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XXIII FIG Congress in Munich, Germany
October 8-13, 2006
Shaping the Change - Biggest FIG Congress in History
The XXIII FIG Congress was organised in Munich, Germany 8-13
October 2006. The congress was attended by 1,300 delegates from about 100
countries. Together with the INTERGEO conference and other simultaneous
events the congress was attended by 3,000 participants. The INTERGEO trade
fair attracted about 19,500. These were the biggest numbers to any FIG event
in the history. Also many of the individual events had record attendance -
e.g. the opening ceremony attracted a full hall of 1,400 participants and
the joint INTERGEO-Treff and FIG Foundation Dinner sold out the hall at the
Löwenbräukeller with more than 1,800 delegates. Also the memorable Farewell
Dinner at Hofbräuhaus was sold out allowing 600 delegates to enjoy Bavarian
hospitality.
Opening Ceremony
At the opening ceremony the welcome address was given by Dr. Edmund
Stoiber, Bavarian Minister President. Prof.
Holger Magel, FIG President gave the Presidential Address "Shaping
the Change 2002 to 2006 – The German Period of FIG" focussing on the
policies and achievements of FIG during the German presidency. The keynote
address at the opening ceremony was given by Dr. Klaus Töpfer,
long-time Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP).
In his welcome greeting Dr. Stoiber highlighted that the surveyors
contribution is essential for the development of a country. An important
message when it comes from a high level politician.
In the keynote address Dr. Töpfer focussed on "For a More Just World –
the Surveyors’ Role for Achieving Sustainable Development" which was
considered as the highlight of the congress and many participants ranked it
among the top speeches over many years. In his presentation he linked
measuring with the perception of ideologies. This in a world today with
unprecedented changes. In a world with big differences in income, in a world
where 2 of 3 babies are born in cities. In Germany, and in Europe, the
difference in prosperity between ‘east’ and ‘west’ had to be managed – the
difference worldwide is much bigger. It is not only charity, it is
obligation and investment which are relevant. The Millennium Development
Goals are about decreasing poverty: the western world throws away daily more
food then needed by all people without food. Access to water is an issue.
There is no doubt that there is a lot of progress but there are many pockets
of remaining problems. There is a lot of work to be done in the
implementation of rule based systems on property right registration and
secure tenure: “if you want a conflict then destroy the cadastre”.
Clear and accepted property situations are a basis for freedom and a basis
for (peace) investment; this is the highest priority on the development
agenda. Slum upgrading is not successful without secure tenure. Forced
evictions… Surveyors knowledge is needed: FIG is a premium partner of UN
because of the needs for surveyors knowledge. We need better land management
systems with better data; governments should make money available for that
as they do for other infrastructures. The price of globalisation can not be
that people loose their identity.
The presentations included also a welcome address by Mr. Hagen Graeff,
President of German DVW that has hosted FIG Council for the past four years.
The two congress directors Thomas Gollwitzer for FIG 2006 and
Walter Henninger for INTERGEO shared the responsibility to chair the
opening ceremony which was a joint event for FIG and INTERGEO. This joint
activity resulted in record attendance to the opening ceremony where the
doors need to be closed after 1,400 participants had filled in the main hall
at ICM.
The FIG Congress Prize was awarded to Ms. Nsame Nsemiwe from
Zambia forher two papers: "Gender
Dimensions of Land Customary Inheritance under Customary Tenure in Zambia"
which has also been published as the FIG article of the month. The other
awareded paper is "Negotiating
the Interface: Struggles Involved in the Upgrading of Informal Settlements
-a Case Study of Nkandabwe in Kitwe, Zambia". The DVW Prize was given to
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Harald Schlemmer by Rolf Richter, President of
the Rural Development Office Under Franconia.
The entertainment during the opening ceremony was performed by
double-bass ensemble Bassiona Amorosa that played both classical
favourites and a new arrangement of the FIG fanfare with great success.
Technical programme
The technical and scientific programme of the congress consisted of four
plenary sessions (three jointly with Intergeo and one also with IAG), 90
technical sessions and couple of workshops (history of surveying, quality
management for geodata and hydrography as well as ESRI workshop): in the
technical sessions about 500 papers were presented and in addition almost
100 displayed in the poster exhibition.
The first plenary session focussed on "Urban and Rural
Inter-relationship in Land Administration" with keynote speakers Dr.
Lars Reutersward, Director, UN-HABITAT, Maximilian Geierhos, Head
of the Bavarian Administration for Rural Development, and Rob Mahoney
presenting the FIG Marrakech Declaration and its outcome. This session was
chaired by President Magel.
The second plenary session was on "Disaster und Risk Management"
chaired by Peter Creuzer, President of UN ECE WPLA and Dr. Andreas
Drees, FIG Vice President as rapporteur. Speakers included Dr. Lutz
Cleemann, Allianz Zentrum für Technik GmbH, David B. Zilkoski,
NOAA, discussing "Earth Observations: Bringing Together Critical
Information for Disaster Preparedness and Response" and Prof.
Jochen Zschau, GFZ presenting the German-Indonesian Tsunami Early
Warning System for the Indian Ocean. In conjunction to this session the
FIG publication on "The
Contribution of the Surveying Profession to Disaster Risk Management"
was launched.
The third plenary session was about "Geoinformation on Demand"
with Prof. Josef Frankenberger, Head of the Bavarian Land Survey
Administration, Prof. Joseph Salukvadze, Tbilisi State University and
Berik Davies, Shell International Exploration & Production B.V. as
main speakers. This session was chaired by Dr. Drees with Dr. Chryssy
Potsiou as rapporteur.
GIS and SDI were also key topic for some invited sessions introducing
international experts like Jack Dangermond, President of ESRI,
Jarmo Ratia, President Elect of GSDI, Prof. Milan Konecny,
President of ICA etc. Also many other sister organisations were present at
the congress including Prof. Ian Dowman, President of ISPRS, Prof.
Gerhard Beutler, President of IHO and representatives of IHO,
Eurogeomatics, IFHP, IFHS, ISM, CLGE, GE, FGF etc. The Joint Board of
Geospatial Information Societies had two meeting during the congress on
disaster management and on capacity building.
The last plenary session on "Global Change" focussed on new technologies
with speakers Prof. Reiner Rummel, Permanent Secretary of the German
Geodetic Commission, Prof. Hermann Drewes, President of IAG
Commission 1 and Prof. Hans Haubold, United Nations Office for Outer
Space Affairs (UN-OOSA). This session organised jointly with IAG and the
Geodetic Week was chaired by Prof. Gerhard Beutler, President of IAG with
Prof. Rudolf Staiger as the rapporteur.
The general opinion on the technical sessions seemed to be that the
quality of papers was in general higher than at some previous events and
that attendance in many sessions was surprisingly good. This applies
especially to commissions 8, 9 and 10. Naturally there were also comments
that there were too many papers in the sessions allowing not enough time for
presentation and for discussion. There was also some last minute drop-outs
based on different reasons, most financial and visa problems. The organisers
were pleased also to the joint sessions organised together with the World
Bank and FAO and also with partners like GSDI and IAG.
All commissions had also several internal meetings during the week to
discuss their work plans and future projects.
As normally several technical tours offered good opportunities to learn
about German surveying and technology.
Social Events
The Congress week was also full of social highlights starting with the
welcome reception at the Holiday Inn after the General Assembly. About 700
delegates arrived in time to attend this successful get together party -
tasteful food and drinks made people to enjoy the reception long beyond the
closing time.
On Monday heads of national delegations were invited to lunch reception
at the City Hall of Munich,, hosted by the mayor of Munich. The reception
allowed participants to admire this central point of Munich.
The Bavarian State Reception was organised in the famous Kaisersaal of
the Residenz castle. These royal rooms gave an impression of the great
history of Bavaria. Almost 700 guests crowded in these impressive rooms.
In the evening of the opening of FIG 2006 and INTERGEO the traditional
INTERGEO-Treff was organised in the Löwenbräukeller, one of the most famous
breweries in Munich. This time the "geodätentreff" was also an FIG
Foundation event. The evening with Bavarian music, food and beer fulfilled
expectations of more than 1,800 participants. Because of the FIG presence
the Treff was this time even more impressive than normally.
The congress was concluded with the Farewell Dinner at the famous
Hofbräuhaus. About 600 participants followed the invitation to enjoy the
Bavarian hospitality once more, discuss the experiences of the week and make
friends with new surveyors from all over the world.
The very final social event was organised by FIG 2010. This reception at
the Holiday Inn after the closing ceremony gave a taste of "aussie"
hospitality and food and allowed to meet with the Australian team with young
ambassadors - young surveyors were in focus during the whole FIG 2006 - and
the nature represented by a grown-up koala.
INTERGEO
The exhibition of the FIG Congress was this time combined to the annual
INTERGEO Trade Show. The exhibition attracted more than 19,500 visitors to
the exhibition that expanded to three hall at the ICM covering 30,000 sqm of
exhibition space and introducing 550 exhibitors.
The conference part of INTERGEO collected 1,800 participants to its
technical sessions and forums. The conference was open to all FIG
participants but because of the fully packed FIG programme the time did not
allow many delegates to attend many of these interesting sessions.
The FIG General Assembly met in two sessions on Sunday 8 October and on
Friday 13 October 2006 at the Holiday Inn. Major decisions of the General
Assembly include: Prof.
Stig Enemark from Denmark was elected as the new President of FIG
2007-2010. In the election Stig Enemark won over Ken Allred from
Canada and TN Wong from Hong Kong. Mr. Matt Higgins
(Australia) and Dr. Dalal S. Alnaggar (Egypt) were elected as Vice
Presidents for 2007-2010. Prof. Paul van der Molen was elected as
Vice President for the two years term of office (2007-2008) that became open
after Stig Enemark was elected as the new President. The fourth Vice
President is Mr. Ken Allred who will continue in the new Council for next
two years. Dr. Chryssy Potsiou has been appointed as the ACCO
representative in the Council for 2007-2008. The new Council will start its
work 1.1.2007.
Mr. Jürg Kaufmann (Switzerland) and Prof. Kazimierz Czarnecki
(posthumously) were appointed as Honorary Members of FIG.
The FIG Working Week 2011 was admitted to ONIGT from Morocco to be held
in Marrakech in April/May 2011. Marrakech won Rome, Puerto Rico and Nigeria
in the toughest competition ever for an FIG event. The decision must have
been difficult to the member associations. The 6th FIG Regional Conference
will be organised in San Jose, Costa Rica, 11-15 November 2007.
During the General Assembly four new FIG publications were launched.
Several new members were adopted and endorsed during the General
Assembly. After the meetings in Munich number of member associations has
increased to 102 from 85 countries. The new member associations approved in
Munich are: Institution of Surveyors of Tanzania, Syndicat National des
Géomètres-Topographes et Assimilés du Bénin, Iranian Society of Surveyors,
Federation des Ingenieurs Géomètres-Topographes (Congo D. R.), Mongolian
Association of Geodesy and Cartography, Society of Professionals of Land
Information Technologies (Georgia), China Institute of Real Estate
Appraisers and Agents and FENEA – Federação Nacional dos Engenheiros
Agrimensores from Brazil. After a tight vote also the Hong Kong Institution
of Engineering Surveyors was adopted as a new member association.
New affiliates members were endorsed from Iceland, Macedonia FYROM,
Mongolia and Romania, in addition ANZLIC from Australia and New Zealand was
adopted as a new affiliate member. Totally 7 new corporate members were
approved raising the number of corporate members to 34, this includes also
the first member from Sudan. 13 universities and institutions were endorsed
as academic members.
The General Assembly also endorsed the final report from ACCO and ten
technical commissions and noted the draft work plans of new commission
chairs for 2007-2010, these work plans will be endorsed in Hong Kong in May
2007.
Closing ceremony
At the closing ceremony President Magel presented the Conference Summary.
Apart from the impressive number of participants he could report that many
young professionals attended the congress and that FIG has now a plan to
integrate a students'/young surveyors' forum now. The relations with sister
organisations and international partner organisations are and will be
strong. Many new delegates from several countries were welcomed during the
congress. The President reminded the audience on a statement by Kofi Annan:
fundamental…: Freedom from Poverty, Freedom from Fear, Freedom to live in
Human Dignity and the importance for the profession to take initiative and
responsibility on this topic. FIG has already acted by producing a broadly
recognised and accepted set of publications and a broad co-operation with
the United Nations, the World Bank, NGOs and sister organisations. FIG needs
task forces to further develop this co-operation based on professional
engagement. Of specific importance is the FIG statement on Disaster Risk
Management (to be endorsed in Hong Kong). A lot has been achieved and a lot
has to be done. The changes surveyors are facing are: global economy,
financial and new business paradigms; climatic risks and environmental
disasters, social patterns of poverty and migration. The challenges are:
re-balancing economic aspirations across regions, leaving a liveable planet
to our children, creating a peaceful and just world and engaging with mass
information portals. According to President Magel following actions will
shape the future: Energised Leadership; Effective Policies and
Organisations; Ethical Cultures and Values; Equitable Models for
Cooperation; and Expert Knowledge to Share and Influence.
President Magel reminded the surveyors to contribute to Millennium
Development Goals (appropriate engagement and tool creation), design and
implementation (accurate reference systems and creation of virtual
infrastructures), upgrading settlements and slum, eServices, engagement with
Urban-Rural, and awareness: increasing knowledge of spatial solutions for
other client-groups and customers and the relevance of both geoinformation
acquisition and use of data from ‘Mash Ups’ to high quality data.
As final conclusion President Magel summarised: "Surveyors can shape
the change by collaboration, communication and cooperation. Surveyors can
shape the change with Passion, energy and enthusiasm by working in many
dimensions. Surveyors need wings for flying in the air and boots for walking
on the rough ground”.
Links to documents and reports of the FIG Congress in
Munich
Main addresses
- Shaping the Change 2002-2006 – The German Period of FIG. FIG
President’s Address by Prof. Holger Magel, FIG President at the
Opening Ceremony of the XXIII FIG Congress in Munich on 10 October 2006.
- Eröffnungsansprache des Bayerischen Ministerpräsidenten Dr.
Edmund Stoiber anlässlich des 23. Internationalen FIG Kongresses
am 10. Oktober 2006 in München
- For a More Just World – the Surveyors’ Role for Achieving Sustainable
Development. Keynote Address at the Opening Ceremony by Dr.
Klaus Töpfer
- Shaping the Change - Congress Summary. Closing Address by Prof.
Holger Magel, FIG President at the Closing Ceremony of the XXIII FIG
Congress in Munich on 13 October 2006.
- Conference proceedings
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