Approximately three quarters of the world1s poor live in rural
areas and depend on access to land and other natural resources
for their livelihoods. For most of them, insecure access to land
is closely linked to poverty. Since FAO’s founding 60 years ago,
the Organization has been working to improve and secure access
to land for the rural poor. In June 2005, the FAO Committee on
Agriculture unanimously approved the proposal for FAO to convene
an International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural
Development in 2006 (ICARRD) as a critical element of FAO’s
programme to fulfil its international commitments and the
Millennium Development Goals. The road from the 1979 World
Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD) to
the 2006 International ICARRD will build on the consensus
processes ongoing during the last ten years, particularly the
World Food Summit (WFS), the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD) and the Millennium Development Goals Summit.
ICARRD will be an opportunity to bring