The workshop has been organized through the collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Iran’s Land Affairs Organization entitled “Technical Workshop Awareness Raising on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT)”.
The VGGT represents a global engagement towards placing tenure firmly in the context of poverty reduction and food security and promoting more transparent and accountable tenure structures and administrations.
Serge Nakouzi, the FAO Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran highlighted in his opening remarks of the workshop that VGTT as “the guidelines that can serve as a reference to all stakeholders”.
He underscored that implementation of the guidelines has one of the priority areas of FAO’s global program promoting extensive global awareness and capacity building. So far, response to 26 country requests for support on VGGT has been provided by the Organization.
“We are delighted to follow discussions on ways in which the guidelines might be implemented in Iran and we are pleased to follow the process of increasing capacities of all stakeholders to understand, administer, secure and transfer tenure rights, in accordance with the principles contained in the guidelines” he added in his statement.
The FAO Envoy to Iran expressed that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been very active in the drafting of and negotiations on the VGGT and affirmed that the VGGT are applicable to all national governing systems which render them as useful and equally appropriate tool for the country.
The VGGT workshop in Iran has been conducted by Daniel Dale, FAO Land Management and Tenure Officer based at the Regional Office for North Africa and the Near East in Cairo, Egypt and Leila Shamsaifar, Land Tenure Officer at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy.
The VGGT are based on an inclusive, transparent consultation process started by FAO and then finalized through intergovernmental negotiations led by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), with the participation of civil society organizations, private sector representatives, academics and researchers, and international organizations.
The voluntary guidelines place great emphasis on participatory and transparent decision-making. The workshop intends to create a critical mass of informed stakeholders, discuss ways in which they might be implemented here in the country and initiate the development of a multi-stakeholder platform.
The workshop aims to strengthen ability of both government and citizens to understand and administer tenure rights and the processes involved in providing access to and transferring such rights, in accordance with the principles contained in the VGGT.
PT/PR