports application of the www.fao.org/3/a-i2801e.pdf"> Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure for Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security at the national level by providing technical guidance on how to safeguard tenure rights in the context of agricultural investments, including in land.

This thematic issue on land tenure and disaster risk management (DRM) stems from the recent work done at FAO on normative aspects of land tenure governance that address natural disasters through the DRM framework. The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security provide, among other issues, guidance on improving tenure governance and strengthening tenure security of vulnerable people in line with the DRM framework.

This FAO Legal Paper looks at and evaluates the present land-related laws and policies in operation in Sierra Leone and makes recommendations to align them with the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT). The analysis was supported by two assessment tools, which consist of a series of questions related to land tenure generally and gender issues specifically in Sierra Leone.