Taking stock after three years of adoption: Experiences and strategies for implementation and monitoring of the UN Voluntary Guidelines on Tenure (VGGT)

Improving Governance of Tenure in Policy and Practice: A Conceptual Basis to Analyze Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships for Multi-Stakeholder Transformative Governance Illustrated with an Example from South Africa

“…The primary responsibility for governance lies with states. The access to and control over more and more limited resources, such as fisheries, forests, land, minerals and water, requires cross-sectoral and holistic approaches to respecting, protecting and safeguarding the rights and right holders of these resources, especially those whose livelihoods are dependent on the use of these resources [4,19,20].…”

“…The VGGT are intended to contribute to efforts towards the eradication of hunger and poverty, based on the principles of sustainable development and with the recognition of the centrality of land to development by promoting secure tenure rights and equitable access to land, fisheries and forests [19].The level of participation of representatives of government, CSOs (e.g., organizations of small-scale food producers and indigenous peoples), the private sector and research institutions in the negotiation of all words in the final text sets it apart. This devoted time, effort and energy by the various actors may add to a greater transformative capability in the VGGT implementation process, and the probability that its real application and uses may be altered, especially for those mainly concerned with food insecurity and malnutrition [20,22,23]. The already mentioned 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is, in fact, the key in ensuring that the VGGT remain firmly and properly on the global sustainability agenda.…”

“…Though the term 'multi-stakeholder platforms' appears only once in the VGGT, on page 39 [19], these are seen as the key tool to get agreement and recognition in the national dedicated VGGT implementation processes and monitoring to achieve systemic and sustainable change. Such processes generate partnerships beyond technical disciplines or organization types, and function to activate support by many and varied actors [20]. The role of the collective capacities and knowledge pooled in multi-stakeholder partnerships is becoming more critical in finding solutions [24].…”

Improving Governance of Tenure in Policy and Practice: Monitoring in a Space for Multiple Views

“…Tenure systems increasingly face stress as the world's growing population requires food and nutrition security, and as environmental degradation, climate change and outbreaks like the COVID-19 pandemic reduce the availability of and/or access to natural resources, such as land, fisheries, forests, minerals and water [1][2][3][4]. These issues have shown, among others, the fragility of food supply chains, especially where these are labor-intensive [5].…”