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  • Publication | 2022

Policy Document: Land Tenure and Sustainable Agri-food Systems

Global Food and Nutrition Security

This policy document on land tenure and sustainable agri-food systems is a collaboration between the ILC, FAO and GLTN, with support from the GDPRD. The report stresses the critical importance of land access and land tenure for more sustainable agri-food production and consumption systems. 

The report also highlights that tenure security can advance sustainable development by:

  • Ensuring access, availability, and affordability of safe and nutritious foods;

  • Acting as an enabler for more local, inclusive, and sustainable food chains;

  • Advancing nature-positive production through sustainable agricultural practices;

  • Improving livelihoods, especially for women, youth, indigenous peoples and local communities; and

  • Building resilience, particularly to climate-change related disruptions that potentially induce conflict.

The document recommends a number of crosscutting actions. Critically, these are to increase equitable land access, strengthen land tenure security, invest in land institutions, and ensure accountability, legal frameworks and transparency. The authors emphasize that these actions should focus particularly on women, youth, and indigenous peoples and local communities with land tenure as a cornerstone of a more sustainable and equitable agri-food system.