FIG President Stig Enemark attends 9th South East Asia Congress

Christchurch, New Zealand 30 October- 2 November 2007

 
 Mount Cook is a real land mark in New Zealand
 

The 9th South East Asian Congress in Christchurch, new Zealand 30 October – 2 November in conjunction with the 119th New Zealand Institute of Surveyors Annual Conference and the 6th Trans Tasman Surveyors Conference.

The Opening session included welcome addresses from John Hannah, President New Zealand Institute of Surveyors (NZIS), Pengiran Matusin Matasan, President of Association of South-East Asian Nations Federation of Land Surveyors and Geomatics (ASEAN FLAG), Graham Marion, President of Institution of Surveyors Australia (ISA), Brian Coutts, President of Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE), and Stig Enemark, President of International Federation of Surveyors (FIG).

All the President’s Men: John Hannah (NZIS), Graham Marion (ISA), Pengiran Matasan (ASEAN FLAG), Stig Enemark (FIG), Brian Coutts (CASLE)

The conference theme “Developing Sustainable Societies” was very well addressed during the entire conference that attracted around 450 participants form many overseas countries including Australia, Malaysia, Kenya, Nigeria, UK, and China. The conference made huge progress in putting the surveying profession at the forefront of sustainable development.

The conference theme was addressed through a well designed combination of high profile plenary session and more thematic technical sessions with about 85 presentations. Many interesting presentations were given by key people such as: Bill Robertson, former Surveyor General of New Zealand; Don Grant, Current Surveyor General of New Zealand; Ian Williamson, Head of Department of Geomatics, University of Melbourne, and former Chair of FIG Commission 7; Diane Dumashie, former chair of FIG Commission 8.

Special sessions were conducted by FIG Commission 4 on Marine Environment, chaired by Adam Greenland, and FIG Commission 5 on Geodesy supporting Sustainability, chaired by John Hannah.

The papers from the Congress can be seen on the website as follows: http://www.conference.co.nz/index.cfm/surveyors2007, selecting 'Papers' from the home directory will access the Speaker Papers loaded to date and which are still being added to.

A Conference Statement was adopted as follows:

Surveyors, as members of a profession that has a leading influence on the land and built environments of today’s and tomorrow’s communities, commit themselves to:

• Developing and implementing strategies to deliver environmentally sustainable outcomes.
• Embracing best practice to achieve sustainability.
• Supporting and promoting education for best practice in sustainable development.
• Facilitating and promoting collaboration between clients, councils, consultants and communities so as to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
• Supporting the collection and responsible use of scientific and technical information that will lead to informed decision making.

This statement is well in line with the remarks of the Minister for Land Information Mr. David Parker saying that: “The most important role of the surveyor in the development of sustainable societies is through the promotion of sustainable land use. Surveyors are in there right at the very fundamental stage of land development and they’re the ones most able to influence outcomes.”

• Stig Enemark´s Keynote presentation “Land Management in Support of Sustainability and the Global Agenda”.

President Stig Enemark ending his key-note address with presenting the forthcoming FIG Working Weeks in Stockholm, June 2008 and in Israel, May 2009, and finally the FIG Congress in Sydney, April 2010.

FIG president Stig Enemark with the incoming President of NZIS
Bruce Manners (left) and the retiring President John Hannah (right).