VGGT+10 Summary

The effective governance of tenure of land, fisheries, and forests is of particular importance for billions of people who depend on these resources directly for food and livelihoods. In times of multiple crises, such as climate change, biodiversity loss and conflict, the relevance of land tenure prevails to be high as pressure on land resources increases.

In 2012, the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) have been endorsed by all member countries of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS). A decade later, it was time to take stock and assess to which degree the Guidelines have impacted reform processes and tenure security at local levels while opening avenues to mobilize and renew political commitment.

To this end, the VGGT+10 Initiative was launched in 2021, jointly supported by Welthungerhilfe (WHH), International Land Coalition (ILC), Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In twelve countries across Africa and Asia, light reviews on the state of tenure governance, national dialogue events and collaborative follow-up activities shed light on the progress made, challenges encountered, and the main issues to be addressed going forward.