CFS 53 side event: Securing land rights for climate action, biodiversity and food

This Land Matrix side event will provide a platform to explore the risks of carbon-related land acquisitions across tenure systems and their compliance with global frameworks, as well as discuss strategies to strengthen community participation and ownership in carbon markets, enhance tenure security, safeguard food security, and embed equity into emerging carbon governance frameworks.

Leading experts will also discuss the findings of the forthcoming Land Matrix Analytical Report, Large-scale land acquisitions for carbon offsetting: Green grabbing or just transition?, which reveals that the volatile development of the voluntary carbon market (VCM) over the last decade has already driven large-scale land acquisitions covering at least 8.8 million ha—an area the size of Austria or Jordan—raising serious concerns for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, particularly with regard to land rights, benefit-sharing, and Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Key insights from the report include:

• Concentration of projects in Brazil, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia.
• Dominance of REDD+ projects, which often overestimate emission reductions.
• Gaps in existing standards relating to community engagement and benefit-sharing.
• Continued vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in remote areas.

Event details

For Indigenous Peoples, peasants, and family farmers, the control over and governance of their lands and territories is the manifestation of their rights, the foundation of their food systems and livelihoods, and the cornerstone of the fight against the climate crisis, land degradation and biodiversity loss. This side event places their voices, knowledge, and rights at the very centre of the debate.

When: Wednesday 22 October 2025 │08:30 - 09:45 (CET)

Where: Hybrid / Green Room, FAO headquarters, Rome, Italy

This event addresses the critical intersection between land governance, human rights, climate action, biodiversity conservation, land restoration, and sustainable food systems. Grounded in Theme 3 of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development +20 (ICARRD+20) “Rural communities as custodians of land and biodiversity”, it will examine how the displacement of the people who live on and from the land, including Indigenous Peoples, peasants, and family farmers, erodes traditional knowledge, undermines climate mitigation efforts, and exacerbates food insecurity and biodiversity loss. Securing land and territories for these groups is a fundamental prerequisite for preserving agroecological knowledge; ensuring long-term food sovereignty, advancing climate action, and conserving biodiversity.

The event will present an innovative approach, integrating policy frameworks such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) to bridge genuine agrarian reform with contemporary food system transformation. It will explore how secure land tenure is the indispensable thread connecting:

1. Demanding policy coherence: We will analyse how high-risk and land-intensive climate solutions in the Global South can violate Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and erode territorial rights, simultaneously undermining the objectives of the three Rio Conventions (Climate Change, Biological Diversity, and Desertification) and the right to food.
2. Showcasing real alternatives: Indigenous Peoples, peasants, and family farmers will demonstrate how their land and territorial governance and management systems, agroecology, and traditional knowledge are not only fundamental to their food sovereignty but are the most effective solutions for achieving the climate resilience and biodiversity conservation that the Rio Agendas promote.
3. Forging joint pathways: We will identify how CFS tools (such as the VGGT and the VGSFS Guidelines) must serve as mandatory safeguards to align global climate and biodiversity policies with human rights, ensuring the path to fulfilling the Rio Conventions' goals is led by the original guardians of territories.
4. The critical nexus: We will connect the nexus between land and territorial rights, responsible governance, and Indigenous Peoples' knowledge systems as foundational pillars for transforming food systems, in alignment with the right to adequate food, to the objectives of the ICARRD+20 and key HLPE-FSN reports on land tenure, agroecological approaches, and resilient food systems.

More information about the event can be found here (click on "Wed 22" tab)

Speakers:

1. Akiko Suwa-Eisenmann, Chair of the FAO High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN)
2. Jann Lay, Land Matrix Initiative
3. Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur to the Right to Food
4. Indigenous Leader from the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples' Mechanism (CSIPM)
5. Danikka Rivera, Land Rights and Young farmers Agenda coordinator, Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA)
6. Víctor Suárez Carrera Government of Mexico, Agrarian Attorney’s Office
7. Martha Carvajalino, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Colombia
8. Fernanda Machiavelli, Government of Brazil, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Development and Family Farming
9. Marcy Vigoda, Director, International Land Coalition (ILC)

Moderator: Elisabetta Recine, National Council for Food Security and Nutrition (CONSEA)

Main language: English
Interpretation: Spanish and French

REGISTER HERE TO ATTEND VIRTUALLY OR IN PERSON