The Government of South Africa has a major holding of forest land, with a total estate covering 892,000 ha of forest and associated land. Within the state's forest holding there is a wide diversity of forest and land types including: commercial plantations and other afforested land; indigenous forests; legally protected (indigenous) forest areas; and associated bare land. This land is partly owned by the state and partly held on behalf of local communities, some of whom also have existing rights to use the forest land for various purposes.

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 13 September 2007. Since then, the importance of the role that indigenous peoples play in economic, social and environmental conservation through traditional sustainable agricultural practices has been gradually recognized.

A humanidade tem sido testemunha e participante nas múltiplas mudanças pelas quais a agricultura passou no decorrer dos séculos. Desde os primórdios desta antiga prática, o cultivo tem sido a espinha dorsal do desenvolvimento econômico de muitas sociedades e a principal fonte de preservação e evolução da vida. Nas civilizações pré-históricas e agrárias mais antigas, a agricultura não somente era uma fonte de alimento e de matérias-primas, mas também representava uma fonte de expressão da ordem inata da natureza.

أعد هذا الدليل لمساعدة المتخصصين في حيازة الأراضي وفي الإدارة العقارية لمن يشتركون في إعادة بناء نظم الحيازة والإدارة العقارية في بلدان خرجت من صراع عنيف. وفي هذه الظروف يكون توفير أمن الحصول على الأراضي أمرا شديد التعقيد. والمعتاد أن تؤدي الصراعات العنيفة إلى نزوح كثير من الناس. وفي نهاية الصراع قد يجد العائدون إلى ديارهم أن أرضهم في أيدي آخرين. وقد تكون هناك عدة مطالبات مشروعة تتنافس على نفس الأرض وذلك بسبب تتابع موجات النزوح - وقد لا يستطيع كثيرون استرداد أراضيهم ويضطرون إلى الاستيطان في مكان آخر.

Small forest and farm producers manage a third of the world’s forests. Together, these smallholder families, indigenous people and local communities are the world’s largest investors in forests. They are key to sustainable forest and farm management and have a critical role to play in the success of global concerns such as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+), climate change adaptation and green growth. Yet all too often their voices go unheard.

Land Tenure Working Paper 13: Secure land rights are crucial if local populations are to engage actively as stakeholders in rural development.

Selon leur définition par les États Membres de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO), les objectifs fondamentaux de l’Organisation sont «d’améliorer les niveaux de nutrition, la productivité agricole et la qualité de vie des populations rurales et contribuer à l’essor de l’économie mondiale.» En tant qu’organisme spécialisé des Nations Unies, la FAO a un rôle essentiel à jouer pour la promotion d’une plus grande sécurité alimentaire et la réduction de la pauvreté.

The XIV World Forestry Congress (WFC) delivers a strong message: global challenges require increased efforts to better manage land by integrating forests and other land uses. Why is better integration of forests and other land uses essential? What barriers on the ground must be overcome to simultaneously increase agricultural output and boost the productive and protective functions of forests? How can policymakers, the private sector, stakeholders and researchers contribute to a more integrated and sustainable approach to land use?

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.

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.