After almost three years of negotiations that involved governments, civil society organisations (CSOs) and other groups, the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security was officially endorsed on 11 May 2012 by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
According to the FAO, the Voluntary Guidelines (VG) outline principles and practices that governments can refer to when making laws and administering land, fisheries and forests rights. They are a framework that actors can use when developing their own strategies, policies, legislation and programmes. They allow government authorities, the private sector, civil society and citizens to judge whether their proposed actions and the actions of others constitute acceptable practices.
The VG is 36 pages long as it addresses broad range of issues, except water. It might be helpful if one starts with the introduction to the VG and the FAO prepared a VG at a Glance (10 pages), which can be downloaded here.
Meanwhile, for the full version of the VG, it can also be downloaded here.
Various CSOs have been involved in the negotiations of the VG. If you want to know how it went, one can visit the webpage of the Civil Society Mechanism of CSM. The CSM is a global mechanism for food and security and nutrition which functions as a facilitating body for CSOs/NGOs consultations and participation in the CFS processes.
As the VG is a negotiated text that involved various stakeholders including the private sector and governments, it has its strength and weaknesses. One document that outlines some of the shortcomings of the VG can be found here.
Meanwhile, the FAO committed to release more documents in relation to the implementation of the VG. Visit the FAO website from time to time to see if these documents are already available.
