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FIG PUBLICATION NO. 68
The FIG Christchurch Declaration
Responding to Climate Change and Tenure Insecurity in Small
Island Developing States
The Role of Land Professionals
SIDS Workshop, FIG Working Week, Christchurch, New Zealand
30 April – 1 May 2016
FIG REPORT
Authors: David Mitchell,
Stig Enemark,
Tony Burns and
Bill Robertson
1. FOREWORD
This publication is the result of the workshop on “Responding to Climate
Change and Tenure Insecurity in Small Island Developing States – The Role of
Land Professionals” held in Christchurch, New Zealand 30 April – 1 May 2016
in connection with the FIG Working Week 2016. It includes a report of the
seminar and a FIG Christchurch Declaration as the main outcome of the
workshop.
The workshop was organised to address the many distinct challenges that
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are facing in their pursuit of social
and economic development and these challenges are compounded by the adverse
impacts of climate change.
The International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) has organised several
regional forums on the role of land professionals in supporting SIDS. In
2010 a 2-day SIDS Seminar was held over five sessions at the FIG Congress in
Sydney. The major outcome of this seminar was FIG Publication 53 (FIG,
2010). In September 2013 a follow-up symposium was held in Suva, Fiji that
aimed to build upon the discussions in Sydney in 2010. The outcome of this
symposium was the FIG “Suva Statement on Spatially Responsible Governance”
(FIG, 2013).
A key outcome of the Third international Conference on Small Island
Developing States in Apia, Samoa (UN, 2014) was the Small Island Developing
States Accelerated Modalities of Action (the ‘SAMOA Pathway’). International
cooperation and genuine and durable partnerships were seen as critical to
the implementation of sustainable development in SIDS.
Building on these initiatives, FIG arranged this SIDS workshop in
Christchurch, New Zealand. The workshop was organised by Dr. David Mitchell,
Assoc. Professor at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia with
a lead team consisting of Prof. Stig Enemark, FIG Honorary President,
Denmark, Mr. Tony Burns, Managing Director of Land Equity International,
Wollongong, Australia, and Mr. Bill Robertson, Director of Bill Robertson
Associates, New Zealand. FIG would like to thank the team for their great
efforts in organising this workshop and also drafting the FIG Christchurch
Declaration for consideration and adoption by the workshop. Finally, we want
to convey our sincere thanks to all the delegates who travelled from various
parts of the world to attend this workshop and whose active participation
ensured the success.
The FIG Christchurch Declaration will hopefully serve as a guiding
document for the land professional in SIDS in facing the challenges of the
future. FIG is committed to support this process.
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Chryssy Potsiou |
David Mitchell |
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FIG President
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Workshop Organiser |
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Facing the Global Agenda
The theme of this workshop is in the heart of the new 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable development. The agenda includes 17 goals, with 169 targets and
about 240 indicators. The overall goal is to “End poverty in all its forms
everywhere” (UN, 2016). The targets to achieve this relate to ensuring that
all men and women have equal rights to ownership and control over land and
other forms of property (Target 1.4), and building the resilience of the
poor and vulnerable and reducing their exposure and vulnerability to
climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental
shocks and disasters (Target 1.5).
The Agenda also addresses rapid urbanisation through Goal 11 “Make cities
and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. More
specifically, SIDS are mentioned in Goal 13 on “Take urgent action to combat
climate change and its impacts” where Target 13.b aims to raise capacity for
effective climate change-related planning and management in least developed
countries and small island developing states. The workshop involved about 35
participants with representatives from SIDS countries mainly from the
Pacific Region but also from Trinidad and Tobago, Timor-Leste, and Zanzibar.
It should be noted, that although the workshop discussions and the resulting
declaration were biased towards the Pacific region, there was a broad
consensus on the issues by participants from other SIDS regions, and
declaration has direct relevance for SIDS countries throughout the globe.
The workshop and the resulting declaration emphasised the way and means for
land professionals to: Address climate change, natural disaster and urbanisation
challenges and vulnerabilities; address the challenges in land governance and
administration; and, for this purpose, build capacity in land governance and
administration and enhance professional and organisational collaboration.
The workshop addressed these global themes in a SIDS context with a focus
on the role of land professionals in facing the challenges. A range of
issues were identified as listed in the FIG Christchurch Declaration
presented in chapter 3. Some core initiatives include:
Advocating for land policy and legal frameworks informed
by the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (FAO,
2012) that recognise, respect and safeguard all legal and legitimate tenure
rights, provide access to justice to resolve land disputes, are pro-poor and
gender-responsive, and provide for effective and full participation
by all. This should assist land governance to address the key
vulnerabilities of climate change, natural disasters and urbanisation.
Promoting the adoption by land professionals of the
fit-for-purpose approach to land administration in building spatial, legal,
and institutional frameworks to reduce capacity demands on land agencies and
other institutions, and allow for protecting of all legal and legitimate
tenure rights at scale. Such principles should also be applied for building
land-use planning and land valuation systems.
Encouraging the establishment of a Regional Capacity
Development Network (RCDN) of experts in each SIDS region to improve
partnerships and provide technical, administrative, and professional support
and advice to engage in related initiatives. Foremost to establish within
FIG a RCDN of experts for the Pacific Island Countries and Territories
(PICTs) and to enable the Pacific Geospatial and Surveying Council (PGSC)
and, as a first stage, to lead and engage with the PICTs geospatial and
surveying community on related activities.
Land professional have vital roles to play in promoting engagement and
collaboration from all sectors of society. A strong land professionals´
network is required to facilitate and coordinate knowledge sharing and
training between countries, collecting and sharing geospatial information,
and supporting capacity development at country level.
The workshop venue (Christchurch, New Zealand) located near the SIDS in
the Pacific Region.
3. Declaration
FIG Christchurch Declaration:
Responding to Climate Change and Tenure Insecurity in
Small Island Developing States: The Role of Land Professionals
We the participants of the FIG Small Island Developing States workshop
held in Christchurch from April 30 to May 4, acknowledge the inherent
diversity between SIDS countries in governance, rate of urbanisation,
population density, geomorphology, exposure to natural hazards, and land
tenure arrangements. We are also cognizant that SIDS share many common
characteristics of small population, their dispersed nature and physical
isolation from markets, high levels of exposure to the impacts of climate
change and natural hazards, and severe limitations in capacity. We recall
the SAMOA Pathway declared SIDS remains a special case for sustainable
development in view of their unique and particular vulnerabilities.
We reaffirm the significance of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development and the associated goals, targets and indicators in efforts to
reduce poverty, protecthuman rights, promote gender equality, and protect
natural resources.
We recall the 2010 FIG Sydney Agenda for Action, the 2013 FIG Suva
Statement on Spatially Responsible Governance that, together with the 2015
United Nations Resolution on Global Geodetic Reference Frame, established a
clear framework for developing capacity in land governance within Small
Island Developing States (SIDS), and the roles and responsibilities for land
professionals and practitioners.
We acknowledge the unprecedented global momentum to improve security of
land and natural resources tenure and reaffirm the importance of the
Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land,
Fisheries and Forests (VGGTs), the Continuum of Land Rights and the Global
Land Tool Network’s
suite of pro-poor and gender-responsive land tools.
We, hereby issue this FIG Christchurch Declaration on Responding to
Climate Change and Tenure Insecurity in Small Island Developing States: The
Role of Land Professionals, and resolve to:
Address climate change, natural disaster and urbanisation
challenges and
vulnerabilities through:
- Advocating for the adoption in national policy and legal frameworks
relevant international instruments, including the Sendai Framework, the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP),
the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW).
- Advocating for land policy and legal frameworks informed by the
VGGTs that recognise, respect and safeguard all legal and legitimate
tenure rights, provide access to justice to resolve land disputes, are
pro-poor and genderresponsive, and provide for effective and full
participation by all. This should assist land governance to address the
key vulnerabilities of climate change, natural disasters and
urbanisation.
- Emphasising the importance of robust and resilient geodetic
networks, and the contribution to be made by spatial data, including
earth observations and geospatial information.
- Mainstreaming disaster risk and vulnerability assessment into all
aspects of land and marine administration.
Address the challenges in land governance and administration
through:
- Promoting the adoption by land professionals of the fit-for-purpose
approach to land administration in building spatial, legal, and
institutional frameworks to reduce capacity demands on land agencies and
other institutions, and allow for protecting of all legal and legitimate
tenure rights at scale.
- Promoting the principles of participation and inclusiveness in land
use planning and ensuring that all legal and legitimate tenure rights
are respected in the land use planning process.
- Promoting the importance in legal and policy frameworks of the
development of valuation systems that allow for fair and timely
valuation of all types of tenure rights to support taxation, the
operation of markets, transactions in tenure rights, and compensation
for expropriation.
Build capacity in land governance and administration to address
these challenges through:
- Encourage the establishment of a Regional Capacity Development
Network (RCDN) of experts in each SIDS region to improve partnerships
and provide technical, administrative, and professional support and
advice to engage in related initiatives. This should also include formal
partnerships between SIDS and nearby countries. Foremost to establish
within FIG a RCDN of experts for
the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) and to enable the
Pacific Geospatial and Surveying Council (PGSC) and, as a first stage,
to lead and engage with the PICTs geospatial and surveying community on
related activities.
- Advocating for the international bilateral and multilateral
organisations and professional bodies to provide a coordinated approach
to supporting education and training in the areas of surveying, land
administration, land management and land governance. Mechanisms should
include funding for scholarships, providing flexibility in entry
requirements for students from SIDS, training of staff, exchange
opportunities, and the dissemination of international guidelines and
conventions. Other support should include providing e-learning and
training materials to relevant academic and training institutions. This
includes the full suite of e-learning and thematic technical guides for
VGGTs, and the extensive online material supporting the GLTN land tools.
- Emphasise the importance of capacity development to support improved
geodetic and spatial data infrastructures, as well as current, complete
and effective geospatial information to support land governance and land
administration.
Enhance professional and organisational collaboration to address
these challenges through:
- Encouraging strong, genuine and durable partnerships at the
subnational, national, sub-regional, regional, and international levels
to support transparent and participatory approaches, to revising legal
and policy frameworks based on principles of responsible governance.
- Building on the opportunity afforded by the smaller population in
SIDS, encourage the international land sector to consider coordination
and harmonisation to provide multi-stakeholder, multi-actor and
multi-sectorial solutions at regional or national level in SIDS.
- Encouraging and supporting the development of regional political,
policy and technical coordination mechanisms in the land sector that
provides a strong point of entry for engagement of multilateral and
bilateral organisations and international professional bodies to
facilitate and coordinate approaches to knowledge sharing and training
between countries, collecting and sharing geospatial information, and in
supporting capacity development at country level.
Adopted May 18th, 2016 as an outcome of the SIDS Workshop, Christchurch,
New Zealand.
Low laying atoll, Tuvalu in the Pacific Ocean. The capital, Funafuti, is
on average two metres above sea level. Source: wordatlas.com
4. WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
The objective of this workshop was to discuss the key issues faced by
SIDS countries. A concept note was prepared to provide a list of readily
available reference material on these issues to provide guidance for the
workshop presentations. The concept note intended to set out a list of
initial questions or issues for discussion in break-out sessions during the
workshop, and also provided a framework for the workshop declaration
documenting the outcome of this event. Read the full FIG Publication 68 in pdf
Authors: David Mitchell, Stig Enemark, Tony Burns and Bill Robertson
Copyright © The International Federation of Surveyors (FIG),
October 2016.
All images are the copyright of the World Bank and used
under their terms and conditions.
All rights reserved.
International Federation of Surveyors (FIG)
Kalvebod Brygge 31–33
DK-1780 Copenhagen V
DENMARK
Tel. + 45 38 86 10 81
E-mail: FIG@FIG.net
www.fig.net
Published in English
Copenhagen, Denmark
ISSN 1018-6530 (printed)
ISSN 2311-8423 (pdf)
ISBN 978-87-92853-55-4 (printed)
ISBN 978-87-92853-56-1 (pdf)
Published by
International Federation of Surveyors (FIG)
Printer: 2016 LaserTryk.dk A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark
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