The overarching goals of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security are to achieve food security for all and support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security.

The Guidelines are meant to benefit all people in all countries, although there is an emphasis on vulnerable and marginalized people. The Guidelines serve as a reference and set out principles and internationally accepted standards for practices for the responsible governance of tenure. They provide a framework that States can use when developing their own strategies, policies, legislation, programmes and activities. They allow governments, civil society, the private sector and citizens to judge whether their proposed actions and the actions of others constitute acceptable practices.

The Guidelines were officially endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security on 11 May 2012. Since then implementation has been encouraged by G20, Rio+ 20, United Nations General Assembly, Francophone Assembly of Parliamentarians and others.

The VGGT is now available in the Miskito language, spoken by the Miskito peoples in Central America. The VGGT is also being translated into other indigenous languages in celebration of the proclamation of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032, following the successful International Year of Indigenous Languages 2019.

The VGGTs contribute to SDGs 1 and 15 related to access to land and land sustainability in the context of achieving no poverty and life on land indicators for conservation and sustainable management of natural resources. Indigenous Peoples are key to achieve this SDGs being the holders of 80% of the biodiversity in the planet. Section nine of the VGGT calls upon the States to recognize and protect the legitimate tenure rights of indigenous peoples and to consider adapting their policies and legal and organizational frameworks to indigenous peoples’ tenure systems.

During Session 17^th of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues 2018, the UNPFII recommended that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation to create a technical working group on the collective rights of indigenous peoples to lands, territories and resources, in order to provide technical outputs and publications informing indigenous peoples and the Forum.