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CFS Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) Subscribe here!

Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) and smart contracts provide a unique opportunity to bring greater efficiency, transparency and traceability to the exchange of value and information in the agriculture sector. By utilising digital records, cryptography and the disintermediation of transaction processing and data storage, DLTs can improve both agricultural supply chains and rural development interventions in a number of ways. The technology has the potential to simplify and integrate agricultural supply chains, enhance food safety, facilitate access to trade finance and other types of agricultural financial services, improve market transparency, provide greater legal certainty to land-tenure systems and strengthen accountability for [...]

By means of a Transversal Project, co-funded by the EU and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) coordinates, supports and consolidates the implementation of the EU Land Governance Programme.The European Union Land Governance Programme funds 18 individual country-level projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America, all of which address tenure issues, and are implemented alongside various partners, among which are government agencies, civil society organizations, bilateral and multilateral organizations and private contractors. All project activities are carried out within the framework of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible [...]

Many national legal frameworks still do not include laws and measures specifically intended to tackle climate change in the agriculture sectors. However, national laws and institutional frameworks are necessary for good governance and can operate to support the implementation of national policy and international commitments, including on climate change. Indeed, Target 16.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals calls for the promotion of the rule of law, and the assurance of equal access to justice for all. This is both an important stand-alone goal and an enabling goal for the realization of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development‎. Furthermore, the [...]

This series of e-learning courses assists professionals from all food and agriculture fields in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of nutrition-sensitive programmes, policies and investments. The courses use a scenario-based and experiential learning approach and cover all forms of malnutrition and a diversity of contexts.

Land is essential for food security and for livelihoods, particularly for small food producers who generate 80 percent of the world’s food. Yet, most of the world’s small food producers do not have secure, legally recognized tenure rights. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe disruptions around the world, undermining the ability of small food producers to access and control their land and the natural resources they need, and thereby rendering them more vulnerable to encroachment on their tenure rights. While the impact of the COVID-19 crisis is still unfolding, experiences gained from the impact of the food crises of the [...]

The FAO strategy on mainstreaming biodiversity was approved at the FAO Conference in 2019, in view of preparations for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The Strategy aims to mainstream biodiversity across agricultural sectors at national, regional and international levels in a structured and coherent manner, taking into account national priorities, needs, regulations and policies and country programming frameworks. The expected result of the application of the Strategy would be to reduce the negative impacts of agricultural practices on biodiversity, to promote sustainable agricultural practices and to conserve, enhance, preserve and restore biodiversity as a whole. Full meeting document FAO Conference Sessions 163 (CL [...]

This document summarizes the online consultation How to monitor implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries? held on the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) from 17 February to 16 March 2020. The consultation was facilitated by the Small-Scale Fisheries Core Team from FAO in Rome, Italy. The goal of this online consultation was to solicit views, suggestions and recommendations for monitoring the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines), which were endorsed in 2014 by the FAO Committee on [...]

This is the first in a series of briefs drawing attention to the mutually reinforcing nature of four global normative instruments developed through CFS and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable SmallScale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines). Their synergistic implementation can make a difference in enabling small-scale fisheries to contribute to sustainable food systems by providing highly nutritious food for local communities, and it can make a difference for consumers in national, regional and international markets. The four CFS instruments with direct links to the SSF [...]

Both the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) share the common overarching goals of achieving food security for all, eradicating poverty, sustainable livelihoods and environmental protection and supporting the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. This brief is part of a series drawing attention to the mutually reinforcing nature of four global normative instruments developed through the [...]