December 2012: The latest edition of the journal “Land Tenure,” produced by the Climate, Energy and Tenure Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), focuses on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security.

The journal brings together four articles that cover the contents of the Guidelines, their development process, their thematic focus and the strategies for their implementation. The first article is an overview of the Guidelines describing how tenure is central to development and the importance of the Guidelines as international principles and standards on the governance of tenure. The second article describes the process of the Guidelines’ creation and adoption through a broad partnership of international, regional and national organizations and through intergovernmental negotiations. The third article describes the relevance and similarities of tenure of land, fisheries and forests as well as inter-sectoral linkages. The final article, on the implementation of the Guidelines, stresses the importance of an inclusive and participatory development process. It encourages partnerships and common efforts, awareness raising, capacity development, technical implementation facilitation, and the monitoring and evaluation of new activities.

The Guidelines, which are structured in seven parts, promote the responsible governance of tenure with respect to all forms of tenure: public, private, communal, indigenous, customary, and informal. Gender is also mainstreamed throughout the Guidelines. [Publication: No 1 (2012) Thematic Issue on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure]