United Nations-FIG Bathurst Declaration on Land Administrationfor Sustainable Development: Development and Impact

Abstract

The joint United Nations-FIG Bathurst Declaration on Land Administration forSustainable Development was prepared at an International Workshop on CadastralInfrastructures for Sustainable Development organized jointly by the FIG and theUnited Nations in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, on 18-22 October 1999.The Declaration was presented formally together with position papers prepared asbackground for the Workshop at an International Conference in Melbourne, Australia,on 25-27 October 1999. The Workshop and Conference, together with the resultingDeclaration, were part of the Work Plan of Commission 7 (Cadastre and LandManagement) and were three years in the planning.The paper will review the activities leading up to the Workshop, Conference anddevelopment of the Declaration, and will discuss the impact of the Declaration.Following on from the Workshop and Conference, presentations were made at variousUnited Nations conferences as well as the FIG General Assembly. In addition therehave been numerous workshops and conference spawned by the Declaration. Thepaper will also look to the future to consider how the Bathurst Declaration can be builtupon to the benefit of all countries as well as professional surveyors. Importantly thepaper will discuss the impact of the overriding outcome from this initiative in that ithas stated a clear relationship between land administration and sustainabledevelopment.