ANGOC traces its origins to the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD) in 1979. Since then, our advocacy work has remained firmly rooted in land. More than ever, we staunchly believe in the extricable link between land and livelihoods, and that access to land for the rural poor holds the key to overcoming poverty and hunger in the region. Making land more accessible to the millions of rural poor who greatly depend on it for livelihood, through policy advocacy and capacity building, has thus consistently been a priority of ANGOC’s work through the past three decades.

Today, we find that the principles of equity, participation and productivity articulated in the WCARRD remain pertinent, and we reaffirm and strengthen the commitments we made then. ANGOC’s agrarian reform and access to land (ARAL) program aims to facilitate increased access to land of Asian rural communities through a platform promoting consensus building and advocacy among an active constituency with a shared understanding on issues on land. The centrepiece of the ARAL program, the Land Watch Asia campaign strategically integrates ANGOC’s various activities focusing on land.

[Asian Context of Poverty and Landlessness – from ABQ p.14]

Emerging Issues:
Land Grabbing

The land grabbing phenomenon illustrates one of the many challenges to land. The recent growth in demand for land, due to the need for energy and food, has led to increase in the commercial value of land. But the opening doors of opportunity and investment have also meant the rush of various stakeholders to obtain land rights over large tracts of land. Too often such competition for land and natural resources has often come at the expense of the poor.  

[See Preface of Policy Paper; See Foreword on Enhancing Access to Land Resource Book]