ILC heads back to Colombia, this time for agrarian reform

9 February 2026 — Just eight months after co‑organising the Global Land Forum 2025 in Bogotá together with Colombia’s Ministry of Agriculture, the International Land Coalition (ILC) is heading back, but this time for ICARRD+20; a pivotal global moment for agrarian reform and people‑centred land governance, in Colombia and beyond.

Colombia has one of the world's highest levels of land concentration and a long history of agrarian conflicts, dispossession, and violence in rural territories. According to the research findings from ILC's Land Inequality Initiative "Uneven Ground: Land Inequalities and the Heart of Unequal Societies" :

In June 2025, the Global Land Forum brought together thousands of participants from across the world to reaffirm the central role of land rights in peacebuilding, climate action, food systems, and rural transformation. ICARRD+20 now builds on that momentum, offering a renewed opportunity to secure political commitments that truly respond to the needs and leadership of communities.

Why ICARRD+20 matters now

Twenty years after the first International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) set out a blueprint for action, the world faces worsening food insecurity, climate pressures, and inequality. The call for agrarian reform has never been more urgent.

For ILC’s global network of more than 320 organisations, ICARRD+20 is not just another conference — it is a defining moment to reinforce the message communities have carried for decades: agrarian reform must be led by communities and rooted in land rights.

ILC members at the forefront

ILC is attending ICARRD+20 with a diverse member delegation - representing 11 countries outside of Latin America - of land and environmental defenders, Indigenous leaders, women shaping food systems, pastoralists, youth leaders, and rural organisations. Their lived experience and proposals sit at the heart of ILC’s contributions and demands for action.

Throughout ICARRD+20, ILC and its members will advocate for:

• Renewed political commitments to people‑centred land governance
• Support and financing for community‑driven agrarian reform
• Recognition and protection of land defenders
• Strengthening Indigenous and community-led governance of land, forests, and natural resources
• A clear link between agrarian reform and global food, climate, and biodiversity goals

As ILC returns to Colombia, the message is clear:

agrarian reform must start with the people who live from, depend on, and protect the land.