Regulations of Large-Scale Acquisitions of Land: The Case of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forests

This article focuses on the recent international agreement now known as Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Land, Fisheries andForests. The drafting process for this international agreement, achieved througha transparent consultation activity, started by FAO and finalized through intergovernmental negotiations led by CFS (Committee on World Food Security, abody of the U.N.), also including the participation of civil society organizations,international organizations, private sector representatives, academics and researchers. The engagement of rural social movements and other Civil Society Organizations in the negotiation process is an unprecedented effort in influencing governments to establish guidelines to gain greater access to land resourcesat the global scale. The Guidelines aim to promote food security and sustainabledevelopment by improving secure access to land, fisheries and forests, especiallyfor small food producers, and protecting the legitimate tenure rights ofmillions of people against forms of grabbing, concentration, commodificationand privatization of land which are shaping agrarian systems. They have beenelaborated on the basis of human rights and in respect of local communitiesrights. From a strictly legal point of view, the Guidelines are not mandatory andhence they are not a source of legally binding effects for every single State. Theydo not derive from a formal legislative proceeding, and they are the result of aconsultation and negotiation process coming from the bottom.