News in 2008

FIG President Prof. Stig Enemark, Vice President Dr. Dalal S. Alnaggar and the FIG Director visited Morocco 16-20 December 2008 in conjunction to the launch of the FIG Working Week 2011. During the visit they attended the seminar organised by ONIGT and had meetings with the Council of ONIGT, the organising committee of FIG 2011, representatives of the Moroccan government, parliament and as well as tourism authorities. The delegation also had the opportunity to meet with the Moroccan surveyors both in Rabat and in Marrakech. Read more...

The International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG), met in Pasadena, California, USA, from 8 to 12 December 2008. Vice President Matt Higgins attended representing the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG). Read more...

Click picture for bigger format. FIG President Stig Enemark attended the Expert Group Meeting on Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and other Natural Resources at FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy, 24–25 November 2008.  FAO, and partners such as the World Bank, UN-HABITAT, IFAD (International Federation of Agricultural Development), and FIG have been working since 2005 on governance of land administration to raise awareness and produce guidelines. Read more...
  • Nomination for Chair Elect of Commission 8 and Commission 10

The General Assembly elected Chairs Elect to 8 FIG Commissions in Stockholm in June 2008. Election or appointment of Chair Elect to Commission 8 (Spatial Planning and Development) and Commission 10 (Construction Economics and Management) was postponed to the General Assembly in May 2009. Member associations have been invited to make nominations for Chair Elect to these two commissions. Closing date for nomination has passed. The term of office for the Chair Elect will be from the appointment to the end of 2010. Under normal circumstances the Chair Elect will be appointed to the Chair of his/her Commission at the General Assembly in Sydney in April 2010 and the term of office will be 1.1.2011-31.12.2014.

Click picture for bigger format. Seminar on State and Public Land Management was organised in Verona, Italy, September 9-10, 2008, just before the FIG Commission 7 Annual Meeting. The seminar was organised by FIG Commission 7 and the Consiglio Nazionale Geometri (CNG), in co-operation with FIG Commission 9 and FAO Land Tenure and Management Unit.
The major goal of the seminar was to share experience and discuss policy options and practices in relation to state and public sector land management, including between land managers, policy advisers and decision makers and their professional advisers, and the civil society organisations working in these areas. The seminar aimed to help raise global awareness of problems associated with state/public land and its management, improve knowledge of good practices in this area, and encourage these to be increasingly addressed in new development initiatives. Web site: www.collegio.geometri.vr.it/seminar/ and programme. Commission 7 Annual Meeting was organised in Verona 11-15 September 2008, programme of the annual meeting.

This Task Force, set up at the 2007 FIG General Assembly, has been progressing its work. The Task Force is now pleased to provide a summary of the responses to its on-line questionnaire (which has now been closed) and its outline plan for further work. All comments on this document are welcome. Comments should be directed to the Task Force Chair, Iain Greenway, email: iain.greenway@btinternet.com.

The FIG General Assembly was held in Stockholm 15 and 19 June 2008. The General Assembly elected two new Vice Presidents for the term of office 1.1.2009-31.12.2012. The new Vice Presidents are Mr. Iain Greenway from United Kingdom and Mr. Teo CheeHai from Malaysia.

The General Assembly elected following chairs elect to Commissions: Ms. Leonie Newnham (Commission 1), Dr. Yerach Doytsher (Commission 3), Mr. Daniel Roberge (Commission 7) and Dr. Frances Plimmer (Commission 9). Prof. Steven Frank was appointed as Chair Elect to Commission 2, Dr. Michael Sutherland to Commission 4, Mr. Mikael Lilje to Commission 5 and Dr. Gethin W. Roberts to Commission 6. 

New member associations were adopted from the Philippines and from Bulgaria and affiliate members from the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, USA as well as from Iraq, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Russian Federation (Siberian State Academy of Geodesy).

The General Assembly also endorsed the Costa Rica Declaration on Pro-Poor Coastal Zone Management and adopted the FIG Statutes and Internal Rules.

You can read the minutes now on the web. Hard copies of the minutes including copies of the latest FIG publications and the new FIG Profile have been circulated to all members. You can download here the minutes (short version as a .pdf version) and handouts of the finance report as promised to be circulated together with the minutes. Full set of minutes as a .pdf-file (56 pages) is also available. A larger report of the General Assembly and the Working Week is now available.

Proceedings of the FIG International Workshop - Sharing Good Practices: E-learning in Surveying, Geo-Information Sciences and Land Administration organised by FIG Commission 2, ITC (International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation) and Kadaster, The Netherlands.

Report of the FIG International Workshop - Sharing Good Practices: E-learning in Surveying, Geo-Information Sciences and Land Administration: Sharing Good Practices in E-Learning at ITC, Enschede, The Netherlands, 11-13 June 2008

The General Assembly will elect two Vice Presidents to the FIG Council and Chairs Elect to all ten technical Commissions at its meeting in Stockholm 14-19 June 2008. The Council has received four nominations for the position of Vice President and 12 nominations for the position of Chair Elect. The Council has decided to publish the names of the candidates together with the nomination templates. The full agenda for the General Assembly will be published and shipped to the members 14 April 2008

The FIG Annual Review June 2006 - December 2007 has now been published. Hard copies of the annual review have been mailed to all members. If you have not received your copy, you can contact the FIG office, email: FIG@fig.net. You can also download the FIG Annual Review from here: The FIG Annual Review June 2006 - December 2007 in pdf-format (2.60 MB)

FIG Honorary President Holger Magel, President of the Bavarian Academy of Rural Areas celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Academy 17 June 2008 – Bavarian Prime Minister Dr. Günther Beckstein acknowledged the competence of the Bayerische Akademie Ländlicher Raum

Bavarian Prime Minister Dr. Günther Beckstein, in his speech on the occasion of the 20th anniversary celebration of the Bavarian Academy for Rural Areas, appreciated the high professional competence of the Academy and its members. In the words of the Prime Minister: “The academy transmits important messages and ideas for the attainment of equalitarian quality of life in all regions of Bavaria”. The Bavarian State Government and the Academy agree on the need of a durable and reliable inclusion of all regions outside the biggest urban agglomerations and on the importance of their lasting promotion. The academy, presided by Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Magel has achieved a great reputation far beyond the limits of the Bavarian State within the 20 years of its existence.

A high appreciation for the impacts of the Bavarian Academy for Rural Areas and its nationwide role as pioneer and mentor was expressed by the Chairman of the Academy for Rural Areas of the State Schleswig-Holstein Former State Secretary Rüdiger von Plüskow in his welcome speech.

Prof. Christiane Thalgott, President of the German Academy for City and Regional Planning (Deutsche Akademie für Städtebau und Landesplanung) delivered her welcome speech from the point of view of the principle of partnership between rural and urban areas; in other words, not pointing towards the identification of the contrasts between town and country, but to the recognition of the respective identities and individualities which may foster cooperation among them.

In the context of the ceremony, the scientific board of the Bavarian academy, in presence of Prime Minister Dr. Beckstein, awarded eight young scientists who have dealt with current topics of the rural areas in an innovative way, with a prize for their outstanding work.

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Dr. Günther Beckstein and Prof. Holger Magel.

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Prize Winners together with Dr. Günther Beckstein and Prof. Holger Magel.


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