Across the world, governments, international organizations, civil society, research institutions, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and the private sector are working to strengthen land tenure, property rights, and resource governance. These efforts include technical support, capacity development, policy dialogue, research, and knowledge sharing aimed at building more equitable, transparent, and effective land governance systems.
Over the past several years, land and resource governance has gained growing attention in international policy discussions and global development processes. A wide range of actors have contributed financial resources, technical expertise, and thought leadership to advance land governance priorities in international fora and to promote stronger connections between land rights, food security, environmental sustainability, economic opportunity, social inclusion, and resilience.
Photo Credit: FAO/Giuseppe Carotenuto
Timeline of Key Land Agreements
Land and resource governance has become an important area of international cooperation and policy development. The global land sector has worked collectively to advance guidelines, principles, frameworks, and commitments that support stronger land and resource governance systems as part of broader efforts to promote sustainable development, food security, climate resilience, social justice, and inclusive economic growth.
Through international agreements, global coordination, national reform processes, and locally grounded action, actors across the land sector continue to support programs and policies that promote more transparent, accountable, accessible, predictable, and secure rights to land and natural resources. These efforts help create the conditions for more equitable development, stronger livelihoods, responsible investment, and better long-term stewardship of land and ecosystems.
Agreements in 2013
Building on progress achieved in 2012, the 2013 G7, under U.K. leadership, announced steps to improve transparency in land transactions, including a series of Land Partnerships. As part of this effort, partners worked with the Government of Burkina Faso to strengthen land governance and improve transparency in land transactions.
The Global Donor Working Group on Land, launched in July, brought together donor organizations to strengthen coordination and collaboration on land governance. One of the group’s early initiatives was the development of a comprehensive database of member organizations’ land governance programs.
Agreements in 2014
Members of the CFS contributed to the development of the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (RAI), which were adopted in October. The RAI provides a framework for promoting responsible land-based investment, including respecting and protecting land tenure in the context of agricultural investments and national food security strategies.
Agreements in 2015
Under the leadership of Grow Africa and the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, and working with a range of bilateral and multilateral development partners, stakeholders developed the Analytical Framework for Responsible Land-Based Agricultural Investments through a collaborative multi-stakeholder process in August. The Analytical Framework was designed to help investors understand complex land tenure issues and establish practical processes that align their policies and actions with global best practices and relevant international guidelines.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in September 2015, comprise 17 goals and 169 targets covering a wide range of critical development issues. The goals related to ending poverty, hunger, and achieving gender equality all include targets that recognize land and natural resource rights as essential to achieving these objectives.
