Update from the United Nations
*Dear
On Thursday 21 October, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, presented his new report on access to land and the right to food at the 65th General Assembly of the United UN (Third Committee).
The present report explores the threats posed by the increasing pressures on land and on three categories of land users: indigenous peoples, smallholders and special groups such as herders, pastoralists and fisherfolk. It explores how States and the international community could better respect, protect and fulfil the right to food by giving increased recognition to land as a human right.
The report shows that up to 30 million hectares of farmland is lost annually due to environmental degradation, conversion to industrial use or urbanization. A trend exacerbated by the expansion of agrofuels and the speculation on farmland.
Drawing on the lessons learned from decades of agrarian reform, the report emphasizes the importance of land redistribution for the realization of the right to food. It also argues that development models that do not lead to evictions, disruptive shifts in land rights and increased land concentration should be prioritized.
The report identifies ways to confer legal security of tenure upon farmers, fishermen and indigenous people affected by the current pressure on land. It also asks how agrarian reform can be promoted as an alternative to the global enclosure that we are currently witnessing.
The report (A/65/281) as well as other reports of the Special Rapporteur can be accessed at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/annual.htm
PHM-SA Coordinator
www.phmsouthafrica.org
mailto:coordinator@phmsouthafrica.org