Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, Trevor Benn, Friday addressed the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) Expert Group on Land Administration.
Benn, along with Kees de Zeeuw of the Netherlands are Co-Chairs of the Expert group. There are 24 other countries including China, India, Norway, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and Sweden which are also members of the group.
During the meeting, the group discussed a global framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA) and the group’s work plan for 2019-2021.
During brief opening remarks, Benn said he is pleased with the work of the UNGGIM, and the progressive nature of its work. He said, too, he is particularly pleased that the group is taking into consideration the needs of developing countries in a period where the focus is on ensuring that no one is left behind.
Benn, also reminded the group that during the ninth session, the Committee of Experts requested the Expert group to make use of appropriate globally accepted concepts and approaches, such as existing guidelines, best practices and standards, in order to effectively and efficiently link people to land, to record, to document and reorganize relationships between people and land in all forms.
“We have been able to work closely with our members in the Expert Group in developing a very robust and comprehensive document in the Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA),” Benn told the group via the virtual meeting.
This framework document will serve as a guide for effective Land Administration globally.
“We are particularly excited about the potential uses of this framework document, which has benefitted from consultation with various country representatives,” he added.
Benn continued, “In excess of 60 submissions and approximately 300 comments from 60 countries has helped us to strengthen the FELA document.”
In concluding, he thanked the team especially, the UN-GGIM Secretariat for the hard work and ultimately the imminent success of the Expert Group and expressed Guyana’s continued support and commitment to advancing the good work.
