United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial
Information Management convened its inaugural meeting
27 October 2011, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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Dr.
Paul Cheung, Director of the Statistics Division, United
Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) who is
instrumental in the vision and realization of UN-GGIM |
The International Federation of Surveyors welcomes the convening of the
United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information
Management and congratulates Dr. Vanessa V. Lawrence, Mr. Seong-An
Leem and Mr. Esteban Toha Gonzales on their election to helm this
Committee.
The Committee of Experts met for the first time after the successful
conclusion of the United Nations First High Level Forum on GGIM on 27th
October 2011. The meeting elected Dr. Vanessa V Lawrence, Director General
and Chief Executive, Ordnance Survey, United Kingdom and Mr. Seong-An Leem,
President, National Geographic Information Institute, Republic of Korea as
Co-Chairs together with Mr. Esteban Toha Gonzales, Executive Secretary,
Sistema Nacional de Coordinacion de Informacion Territorial, Chile as the
Rapporteur for this all important Committee.
This Committee will comprise experts from all Member States as well as
experts from international organizations, including FIG, as observers and
will be supported by the Statistics Division of the Department of Economic
and Social Affairs and the Cartographic Section of the Department of Field
Support of the United Nations. The International Federation of Surveyors has
observer status within the United Nations and has been since 1970.
The Committee of Experts does has its work cut out and will need to work
on the contribution of the Committee to the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development (Rio +20 Conference) in June 2012 arguing that
appropriate geospatial information and infrastructure will provide the solid
information base that constitute a powerful tool for the monitoring of goals
and targets on sustainable development. The Committee is required to
establish an inventory of issues to be addressed by the Committee in future
sessions. This inventory will also serve as a useful reference document on
the scope and timeliness of the work of the Committee. The Committee also
need to review the outcome of the inaugural session of the United Nations
High Level Forum on GGIM.
It should also be noted that the Chair of JBGIS, Prof Dr. William
Cartwright, was included as a member of the “extended” Bureau for this
Committee of Experts. The Bureau has the United Kingdom and Republic of
Korea as Co-chair and Chile as the Rapportuer. The “extended” Bureau will
also include chairs from the United Nations regional cartographic structures
and the European Union.
CheeHai TEO
President
October 2011
11 November 2011
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