News in 2013
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Food and Agriculture Organisation Technical
and
Awareness Raising Workshop
on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of
Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the context of National Food
Security
Bangkok, Thailand, 13 – 15 August 2013
The Workshop is part of FAO’s strategy to raise awareness
on the Voluntary Guidelines and to discuss the implementation and use,
particularly at the national and local levels. The regional focus of this
Workshop is Asia. The final two edition of this series of regional Workshops
will be in Bogota, Columbia (16 – 18 September 2013) and Sofia, Bulgaria (29
– 31 October 2013).
The Workshop aimed at supporting activities and actions
to improve governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests with the
following objectives-
-
Present and discuss the contents and development of
the Voluntary Guidelines;
-
Discuss and analyse the use of the Voluntary
Guidelines in a range of countries and contexts;
-
Discuss and propose actions to implement the
Voluntary Guidelines and to improve governance of tenure; and
-
Link with existing initiatives to create networks at
regional and national levels.
The Workshop provides for multi-stakeholder dialogue,
bringing together stakeholders (governments, civil society, academia and
professionals) to share knowledge, information, experiences and practices on
the responsible governance of tenure at the local and national levels. FIG
was invited to support and participate in the Workshop and was represented
by the President. A presentation “The International Federation of Surveyors
and the Voluntary Guidelines” was made on the first day of the Workshop.
The presentation outlined various FIG activities to
promote and raise awareness of the Voluntary Guidelines amongst FIG’s
worldwide professional community since 11 May 2012, when the United Nations
Committee on World Food Security endorsed the Voluntary Guidelines. The
presentation also highlighted a number of collaborative activities including
with FAO, considering issues such as state land management and the
development of partnerships, networks and capacity with surveyor, academia
and related professionals towards improved governance of tenure.
Our professional community should appreciate that the
Voluntary Guidelines address a wide range of issues including the
recognition and protection of legitimate tenure rights, even under informal
systems; promotes best practices for recording and transfer of tenure
rights; managing expropriations and restitution of land to people; rights of
indigenous communities; ensuring that investment in agricultural lands occur
responsibly and transparently; dealing with the expansion of cities into
rural areas. These are all within the Profession’s competencies and
practices, a Profession that has a vision to extend the use and usefulness
of the profession for the benefit of humanity.
Participants at the Workshop was informed that FIG is a
federation of national member associations and organizations from over 120
countries, covering the whole range of professional fields in surveying,
provides an international forum for discussion and development promoting
professional practice and standards and aims to ensure that the disciplines
of surveying and all who practise them meet the needs of the markets and
communities that they serve.
CheeHai TEO
August 2013
10 October 2013
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