Rome, 4 November 2014
Press Release
On 3 and 4 November 2014, took place in Rome, the second meeting of the International Organizing Committee of the World Forum on Access to Land and Natural Resources (WFAL-FMAT 2016) at the headquarters of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). In addition to the members of the Committee, also attended, as observers, representatives of IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), the European Commission and the World Rural Forum.
The current situation – persistence of hunger, population growth, exclusion, massive unemployment, environmental crisis and loss of food sovereignty – as well as the persistence of acquisitions, leases and land concessions, invite us all to revisit the issue of access to land and productive resources. Therefore, farmers and civil society organizations, government institutions, researchers and personalities from all continents who have already signed the notice of FMAT 2016 decided to reconvene in an open debate, the different social actors and institutions to advance the reflexion and to propose solutions to improve the access to land and natural resources of poor farmers and landless peasants.
This forum (FMAT 2016) follows the World Forum on Agrarian Reform (Spain, 2004) of the Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (Brazil, 2006), the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the context of National Food Security (Rome, 2012), the adoption of principles for responsible agriculture investment in the context of food security and nutrition (CSA, 2014) and the International Year of Family Farming (2014) .
Bringing in an open debate, various farmers and civil society organizations, national and international institutions and individuals mobilized around these issues, the FMAT 2016 will assess the impact on the implications of recent developments emerged in access to land and natural resources regarding the current situation, needs and prospects of small farmers and landless peasants from different villages, countries and regions. It will be an opportunity to measure the consequences of the modes of access to land and natural resources and the types of uses that are made of resources. It must allow debate and express, without exclusion, the different experiences, points of view, analysis and proposals existing about these issues, so that to go forward on the way of progress. It will also enable to prepare the policy proposals to improve access to productive resources for the most disadvantaged people and promote, inputs creators of economic added value, reduced in fossil energy and inputs and rich in jobs to address the needs of humanity.
The International Organizing Committee WFAL 2016 calls for all organisations that are concerned, to join the process of the Forum and to sign the call launched to organise it (landaccessforum.org).
The International Organizing Committee of the FMAT 2016