{"id":5179,"date":"2026-02-24T17:34:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/?p=5179"},"modified":"2026-02-24T17:34:58","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T17:34:58","slug":"icarrd20-joint-civil-society-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/?p=5179","title":{"rendered":"ICARRD+20 : Joint Civil Society Statement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Protect Our Land, Restore Our Soil: Collective Territorialities for Land Justice, Pastoralist Futures, and Ecological Restoration\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As civil society organisations, social movements, faith-based actors, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralist <\/span>and peasant organisations from Africa and across the Global South, we come to ICARRD+20 at a <\/span>moment of deep crisis and urgent possibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

Twenty years after the first International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, <\/span>rural communities across the world continue to face dispossession, land concentration and <\/span>ecological destruction. Despite global commitments to end hunger and poverty, land and food <\/span>systems are increasingly controlled by corporate and financial interests, while communities that <\/span>produce food remain marginalised and insecure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Across Africa and other regions, customary and collective land systems are being undermined in <\/span>the name of development, conservation, climate mitigation and large-scale investment. Carbon <\/span>o\ufb00set projects, extractive industries, agribusiness expansion and speculative land markets are <\/span>accelerating dispossession, soil degradation and social inequality, often excluding communities <\/span>from territories they have governed collectively for generations. At the same time, agribusiness <\/span>corporations and financial investors are driving the rapid expansion of factory farming and <\/span>industrial livestock production across Africa, concentrating land and resources, degrading <\/span>ecosystems, and undermining pastoralist and small-scale livestock systems essential to food <\/span>sovereignty.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pastoralist communities are among those most severely a\ufb00ected. As 2026 is the International Year <\/span>of Rangelands and Pastoralists, this conference must recognise pastoralists as central to <\/span>sustainable food systems and ecological resilience. Policies that restrict livestock mobility, privatise <\/span>communal rangelands or convert grazing lands to agribusiness, conservation or carbon-o\ufb00set <\/span>projects undermine pastoralist livelihoods while intensifying conflict, poverty and environmental <\/span>degradation. Yet pastoralism remains one of the most climate-resilient land-use systems in <\/span>drylands. Through mobility and communal rangeland management, pastoralists sustain livelihoods, <\/span>supply vital meat and milk production, and maintain ecological balance in areas where crop <\/span>farming is often unsustainable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, communities defending their territories face criminalisation and violence. Women <\/span>pastoralists and small-scale producers, youth, and Indigenous Peoples remain excluded from <\/span>decision-making processes, despite being central to food production and environmental <\/span>stewardship.<\/span><\/p>\n

ICARRD+20 must therefore not be a commemorative event. It must become a turning point.<\/span>Our Calls to Governments and International Institutions <\/span>Ahead of ICARRD+20, we call on governments, international institutions, and development <\/span>partners to commit to the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. <\/span>Recognise and protect collective and customary land tenure systems , including individual <\/span>and collective land rights as a\ufb03rmed in CESCR, UNDRIP and UNDROP .<\/span><\/p>\n

2. <\/span>Protect pastoralist rangelands and livestock mobility , including cross-border corridors <\/span>essential for climate adaptation and peace, and prevent conversion of rangelands to <\/span>inappropriate uses such as monoculture tree plantations.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. <\/span>Implement genuine agrarian reform and equitable land redistribution , prioritising landless <\/span>farmers, women, youth, pastoralists and Indigenous communities, while addressing the <\/span>historical and political drivers of land degradation and induced land scarcity.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. <\/span>End land speculation and financialisation , including large-scale land acquisitions and <\/span>carbon or biodiversity credit schemes that dispossess communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. <\/span>Redirect agricultural and climate finance toward agroecology, rangeland restoration and <\/span>community-led food systems , and integrate pro-pastoralist strategies into National <\/span>Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions <\/span>(NDCs). Promote conservation models that uphold pastoralists\u2019 rights and ensure <\/span>restoration strengthens pastoralist livelihoods as part of a just green transition.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. <\/span>Invest in decentralised infrastructure and services compatible with mobile pastoralist <\/span>systems , including water, veterinary care, markets, education and health.<\/span><\/p>\n

7. <\/span>Guarantee meaningful participation of a\ufb00ected communities , and free prior and informed <\/span>consent of Indigenous Peoples, in land, agriculture and climate decision-making.<\/span><\/p>\n

8. <\/span>Protect land and environmental defenders , and end violence, criminalisation and forced <\/span>displacement.<\/span><\/p>\n

9. <\/span>Establish binding corporate accountability mechanisms for human rights violations and <\/span>ecological harm across global value chains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Toward Land Justice, Pastoralist Futures and Ecological Restoration<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The future lies not in further commodifying land and food systems, but in restoring community <\/span>control over territories, securing pastoralist mobility and commons, and supporting agroecological <\/span>transitions rooted in justice and ecological integrity.<\/span><\/p>\n

ICARRD+20 must renew global commitments to agrarian reform, land justice, and food sovereignty, <\/span>led by communities that sustain the world\u2019s food systems and ecosystems.<\/span><\/p>\n

Land justice is climate justice. Pastoralist mobility is ecological resilience.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Protect Our Land, Restore Our Soil: Collective Territorialities for Land Justice, Pastoralist Futures, and Ecological Restoration\u00a0 As civil society organisations, social movements, faith-based actors, Indigenous Peoples, pastoralist and peasant organisations from Africa and across the Global South, we come to ICARRD+20 at a moment of deep crisis and urgent possibility. Twenty years after the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,19],"tags":[26,67],"class_list":["post-5179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-era-in-the-news","category-press-releases","tag-erafoen-2","tag-icarrd-20"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5181,"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5179\/revisions\/5181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erafoen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}