The document highlights four areas of the Voluntary Guidelines: human rights approach, diversity of existing land and natural resource tenure systems,  free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) principle of consultation and participation will apply human rights approach, diversity of existing land and natural resource tenure systems, women's land rights and corporate responsibility. These are of greatest interest and relevance to the policy priorities of ActionAid and the International Food Security Network (IFSN).

During the Donor Roundtable Meeting in Washington on the margins of the annual land conference at the World Bank on 12 April 2013 participants agreed to establish a new

A new policy brief released by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), Oxfam, and the Secretariat of the International Land Coalition (ILC) calls for the inclusion of “community land rights” in the United Nations’ Post-2015 Development Agenda, terming it critical to eradicating poverty and respecting earth’s life support systems.

On December 21st, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on Agriculture Development and Food Security, which encourages countries to “give due consideration to implementing the Voluntary Guidelines (VGs) on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security.”

A guest post by Dr. Paul Munro-Faure, Deputy Director, Climate, Energy and Tenure Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

In April, the U.N. Committee on Food Security (CFS) released the Zero Draft of the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI) in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition. The release of the RAI Zero Draft marks an important step in the process toward the adoption of a framework that will guide national regulations, international investment agreements, global corporate social responsibility initiatives, and individual investor contracts covering all types of investment in agriculture.

On May 19, the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) began multi-stakeholder negotiations intended to finalize the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment (RAI)—a set of critical principles that can help guide national regulations, global corporate social responsibility initiatives, and individual contracts covering all types of investment in agriculture. The RAI principles were developed through a broad, inclusive multi-stakeholder process, involving governments, civil society and the private sector.

Increasingly, companies that depend on forests for their products are recognizing the need to establish environmentally and socially sensitive forest management practices. With government agencies and large corporations demanding paper products that have been certified by a third-party organization, companies have seen that certification generates returns on investments.

A recent article from IRIN news discusses land and conflict, as well as some potential opportunities for land reform, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). According to the article, “land disputes are key drivers of conflict in eastern DRC, and they hinder development across the region.

A guest post by Dr. Paul Munro-Faure, Deputy Director, Climate, Energy and Tenure Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Last month, the 40th Session of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) was held at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome. Land governance and responsible tenure were a strong thread of interest and discussion throughout the week-long meeting.

Last week, the World Bank's 14th Annual Conference on Land and Poverty – which was sponsored by USAID along with several other organizations – brought together more than 800 participants from 90 countries, representing government, private sector, civil society, academia, and development partners. The large attendance from a diverse set of participants reinforces the increasing recognition that good land and resource governance is central to a variety of development objectives. The theme of this year’s conference was “Moving towards transparent land governance: Evidence-based next steps”.

Congressional Briefing hosted by Congresswoman Betty McCollum on March, 28 2014Remarks by Dr. Gregory Myers, Land Tenure and Property Rights Division Chief, USAID (as written)
First, I would like to thank Congresswoman McCollum for hosting this event and ActionAid for organizing and bringing all of us together for this important briefing. I would also like to thank Congresswoman McCollum’s staff for their attention to these critical issues.