The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)’s Committee on World Food Security approved the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land” Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security at at special session on May 11″ 2012.

This approval was obtained after extensive consultations and several rounds of negotiations” which” apart from governments” included a wide range of representatives from civil society and the private sector. Read the guidelines.

These Voluntary Guidelines serve as a reference and provide guidance to improve the governance of tenure of land” fisheries and forests with the overarching goal of achieving food security for all and to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security.

The Guidelines built on and support the Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security (Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food)” which were adopted by the FAO Council at its Hundred and Twenty seventh Session in November 2004″ and the 2006 International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD). They are based on an inclusive process of consultations that occurred during 2009-2010. Regional consultations were held in Brazil” Burkina Faso” Ethiopia” Jordan” Namibia” Panama” Romania” the Russian Federation” Samoa and Vietnam.