 
	 
	| FIG President Stig Enemark attends Private Sector Consultation meeting: Voluntary Guidelines on responsible governance of tenure of land and other natural resourcesRICS Headquarters, London, United Kingdom, 25-26 January 2008FIG President Stig Enemark attended the Private Sector 
	Consultation meeting: Voluntary Guidelines on responsible governance of 
	tenure of land and other natural resources. FAO and its partners such as World Bank, UN-Habitat, IFAD (International Federation of Agricultural development), and FIG have been working since 2005 on governance of land administration to raise awareness and produce guidelines. A good example of this is the publication FAO Land Tenure Studies no. 9 on Good governance in land tenure and administration, available on line at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a1179e/a1179e00.pdf FAO and its partners are now preparing Voluntary Guidelines to improve 
	the governance of tenure and other natural resources. Such voluntary 
	guidelines are to assist States, civil society and the private sector in 
	improving the governance of tenure, and thus contribute to alleviation of 
	hunger and poverty, empowering the poor and vulnerable, enhancing the 
	environment, supporting national and local economic development, and 
	reforming public administration. The meeting in London was a key part of the 
	consultation process in this regard. A discussion paper was prepared to 
	facilitate discussions: Towards Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible 
	Governance of Tenure and Land and other Natural resources.  The meeting included a group of around 70 international experts representing mainly the private sector. Working group sessions included themes such as: land administration and registration (moderated by President Enemark), urban development, large scale rural investments (moderated by Dr. Diane Dumashie, Chair of FIG Com 8), community development, business promotion and services, and professional standards, ethics and codes of conduct (moderated by Dr. Frances Plimmer, (Chair-elect of FIG Com 9). The meeting was very productive in addressing the key issues. The outcome will be available at the FAO Voluntary Guidelines website (see below) and considered as a key contribution to preparing the final guidelines. Further regional consultation meetings will be held around the world through 2010. The meetings will assess regional priorities of the voluntary guidelines and review specific features of governance of tenure in each region. The objective is to reach a common understanding between stakeholders. Once drafted the voluntary guidelines will be submitted for FAO member country approval. Upon adoption, FAO and its partners will support their implementation through national action plans and through FAO´s extensive partnership networks and related project activities. 
 
 10 February 2010 | ||||