UN-GGIM-AP - Third Plenary Meeting

10 – 12 November 2014 Kuta, Bali, Republic of Indonesia

The Regional Committee was established pursuant to Resolution 16 of the 13th United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific (UNRCC-AP) held in Beijing, PR China in 1994 and was known as the Permanent Committee on GIS Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP) until the 19th UNRCC-AP held in Bangkok in 2012 where the name was amended to the current.

The Regional Committee continues to operate under the United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific (UNRCC-AP) and submit its report as well as recommendations to the Conference. The aim of the Regional Committee includes to identify regional issues relevant to geospatial information management, take necessary actions and contribute to global discussions so that the economic, social and environmental benefits of geospatial information will be maximized in Asia and the Pacific region. During this current term (2012 – 2015), the Regional Committee has three working group, namely –

Group 1 Geodetic Reference Framework for Sustainable Development
Group 2 Data Sharing and Integration for Disaster Management
Group 3 Place-Based Information Management for Economic Growth

Plenary Meetings of UNGGIM-AP are annual meetings hosted by a member state and the Third Plenary Meeting was hosted by Badan Informasi Geospasial Indonesia (Indonesian Geospatial Information Organisation) who also a member of the UNGGIM-AP Executive Board. The Meeting was presided by Dr. Li Pengde (Deputy Director General, National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, China) assisted with UNGGIM-AP Vice President Dr. Choe Byong-nam (Director General of National Geographic Information Institute, Republic of Korea), UNGGIM-AP Secretary Dr. Hiroshi Murakami (Director General, Planning Department, Geospatial Information Authority of Japan) and members of the Executive Board of UNGGIM-AP. Liaison and international organisation included UNGGIM Secretariat, UN-Habitat/GLTN, UNESCAP, ISCGM, ICA and FIG.

The main theme for the Third Plenary Meeting is that of disaster management and the sub-theme, capacity development. Sessions were scheduled with presentations from member states addressing the theme and the sub-theme.

Within the programme liaison reports were presented by liaison and international organization present and FIG’s presentation included a progress report on Cadastral Template 2.0. The GGIM Secretariat also presented outcomes of the 4th Session of the Committee of Experts on GGIM as well as the 3rd High Level Forum on GGIM. Each of the three working groups also presented their reports and in particular, the FIG/IAG/ICG/UNGGIM-AP Working Group 1 on Reference Frame in Practice Workshop was also reported together with FIG Publication Number 64 – Reference Frame in Practice Manual.

In addition, there was also a Special Session on Land Tenure jointly with UN-Habitat/GLTN and supported by the World Bank and FIG.

The Regional Committee resolved to encourage Member States to ensure that initiatives and activities related to sustainable development and Post 2015 Development Agenda include geospatial information within their national frameworks; to participate in and contribute to the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction to be held in Sendai, Japan from 14-18 March 2015 and to actively contribute to the sharing of information, best practices and case studies through the UNGGIM knowledge base portal.

As a result of the joint special session on land tenure, the Regional Committee recognized that Asia-Pacific, a region covering approximately 30% of the global land mass; of differing levels of economic development; home to 4.1 billion or 2/3 of the world’s population and with increasing levels of urbanization; where 7 of the world’s 10 largest cities is expected to be located by 2025; where incidences of undernourishment and poverty remains high; a region prone to natural disasters from climate phenomena; and where climate change is of increasing severity. The Committee also accepts that land is a valuable and scarce resource involving a wide range of rights and responsibilities, when poorly administered leads to conflict, degradation and other problems, becomes a binding constraint for sustainable growth and development.

The Regional Committee expressed its appreciation to the Global Land Tool Network facilitated by UN-Habitat for cooperating with UN-GGIM-AP to convene the Special Session on Land Tenure, and the World Bank and FIG for their support and contribution towards an informative and successful session. The Committee encourages National Geospatial Information Agencies and National Mapping Agencies to engage and contribute towards effective national land information, administration and management systems with their fundamental data leading towards better governance, management and administration of land. The Committee invites UN-Habitat/Global Land Tool Network to collaborate with UN-GGIM-AP towards addressing Land Tenure Challenges in Asia-Pacific and to contribute to UN-GGM-AP’s activities. For FIG, the Regional Committee resolved to support the development of the Cadastral Template 2.0, the successor to the PCGIAP supported Cadastral Template and encourage Member States to contribute information to the Cadastral Template 2.0 towards promoting better knowledge dissemination and sharing and promoting better practices.

The 4th Plenary Meeting will be held in conjunction with the 20th United Nations Regional Cartographic Conference for Asia and the Pacific that will be hosted by the Republic of Korea (6th – 9th October 2015)

CheeHai Teo
November 2014

Group Photograph, from BIG Indonesia	Group Photograph, from BIG Indonesia
Social event, Balinese culture themed dinner hosted by BIG Indonesia

10 November 2014