CFS Policy Convergence Products Database

Member Countries to explore measures and incentives to reduce waste and losses in the food system, including addressing post harvest losses;

Agricultural investments should take into account the specific needs of both women and men, bearing in mind that investments in land and other natural resources have impact on women's food security. Moreover, agricultural investment plans, policies and programmes should be designed so that women and men have equal access to programme services and operations, being cognizant of women's and men's commitments to household economies and to child-rearing and recognizing their different needs;

The Committee recommended that gender is included in the monitoring mechanisms of current and future Voluntary Guidelines, including the 'The Progressive Realization of the Right to adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security', and 'Responsible Governance of Land Tenure Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security' and similar initiatives that will be discussed or endorsed by CFS.

The Committee urged Member States, international organizations, and other stakeholders to work together to promote synergies and avoid wasteful duplication to identify and support strategies, policies and actions to further strengthen gender-sensitive food security and nutrition, health and education interventions that scale-up practical solutions for women, including:

Member States to support the adoption and implementation of maternity and paternity protection legislation and related measures that allow women and men to perform their care giving role and therefore provide for the nutritional needs of their children and protect their own health, whilst protecting their employment security.

Support adoption of safety net programmes including home-grown school feeding and school gardens, which encourages girl's attendance at school and links economic empowerment of women smallholders, food security and nutrition of girls in school, and improved education outcomes.

The Committee took note of the report and recommendations relating to gender, food security and nutrition resulting from the Regional Multi-stakeholder Workshop on Food Security and Nutrition for the Near East and North Africa Region that took place on 3-4 October 2011 in Cairo under the CFS umbrella.

Gender analysis and nutrition impact assessments should be conducted to inform food security and nutrition policy, programme and project design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, including the use of appropriate indicators, gender targets and funding;

Smallholder women farmers should be prioritized in agricultural programming to foster equity while taking into consideration the specific food and nutrition needs of women, men and children; and

Statistics with regard to food security and nutrition should be sex and age-disaggregated;

Business Enterprises involved in agriculture and food systems should apply the Principles with a focus on mitigating and managing risks to maximize positive and avoid negative impacts on food security and nutrition, relevant to their context and circumstances. Business enterprises have a responsibility to comply with national laws and regulations and any applicable international law, and act with due diligence to avoid infringing on human rights. Business enterprises involved in agriculture and food systems are encouraged to inform and communicate with other stakeholders, conduct due [...]

Smallholders, including those that are family farmers - women and men - are the main investors in their own agriculture and play a vital role in diversified, including sustainable, food systems. Smallholders and their organisations should apply the Principles, with particular attention to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and youth, by: i) Increasing productivity and income, adding more value in their operations and using natural resources sustainably and efficiently, where applicable; ii) Strengthening their resilience; iii Managing risks, relevant to their context [...]

1.1- These Voluntary Guidelines seek to improve governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests. They seek to do so for the benefit of all, with an emphasis on vulnerable and marginalized people, with the goals of food security and progressive realization of the right to adequate food, poverty eradication, sustainable livelihoods, social stability, housing security, rural development, environmental protection and sustainable social and economic development. All programmes, policies and technical assistance to improve governance of tenure through the implementation of these Guidelines [...]

Research organizations, universities, academia, agricultural training centres, extension organizations and/or programmes should emphasize the integration of the Principles in their own policies, facilitate knowledge, exchange, and skills development, and address the innovation needed to increase smallholders' contributions to food security and nutrition. This can comprise a range of roles including identifying impacts, testing of field practices, technology and business models, and advising the government on policy reform or investors on practices related to agriculture and food systems. [...]

2.1- These Guidelines are voluntary. 2.2- These Guidelines should be interpreted and applied consistent with existing obligations under national and international law, and with due regard to voluntary commitments under applicable regional and international instruments. They are complementary to, and support, national, regional and international initiatives that address human rights and provide secure tenure rights to land, fisheries and forests, and also initiatives to improve governance. Nothing in these Guidelines should be read as limiting or undermining any legal obligations to which [...]

Civil society organizations involved in agriculture and food systems should apply the Principles and are encouraged to integrate them in their own policies and programmes. They are also encouraged to advocate for the appropriate use of the Principles, serve as drivers for transparency and accountability, and assist with building capacity with the aim of contributing to food security and nutrition. Civil society organizations are also encouraged to collaborate with other stakeholders at all stages of investments to use the Principles, as well as to monitor and assess the impacts of [...]

The role of workers in agriculture and food systems is vital. Workers and their organizations play a key role in promoting and implementing decent work, thereby contributing to efforts towards sustainable and inclusive economic development. They also have a crucial role in engaging in social dialogue with all other stakeholders to promote the application of the Principles in investments in agriculture and food systems, and in promoting the integration of the Principles in national laws and policies.

Communities, indigenous peoples, those directly affected by investments, the most vulnerable, and those working in agriculture and food systems are encouraged to actively engage and communicate with the other stakeholders in all aspects and stages of investments to promote awareness of and respect for their rights as outlined in the Principles.

Consumer organizations can contribute to the application of the Principles by informing and educating consumers about these Principles, and encouraging investment that respects these Principles.

States should ensure that policy, legal and organizational frameworks for tenure governance recognize and respect, in accordance with national laws, legitimate tenure rights including legitimate customary tenure rights that are not currently protected by law; and facilitate, promote and protect the exercise of tenure rights. Frameworks should reflect the social, cultural, economic and environmental significance of land, fisheries and forests. States should provide frameworks that are non-discriminatory and promote social equity and gender equality. Frameworks should reflect the [...]

States should consider the particular obstacles faced by women and girls with regard to tenure and associated tenure rights, and take measures to ensure that legal and policy frameworks provide adequate protection for women and that laws that recognize women's tenure rights are implemented and enforced. States should ensure that women can legally enter into contracts concerning tenure rights on the basis of equality with men and should strive to provide legal services and other assistance to enable women to defend their tenure interests.

Given that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated, the governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests should not only take into account rights that are directly linked to access and use of land, fisheries and forests, but also all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. In doing so, States should respect and protect the civil and political rights of defenders of human rights, including the human rights of peasants, indigenous peoples, fishers, pastoralists and rural workers, and should observe their human rights obligations when [...]

States should provide access through impartial and competent judicial and administrative bodies to timely, affordable and effective means of resolving disputes over tenure rights, including alternative means of resolving such disputes, and should provide effective remedies, which may include a right of appeal, as appropriate. Such remedies should be promptly enforced and may include restitution, indemnity, compensation and reparation. States should strive to ensure that vulnerable and marginalized persons have access to such means, in line with paragraphs 6.6 and 21.6. States should [...]

States should place responsibilities at levels of government that can most effectively deliver services to the people. States should clearly define the roles and responsibilities of agencies dealing with tenure of land, fisheries and forests. States should ensure coordination between implementing agencies, as well as with local governments, and indigenous peoples and other communities with customary tenure systems.

States should develop relevant policies, laws and procedures through participatory processes involving all affected parties, ensuring that both men and women are included from the outset. Policies, laws and procedures should take into account the capacity to implement. They should incorporate gender-sensitive approaches, be clearly expressed in applicable languages, and widely publicized.

States should welcome and facilitate the participation of users of land, fisheries and forests in order to be fully involved in a participatory process of tenure governance, inter alia, formulation and implementation of policy and law and decisions on territorial development, as appropriate to the roles of State and non-state actors, and in line with national law and legislation.

States should provide and maintain policy, legal and organizational frameworks that promote responsible governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests. These frameworks are dependent on, and are supported by, broader reforms to the legal system, public service and judicial authorities.

States should ensure that policy, legal and organizational frameworks for tenure governance are consistent with their existing obligations under national and international law, and with due regard to voluntary commitments under applicable regional and international instruments.

States should provide appropriate recognition and protection of the legitimate tenure rights of indigenous peoples and other communities with customary tenure systems, consistent with existing obligations under national and international law, and with due regard to voluntary commitments under applicable regional and international instruments. Such recognition should take into account the land, fisheries and forests that are used exclusively by a community and those that are shared, and respect the general principles of responsible governance. Information on any such recognition should be [...]

Indigenous peoples and other communities with customary tenure systems that exercise self-governance of land, fisheries and forests should promote and provide equitable, secure and sustainable rights to those resources, with special attention to the provision of equitable access for women. Effective participation of all members, men, women and youth, in decisions regarding their tenure systems should be promoted through their local or traditional institutions, including in the case of collective tenure systems. Where necessary, communities should be assisted to increase the capacity of [...]

States should ensure that all actions are consistent with their existing obligations under national and international law, and with due regard to voluntary commitments under applicable regional and international instruments. In the case of indigenous peoples, States should meet their relevant obligations and voluntary commitments to protect, promote and implement human rights, including as appropriate from the International Labour Organization Convention (No 169) concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United [...]

States should, in drafting tenure policies and laws, take into account the social, cultural, spiritual, economic and environmental values of land, fisheries and forests held under tenure systems of indigenous peoples and other communities with customary tenure systems. There should be full and effective participation of all members or representatives of affected communities, including vulnerable and marginalized members, when developing policies and laws related to tenure systems of indigenous peoples and other communities with customary tenure systems.

States should consider adapting their policy, legal and organizational frameworks to recognize tenure systems of indigenous peoples and other communities with customary tenure systems. Where constitutional or legal reforms strengthen the rights of women and place them in conflict with custom, all parties should cooperate to accommodate such changes in the customary tenure systems.

State and non-state actors should acknowledge that land, fisheries and forests have social, cultural, spiritual, economic, environmental and political value to indigenous peoples and other communities with customary tenure systems.

Where indigenous peoples and other communities with customary tenure systems have legitimate tenure rights to the ancestral lands on which they live, States should recognize and protect these rights. Indigenous peoples and other communities with customary tenure systems should not be forcibly evicted from such ancestral lands.

States should monitor the outcome of allocation programmes, including the gender-differentiated impacts on food security and poverty eradication as well as their impacts on social, economic and environmental objectives, and introduce corrective measures as required.

To the extent that resources permit, States should ensure that competent bodies responsible for land, fisheries and forests have the human, physical, financial and other forms of capacity. Where responsibilities for tenure governance are delegated, the recipients should receive training and other support so they can perform those responsibilities.

States should establish strategies for readjustment approaches that fit particular local requirements. Such strategies should be socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, and gender sensitive. Strategies should identify the principles and objectives of the readjustment approaches; the beneficiaries; and the development of capacity and knowledge in the public sector, the private sector, organizations of farmers and small-scale producers, of fishers, and of forest users, and academia. Laws should establish clear and cost-effective procedures for the reorganization of parcels [...]

States should establish appropriate safeguards in projects using readjustment approaches. Any individuals, communities or peoples likely to be affected by a project should be contacted and provided with sufficient information in applicable languages. Technical and legal support should be provided. Participatory and gender-sensitive approaches should be used taking into account rights of indigenous peoples. Environmental safeguards should be established to prevent or minimize degradation and loss of biodiversity and reward changes that foster good land management, best practices and [...]

Where fragmentation of smallholder family farms and forests into many parcels increases production costs, States may consider land consolidation and land banks to improve the structure of those farms and forests. States should refrain from using land consolidation where fragmentation provides benefits, such as risk reduction or crop diversification. Land consolidation projects to restructure farms should be integrated with support programmes for farmers, such as the rehabilitation of irrigation systems and local roads. Measures should be developed to protect the investment of land [...]