The UNDROP Declaration (1) adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 17, 2018 reaffirms the UN Declarations on the right to development (2) , the rights of indigenous peoples (3) and the universality of all human rights. It recognises the special relationship and interaction among peasants and other groups working in rural areas and their contribution to conserving and improving biodiversity as well as their own and world-wide food security.
Article 1 of the Declaration defines peasants as any person who engages in small-scale agricultural production for subsistence and/or for the market, who relies significantly on family, household or other non-monetarized labour and who has a special dependency on the land.
It recognises that peasants and people working in rural areas, including youth and the ageing, are migrating to urban areas due to a lack of incentives and the drudgery of rural life, due to insecure land tenure, discrimination and the lack of access to productive resources, financial services and information. The Declaration is based on a concern that peasants and rural workers are burdened with environmental degradation and climate change and suffer disproportionately from poverty, hunger and malnutrition. This Declaration is an important contribution to the advancement of a paradigm for development where the agency of peasants, indigenous and forest peoples is at its foundation.
CVD 