23^rd FIG General Assembly, Prague 2000
Appendices

APPENDIX TO ITEM 13

Director, FIG/UN Liaison

An important objective for the last year was to work closely with the outgoing President of the FIG, Professor Peter Dale, and the incoming President Mr. Robert Foster, on the role and objectives of the Director, FIG/UN Liaison. The majority of these discussions have also included the Director of the FIG Permanent Office Mr. Markku Villikka.

Recognising that the FIG has made a strategic policy decision to work in partnership with the United Nations in pursuing common objectives, this means that to some degree the opportunities for the FIG in the international arena are almost limitless. However after detailed discussions, the President of the FIG, the Director of the FIG Permanent Office and myself recognise that the FIG will have to carefully focus its activities with the United Nations to ensure maximum benefit and to recognise the limited resources available to the FIG.

A very important step in developing the FIG-UN strategy was the UN-FIG Round-Table organised in Melbourne after the UN-FIG International Conference on Land Tenure and Cadastral Infrastructures for Sustainable Development. The Round-Table included representatives of FAO, Habitat, World Bank, Economic Commission for Africa, Economic Commission for Europe, Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructures for Asia and the Pacific, Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructures for the Americas and worked out a modus operandi which recognised the strengths of both the FIG and the United Nations and accepted the funding limitations of the FIG.

Without doubt the major initiative from my perspective over the last twelve months was the successful organisation of the UN-FIG Workshop and International Conference on Land Tenure and Cadastral Infrastructures for Sustainable Development which resulted in the Bathurst Declaration on Land Administration for Sustainable Development. This resulted in a very good profile for the FIG and is an excellent platform from which all Commissions can take advantage.

The FIG Permanent Office and myself as the Director, FIG/UN Liaison are committed to maintaining an FIG-UN Calendar of Events as well as a list of current UN contacts.

1. Co-organiser, UN-FIG Workshop and International Conference on Land Tenure and Cadastral Infrastructures for Sustainable Development, Bathurst/Melbourne, Australia, October 1999.

2. Organiser, UN-FIG Round-Table, Melbourne, Australia, October 1999.

3. Attendance (by Ms Lisa Ting) at GSDI4 to present paper on Bathurst Declaration, Cape Town, South Africa, March 2000.

4. Attendance at 15^th UN Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific (incorporating the 6^th Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructures for Asia and the Pacific) to present Bathurst Declaration, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, April 2000, and to represent FIG to develop a land administration/cadastral working group.

5. Attendance (by Professor Don Grant, Co-organiser of UN-FIG Workshop and International Conference on Land Tenure and Cadastral Infrastructures for Sustainable Development, and Mr. Robert Foster, President of FIG) at UN Commission for Sustainable Development meeting (CSD-8) to present Bathurst Declaration, New York, U.S.A., April 2000.

6. Attendance (by Don Grant) at 1^st International Seminar on Cadastral System, Land Administration and Sustainable Development to present Bathurst Declaration, Bogota, Colombia, May 2000.

7. Presentation of Bathurst Declaration at the Symposium on Land Markets, Commission 7 Annual Meeting, Hamburg, Germany, May 2000.

8. Attendance at FWW 2000 to present Bathurst Declaration, Prague, Czech Republic, May 2000.

9. Ongoing liaison with UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and agencies (FAO, Habitat, World Bank, Economic Commission for Africa, Economic Commission for Europe, Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructures for Asia and the Pacific, Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructures for the Americas).

10. Ongoing interaction (often on a daily basis) with Mr. Markku Villikka, Director of Permanent Office, and Mr. Robert Foster, President, on international matters.

11. Development of an FIG-UN Calendar of Events and list of current UN contacts.

1. Ongoing liaison with United Nations agencies.

2. Ongoing liaison with the Permanent Office and President, including maintenance of the FIG-UN Calendar of Events.

3. Involvement in FIG preparations for Istanbul+5 (Habitat) and Rio de Janeiro+10 (AGENDA 21).

4. Attendance at Seminar on Land Markets and Land Consolidation in Central Europe to promote Bathurst Declaration, Delft, The Netherlands, 11-15 September 2000.

5. Undertake visits and conduct seminars to promote the FIG and Bathurst Declaration whilst on Study Leave at the World Bank, Washington DC, U.S.A. (6 July-14 October 2000) and at the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands (15 October 2000 – 16 February 2001).

6. Attendance at GSDI5 to promote Bathurst Declaration, Bogota, Colombia, May 2001.

7. Other activities as required.

1. Present, discuss and confirm the outcomes of the UN-FIG Round-Table.

2. Present, discuss and confirm the UN-FIG Calendar of Events.

3. Discuss the progress of UNCHS (Habitat) Memorandum of Understanding with ACCO.

4. Discuss progress of FIG activities with other UN agencies such as UNFAO and UN DESA with ACCO.

5. Discuss FIG-UN strategy to promote regional activities such as with the UN Economic Commission for Europe, UN Economic Commission for Africa and the Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructures for Asia and the Pacific and UN Regional Cartographic Conferences for Asia and the Pacific and for the Americas.

Ian P. Williamson
Director, FIG/UN Liaison

18 February 2000

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