Strengthening Cooperation with UN-HABITAT and the Global
Land Tool Network
Nairobi, Kenya, 30 March – 4 April 2009
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The flag alley entrance at the UN-HABITAT Headquarters in Nairobi.
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FIG President Stig Enemark attended the 22nd session of the
UN-HABITAT Governing Council Meeting in Nairobi 30 March - 3 April 2009 and
the meeting of the International Advisory Board the Global Land Tool Network
(GLTN) 4 April 2009 at the UN-HABITAT Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
The biennial Governing Council Meeting includes a number of plenary
meetings discussing the overall UN-HABITAT agenda and setting the goals for
future focus areas. In the opening statement 30 March, Mrs. Anna
Tibaijuka, UN-HABITAT Executive Director addressed the global financial
crisis and stated: “For the first time, two most salient global agendas –
economic recovery and climate change – are inextricably linked with what was
perceived until now as a national or local agenda, namely our very own
Habitat agenda”. In response to these challenges UN-HABITAT has launched
two new initiatives: the “World Urban Campaign” and the “Cities in
Climate Change Initiative”. For more details see the full opening and
closing speech at:
www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6424&catid=14&typeid=8&subMenuId=0,
and
www.unhabitat.org/content.asp?cid=6501&catid=571&typeid=8&subMenuId=0
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Foyer cartoon poster showing the surveying activity for slum
upgrading. |
Foyer cartoon poster showing the land registration process for slum
upgrading. |
The governing council meeting provides a unique opportunity to network
with other NGO representatives and of course to meet with the GLTN staff and
discuss about current future cooperation.
Also, a wide range of parallel events are organised to address the
ongoing activities in key areas. Two of these events were of specific
interest to FIG. Firstly the session entitled “Achieving land and housing
for all” was chaired by Mohamed el Sioufi, UN-HABITAT Shelter
Branch and provided an overall presentation of the UN-HABITAT land policies.
Secondly the event “GLTN partnership on developing and testing gender
evaluation criteria in large scale land tool assessment” organized by Asa Jonsson on behalf of the GLTN secretariat. This event included
commentaries from the GLTN partners including a presentation from President
Enemark showing the FIG commitment as delivered especially by the current
chair of Com 8, Dr. Diane Dumashie. The adopted gender
evaluation criteria is available at
http://www.gltn.net/en/home/gender/gender-evaluation-brochure/details.html.
Following the Governing Council meeting President Enemark also attended
the meeting of the GLTN International Advisory Board (IAB) that is
established to provide objective advice on issues related to the GLTN
policies, operational strategies and projects. IAB consist of
representatives of the various 7 segments of GLTN partners, where FIG
represents the international professional bodies. The full advisory board is
available at:
www.gltn.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=63.
The meeting in Nairobi was the fourth of IAB while the third was held
during the 4th World Urban Forum in Nanjing, 3-6 November 2008 and the
second during the 6th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable
Development in New York 6-8 May 2008, see:
www.fig.net/news/news_2008/csd_new_york_may_2008.htm. The key issues of
the IAB meeting included a comprehensive evaluation the overall GLTN
activities in 2008 as well as discussions on the future strategies. GLTN has
been very successful in achieving their goals and the GLTN partners are very
committed in their support. This will be further strengthened through a GLTN
Partners Meeting to be held in Nairobi, 28-30 October 2009.
Finally, President Enemark also visited the Institution of Surveyors
Kenya (ISK) to discuss with the Council and Chairman Mwenda Makathimo
about the significant role of ISK in contributing to the National Land
Policy Formulation Process.
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Visiting the Institution of Surveyors Kenya. Chairman
Mwenda
Makathimo in the centre.
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Meeting with the GLTN core staff. From Left:
Danilo Antonio,
Mariya Essajee, Remy Sietchiping, President Enemark,
and Clarissa Augustinus, Chief of Land Tenure and Property
Administration Section. |
More to read more:
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