Photo: Ubirajara Machado

Delegations from 92 FAO Member States participated in the Conference. More than 150 farmer and civil society organizations participated in the official conference and the Special Forum held in parallel. In total, some 1400 people took part in the many activities organized around ICARRD. List of participants Graphics and statistics on participation at ICARRD

Opening ceremony

The FAO Director-General, Jacques Diouf, the President of IFAD, Lennart Båge, the representative of the Civil Society Organizations and General Coordinator of Via Campesina, Henry Saragih, and the Minister of Agrarian Reform and Rural Development of Brazil and Chair of the Conference, Miguel Rossetto, addressed the Plenary in the morning of the 7th March.

Thirty nine Heads of Delegation and the Holy See presented their Statements to Plenary on progress in Agrarian Reform and Rural Development.

The Executive Secretary of ICARRD presented a document entitled FAO’s Contribution to Good Policies and Practices on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development.

Governments presented their national reports on best policies and practices and lessons learned. A total of 40 national reports were submitted to the Conference:

• 18 from Africa; (Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Mauritania, Moçambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe)

• 8 from Latin America (Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay)

• 6 from Asia (Indonesia, Japan, Nepal, People’s Republic of China, Philippines, Thailand)

• 5 from Near East (Afghanistan, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates)

• 3 from Europe (Finland, The Netherlands, Turkey)

Presentation of the five main Issue Papers of the Conference

The five main issues papers of the conference were presented to the Plenary by the Eminent Speakers.

• Policies and practices for securing and improving access to land , presented by Julian Quan

• States and Civil Society: Access to Land and Rural Development and Capacity Building for New Forms of Governance presented by Samuel Thirion

• New opportunities for community driven rural development presented by Ignacy Sachs  

• Agrarian Reform, social Justice and Sustainable Development presented by Serge Leite

• Agrarian Reform in the Context of Food Sovereignty, the Right to Food and Cultural Diversity: "Land, Territory and Dignity" presented by Peter Rosset 

During three days, two Commissions analyzed the findings of the various documents submitted to the conference: the main five Issue Papers; the Case Studies prepared by national stakeholders and the National Reports presented by national governments.

During the preparatory process of ICARRD, 29 case studies were prepared by national stakeholders, including civil society, government ministries, donors, private sectors and inter-governmental organizations to provide concrete knowledge and support the Conference debates. 

The draft case studies were discussed in national workshops attended by government and other stakeholder representatives and facilitated by FAO.

In total 29 Case Studies were presented to the Conference:

• Ten came from Africa:(Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda)

• 6 from Asia: (Asia-Pacific Regional Case Study, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka)
  

• 9 from Latin America: Andean Region Case Study, Brazil, Chile (3 case studies Chile 1 y Chile 2, Chile 3) Colombia (2 case studies Colombia 1), Paraguay and Peru;

• 3 from Near East: Iran, Lebanon, Syria;
  

• 1 from Europe: Bosnia and Herzegovina.  

The Day 3 afternoon of the Conference started with an Open Debate between civil society and governments followed by a panel discussion on Agrarian Reform, Social Justice and Sustainable Development. 

A dialogue on equal footing between 7 representatives of civil society and 7 representatives of governments, including Ministers, focused on Agrarian Reform as crucial to achieving national policies promoting Food Sovereignty.

Photo: Ubirajara Machado

All recognized the fundamental importance of open dialogue and the need for public policies for more equitable access to land and resources as a condition for future development and human dignity. They also called on FAO to play its role to offer a neutral forum for policy discussions, to provide technical advice, and to monitor and evaluate agrarian reform.

The Expert’s Panel Discussion in the afternoon of 9th March on Agrarian Reform, Social Justice and Sustainable Development was represented by eminent experts from governments of Indonesia, Niger, Philippines and Rwanda; National Civil Society and Social Movements from Italy, Brazil and South Africa; International Civil Society representatives from federated producer’s and worker’s organizations, food security, and capacity building organization; two representatives from Inter-Governmental Organizations; two representatives from international research organization; a representative from international coalition; and an expert advisor of an international summit and ICARRD.

The panelists were requested to focus their remarks around four questions:

• What elements have been missing in the ICARRD debate?

• What are the basic conditions for achieving social justice? Can industrial agricultural production be socially just? Can socially-just systems that are de-linked from global forces be viable over the long-run?

• What are the policies and practices of Agrarian Reform that guarantee environmental sustainability now and for future generations?; and

• What needs to change in research and extension to ensure the development of appropriate technology that responds to the needs of conditions of small-scale rural producers and workers?

Twenty-seven Special Thematic Sessions were organized, as parallel events to the Conference, by governments, international organizations (FAO and IFAD), NGOs and civil society networks in order to present and discuss specific themes related to ICARRD.

Most Thematic Sessions made specific recommendations for ICARRD follow-up and participants committed to implement activities related to the topics discussed.

Fifteen Partnership proposals were presented at the Partnership Fair, of which 6 were already agreed, signed or under implementation. The Partnership Fair presented an opportunity to showcase progress in existing projects and partnership initiatives on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. It was also an opportunity to announce and/or launch new joint action-oriented projects that highlight dialogue processes among diverse partners and stakeholders on agrarian reform and rural development, creating new synergies among partners, identifying new partners and funding sources, and enhancing the opportunity to learn from each other's experiences. 

		A Parallel Civil Society Forum on "Land, Territory and Dignity“ interacted very closely with ICARRD and attracted more than 300 civil society participants from 210 organizations and 66 countries. Photo: Ubirajara Machado
More information on the participation of civil society organizations at the ICARRD Conference is available here.