6th FIG Regional Conference and Strenghtening Co-operation with UN-Habitat

6th FIG Regional Conference 

“Coastal Areas and Land Administration – Building the Capacity” is the theme for the 6th FIG Regional Conference, to be held in San José, Costa Rica from 12th to 15th November 2007. The Latin American region gives rise to three significant sub-themes: coastal areas, land management and capacity building, each of which will have a plenary session dedicated to it. The keynote speakers will be internationally known experts representing international and regional partners and FIG expertise. The sub-themes will embrace the following areas of relevant concern and related topics:

Coastal areas: reference frameworks and GNSS for mapping and nautical charting, identifying the land/sea interface, tools for spatial information management; planning methodologies; coastal development design; en–vironmental impact assessment procedures; water resource management; integrated and pro-poor planning approaches; good governance, empowerment of local government and empowerment of the poor.

Land administration: integration of topographic mapping, cadastre, and land registration; cadastral and land registration procedures; multipurpose cadastre; spatially enabled government; marine cadastre and land/marine interface; land valuation and taxation; pro-poor land management and projects.

Capacity building: educational standards and curricula development; accreditation, licensing, and mutual recognition; professional standards and ethics and capacity building at social, institutional and individual level.

As outcome from the conference the organisers are to produce a FIG publication on “Methodologies for Pro-Poor Coastal Zone Management”. The conference will be held in English and Spanish, with simultaneous translation.

Strenghtening Co-operation with UN-Habitat 

Prof. Stig Enemark, FIG president and director, attended the 21st Session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-Habitat in Nairobi from 16th to 20th April 2007. The Governing Council meeting was preceded by a Business Partnership for Sustainable Urbanisation stakeholders meeting organised for the first time by UN-Habitat for private-sector partners. FIG was invited to attend this meeting on behalf of the Habitat Professionals Forum. During the week FIG representatives attended several meetings and sessions organised by the Forum and the Global Land Tool Network. They also held several bilateral meetings with UN-Habitat leaders and other partners. President Enemark paid visits to the University of Nairobi and the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK). The 21st Session of the Governing Council was attended by more than nine hund-red dele-gates from 92 countries and joined by 231 representatives of NGOs and 61 representatives of local governments and their associations. The five-day meeting included representatives of other UN bodies, inter-national fin--ancial institutions, professional associations, women's and youth groups, and the private sector.

In her final statement Anna Tibaijuka, executive direct-or of UN-Habitat, said that the Governing Council reaffirmed fresh support for the agency after passing ten resolutions aimed at taking the battle against urban poverty closer to slum dwellers than ever before. The governments passed two landmark resolutions. One gives the agency the go-ahead to set up experimental financial mechanisms for pro-poor housing and infrastructure, and the other is a new Medium-term Strategic and Institutional Plan. Of the final resolution Mrs Tibaijuka said it would provide the means for the agency to strengthen its role as a pre-investment catalyst for bringing local initiatives in pro-poor housing and infrastructure to scale. Stig Enemark spoke at the roundtable on pro-poor land management for sustainable urbanisation, part of Global Land Tool Network activities. FIG's contribution to GLTN was at the centre of the Council work plan for the next four years, he said, and would result in various imminent projects. President Enemark also attended the Advisory Board of the GLTN that followed the Governing Council. At the meeting with Mrs Tibaijuka the close links between UN-Habitat and FIG were underlined once more and Mrs Tibaijuka confirmed UN-Habitat com-mitment and her own participati-onin the FIG Working Week and the Joint UN-Habitat/FIG Seminar on slum upgrading and innovative finance mechanisms to be held in Stockholm in June 2008.