A Spanish NGO, the CERAI, [Centro de Estudios Rurales y de Agricultura Internacional] coordinated the organization of a “thematic forum” of the World Social Forum on Agrarian Reform. It gathered more than 500 delegates of peasant and indigenous organizsations, non governmental organizations, academic and public institutions coming from 72 countries worldwide.
The objectives of the World Forum on Agrarian Reform (WFAR) were :
to bring forward the question of agrarian reform on the agenda of social movements and the World Social Forum. This issue was already part of their agenda, but did not have a central role in conferences
to promote work on this issue within international institutions. The last conference of the FAO on the topic was held in 1979!
to contribute in the elaboration of a new analysis framework and proposals for land policies and agrarian reform for the XXIth century
to strengthen social processes and partnerships between organizations and sectors of civil society, in order to enable breakthroughs relating to policies on land redistribution and on management of territories and resources.
- FMRA Valencia 2004
Among all the members that integrated the WFAR international steering committee, seven persons and one organization are at the origin of AGTER’s foundation. During the forum, it clearly appeared that constant mechanisms of reflection were necessary in order to enhance interaction between people and organizations, from various regions of the world and with different political beliefs. The four days of the WFAR were too little to make the most of all the worthy contributions that were brought up during workshops and plenary sessions.
WFAR’s work has been exposed during the Social Forum of Porto Alegre in 2005, through a presentation which was organized with VIA CAMPESINA. Documents produced during the WFAR are available on the temporary site of the WFAR (see link page) or on the WFAR page of this website. They will soon be available on AGTER’s resource site, wich gathers library and information resources built with and for interested organizations and people, through exchanges and collective strategic thinking.
In March 2006, the FAO organized a new international conference on the agrarian reform and the rural development (ICARRD), in which participated several members of AGTER.