3 April 2014: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE) signed an agreement that aims to enhance responsible governance of land and natural resources tenure and increase food security in developing countries.

Under the agreement, the two organizations will host dialogues, promote South-South and triangular cooperation and knowledge exchange and inform policies. FAO and CATIE will also cooperate on strengthening capacity for integrated management of agriculture, forestry, agroforestry and natural resources, with a focus on family farming.

CATIE Director-General José Joaquín Campos presented CATIE’s approaches at the signing ceremony. He highlighted CATIE’s Climate-Smart Territories (CST) approach as a tool to achieve inclusive, sustainable human well-being. Campos also underscored the importance of landscape-level partnerships in ensuring access to fisheries, forests and land.

FAO highlighted the agreement’s role in promoting implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests and in achieving FAO strategic objectives, such as the eradication of hunger.

“Working together, we will contribute to the sustainable and hunger-free future we all want,” Maria Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, said at the signing ceremony. Semedo said the partnership will build current and future leaders’ capacity to “create innovative strategies for the sustainable use and conservation of natural resources.”

CATIE is an interdisciplinary center that specializes in agriculture and natural resources. It is based in Costa Rica and its members include the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Governments of Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Venezuela. [FAO Press Release] [CATIE Website]