Despite an overall recognition of the human rights foundation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), human rights-based approaches to their application need to be strengthened. With the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), TMG Research, the Danish Institute for Human Rights and the Malawi Human Rights Commission therefore developed a human rights-based approach to land governance monitoring.

The Human Rights and Land Navigator is a reference tool showing how binding human rights obligations underpin the voluntary guidelines on responsible land governance (VGGT). Linkages with more than 20 human rights and 12 human rights instruments, such as UNDROP or ILO C169, have been established. These linkages can be retrieved by applying different filter options of the online tool. This approach has the potential to increase accountability of the state to apply the VGGT and to fulfil its human rights obligations related to secure access to land for marginalized land users.

This event will aim to launch this new tool and to discuss with UNCCD stakeholders and human rights actors the potential of the international human rights system and the Human Rights and Land Navigator to enhance the implementation of the VGGT and to safeguard legitimate tenure rights for ecosystem restoration.