The participation of Governments and Civil Society at ICARRD

At ICARRD, more than 1,400 individuals participated:

• 92 FAO Member States with 25 ministers heading delegations
• 8 United Nations agencies
• 6 Inter-governmental organizations
• More than 150 civil society organizations

By regions, Africa was the most represented, with 32 Government delegations from:

Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Congo, DR, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Five additional countries (with no government representation) had civil society representation: Algeria, Botswana, Equatorial New Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana and Togo.

Latin America & the Caribbean was the second continent most represented, with 18 national official delegations from:

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela

Two additional countries (with no government representation) had civil society representation: Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Europe was represented by 15 Member Countries: Armenia, Austria, Croatia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Asia sent 14 national delegations from:  Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan,  Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand while the South Pacific Region was represented by Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.

Finally, the Near East Region was represented by 8 FAO Member States: Afghanistan, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, Syria and the United Arab Emirates.

But being at Porto Alegre was not the only way to participate in ICARRD. Since November 2005 this website has provided a powerful communication tool to exchange information and encourage participation.

During December 2005 and January 2006, five electronic conferences have gathered information and ideas on the conference themes.

The documents to be discussed at the Conference, specifically cases studies and national reports, were the result of a wide ranging consultative process at global, national and local levels and the participation of many, different stakeholders.

Available here a selection of graphics and statistics on icarrd participation.

Civil Society Organizations and Social Movements

Civil Society Organizations and social movements participated all through the process of preparation of the Conference. They were involved in the review of case studies on agrarian reform around the world, the participated in national dialogue platforms and finally they played an essential role in the success of the ICARRD.

Some 450 NGO observers, members of official delegations, international experts and representatives from more than 130 farmer and civil society organizations intervened during the technical sessions, the panel discussions and the plenary sessions and discussed activities for future action.

Special Thematic Sessions provided a floor for the discussion of specific country or regional experiences and issues regarding specific stakeholder groups.

A parallel Civil Society Forum on "Land, Territory and Dignity" organized by the International NGO/CSO Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) -which gathered 800 participants from 120 different organizations- lead to the writing of a declaration which as presented to ICARRD.  In fact, the Forum ended one day before the Conference to allow inclusion of the results in the Final ICARRD Declaration.

Civil society representatives also sat as observers during the Drafting Committee’s negotiations on the Final Declaration.

Read more on the participation of civil society and social movements at ICARRD.