Food Sovereignty: Resource Materials
Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests
After almost three years of negotiations that involved governments, civil society organisations (CSOs) and other groups, the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security was officially endorsed on 11 May 2012 by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
According to the FAO, the Voluntary Guidelines (VG) outline principles and practices that governments can refer to when making laws and administering land, fisheries and forests rights. They are a framework that actors can use when developing their own strategies, policies, legislation and programmes. They allow government authorities, the private sector, civil society and citizens to judge whether their proposed actions and the actions of others constitute acceptable practices.
The VG is 36 pages long as it addresses broad range of issues, except water. It might be helpful if one starts with the introduction to the VG and the FAO prepared a VG at a Glance (10 pages), which can be downloaded here. Meanwhile, for the full version of the VG, it can be downloaded here.
Various CSOs have been involved in the negotiations of the VG. If you want to know how it went, one can visit the webpage of Working Group within the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM). The CSM is a global mechanism for food and security and nutrition which functions as a facilitating body for CSOs/NGOs consultations and participation in the CFS processes.
As the VG is a negotiated text that involved various stakeholders including the private sector and governments, it has its strength and weaknesses. One document that outlines some of the shortcomings of the VG can be found here.
Meanwhile, the FAO committed to release more documents in relation to the implementation of the VG. Visit the FAO website from time to time to see if these documents are already available.
Publications and informational materials have a tremendous impact on CSOs and people's organisations. These materials are being used by different organisations as tools for campaigning and policy advocacy. The issues are timely, well researched and written for easy distribution and impact.
A well-worn adage asserts that information is power. But "what" information is also important so PAN AP provides timely information on new issues through our monitoring of the global environment and through requests from our partners. PAN AP publishes Special Releases that cover urgent and emerging issues, and are made available at least twice a year. Case studies of successful initiatives in the arena of food sovereignty are useful as they will serve as guides for possible replication to other countries.
These informational materials and publications make more visible PAN AP's and its partners' work in the area of food sovereignty and help reinforce its position and influence as a key player in regional and international development discourses. They also give a voice to the hundreds and thousands of people in Asia and Africa, whom PAN AP represents through it wide network of partners, friends and individuals.
Tañon Saga: A Guidebook for Environmental Activism and Empowerment
Globalization and opening up of the market economy that has allowed national and transnational companies to expropriate a country’s natural and economic resources, is causing misery and despair to people the world over. In the name of development, lands belonging to small food producers are being acquired through legal and illegal means; governments are selling off water resources to private companies which are building dams over them or simply cornering the water and resources within; reckless mining is stripping land and hillsides – and all this for private corporate profits.
Merangin Land Grabbing Case Study, Indonesia
The Koto Sepuluh indigenous peoples in Tanjung Benuang village, Merangin District, Jambi Province have more fiercely resisted the entry of the company PT Duta Alam Makmur (DAM) in their forests. Almost 75 % of their village have already been lost to timber concessionaires which started operating in the late 80s. But hardly have these concessionaires left when the government allowed the planting of palm oil, rubber trees, and eucalyptus by PT DAM.
Download the full case study from the link below.
Land Grabbing for Food and Biofuel: Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) Case Study, Indonesia
The establishment of the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) will seize 2.8 million hectares of land away from indigenous peoples in Merauke Regency, Papua Province. The MIFEE is being developed as the biggest food estate in Asia, with a total investment of 60 trillion Indonesian Rupiahs. The government is willing to lease the land to private companies for up to 90 years.
Download the full case study from the link below.
Of Collusions and Collaborations: A Case of Land Grab in Sindh, Pakistan
In Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates company Al Dahra Agriculture has forcedly grabbed 500 acres (202.34 hectares) of land in the village of Sayed Khadim Ali Shah, Mirpurkhas district.
Download the full case study from the link below.
Reclaiming the last forests of Sarawak
Indigenous community leader Sumen Bin Gasan has a big burden on his shoulders. His neighbours, fellow Iban and Melanau indigenous groups from 132 houses and 4 longhouses along the mighty Rajang River in Sibu town in Sarawak, Malaysia, have designated him as leader in claiming back their native customary land from land grabbers. In the next few weeks, they will file a court case against an oil palm company and present evidences that the land rightfully belongs to them and that they have been tilling and taking care of it for generations.
Laguna Lake fishers at the mercy of 'development'
Talim Island used to be a thriving community of fisherfolks who comfortably made a living off Laguna Lake. Laguna Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the Philippines and the third largest in Southeast Asia, was after all, home to 23 unique fish species. The massive lake, covering 900 square kilometers (90,000 hectares), used to yield an abundant fish catch: a daily average of 10 kilos of fish for every fisherfolk.
Cambodia's economic land concessions: a veil for state-led landgrabbing
Early this year, Cambodia's Environment Ministry announced that there would be no more granting of licenses for economic land concessions (ELC). The ELC is one of Cambodia's models of economic development based on land expropriation. It's a sugar-coated term for what is simply government-initiated landgrabbing.
When forest guardians fight back
For several generations now, the forests of Tanjung Benuang in Indonesia are home to the Koto Sepuluh indigenous peoples. Nestled between two hills that contain rich and fertile forests, Tanjung Benuang is a village in Merangin District, Jambi Province located in the east coast of Central Sumatra. Indigenous traditions have served to protect and care for these forests as the peoples' ultimate source of life and livelihood.
Customary laws
Troubled Waters of Sri Lanka
Located 150 km north of the capital, Colombo, the Kalpitiya region is one of the most beautiful coastal areas in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. In 2008, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority launched the Kalpitiya Dutch Bay Resort Development Project, displacing many traditional fishing and farming communities. Gilbert Sape, Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific's Coordinator for Food Sovereignty and Ecological Programme writes about an encounter with fisherfolks in one of the islands in Kalpitiya.
