Regulations of Large-Scale Acquisitions of Land: The Case of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forests
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Lorenza Paoloni
und
Antonio Onorati
Abstract
This article focuses on the recent international agreement now known as Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forests. The drafting process for this international agreement, achieved through a transparent consultation activity, started by FAO and finalized through intergovernmental negotiations led by CFS (Committee on World Food Security, a body 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 resources at the global scale. The Guidelines aim to promote food security and sustainable development by improving secure access to land, fisheries and forests, especially for small food producers, and protecting the legitimate tenure rights of millions of people against forms of grabbing, concentration, commodification and privatization of land which are shaping agrarian systems. They have been elaborated on the basis of human rights and in respect of local communities rights. From a strictly legal point of view, the Guidelines are not mandatory and hence they are not a source of legally binding effects for every single State. They do not derive from a formal legislative proceeding, and they are the result of a consultation and negotiation process coming from the bottom. Every State and international organization is called on to guarantee the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Guidelines. The authors contend, with critical arguments, that the process of consultation and negotiation that led to the endorsement of the Guidelines is quite relevant – in the current context of the large-scale land acquisitions – and very significant because it involved civil society and social movements, giving rise to an innovative instrument of soft law.
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©2014 Law and Development Review
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Law and Development Implications of Transnational Land Acquisitions: Introduction
- Articles
- The Law and Land Grabbing: Friend or Foe?
- Arab Acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Partners in Development?
- The Media Discourse of Land Grabbing and Resistance During Myanmar’s Legal Reformation: The Monywa Copper Mine
- International Adjudication of Land Disputes: For Development and Transnationalism
- Managing Foreign Investment in Agricultural Land in Africa: The Role of Bilateral Investment Treaties and International Investment Contracts
- Regulations of Large-Scale Acquisitions of Land: The Case of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forests
- Questioning the “Regulatory Approach” to Large-Scale Agricultural Land Transfers in Ethiopia: A Legal Pluralistic Perspective
- What Can Be Expected from International Frameworks to Regulate Large-Scale Land and Water Acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa?
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Law and Development Implications of Transnational Land Acquisitions: Introduction
- Articles
- The Law and Land Grabbing: Friend or Foe?
- Arab Acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Partners in Development?
- The Media Discourse of Land Grabbing and Resistance During Myanmar’s Legal Reformation: The Monywa Copper Mine
- International Adjudication of Land Disputes: For Development and Transnationalism
- Managing Foreign Investment in Agricultural Land in Africa: The Role of Bilateral Investment Treaties and International Investment Contracts
- Regulations of Large-Scale Acquisitions of Land: The Case of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forests
- Questioning the “Regulatory Approach” to Large-Scale Agricultural Land Transfers in Ethiopia: A Legal Pluralistic Perspective
- What Can Be Expected from International Frameworks to Regulate Large-Scale Land and Water Acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa?
