21 December 2012: The December 2012 issue of the newsletter on the Voluntary Guidelines on Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests describes the steps taken by partners to turn the Guidelines’ recommendations into action since their adoption by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in May 2012.

The newsletter describes the UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution encouraging implementation of the Guidelines. It outlines a recent technical meeting at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN’s (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy and the launching of the FAO’s strategic program to support the implementation of the Guidelines, with over 125 participants contributing to discussions on next steps.

The newsletter also highlights emerging linkages between the Voluntary Guidelines and the African Union (AU)/UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and African Development Bank (AfDB) Land Policy Initiative Framework, and recent efforts by countries to apply the Guidelines. It describes the outcomes of the first regional working meeting on the Guidelines, held from 4-5 December 2012, in Yaounde, Cameroon, noting that other regional meetings will take place in the first half of 2013.

In addition, the newsletter highlights: current plans for communication and dissemination of the Guidelines, and the process to translate them into other languages, including German, Italian, Lao, Portuguese and Turkish; the upcoming launch of a Technical Guide on Gender-equitable Governance of Land Tenure, at the Gender and Land Governance Conference from 14-15 January 2013; and a new working paper on “Monitoring the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests: a Civil Society Perspective.” [Publication: FAO Governance of Tenure Newsletter for December 2012] [Publication: Monitoring the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests: a Civil Society Perspective]