6th FIG Regional Conference in San Jose, Costa Rica 12-15
November 2007 – Focus on Coastal Areas, Land Administration and Capacity
Building – Topics and arrangements confirmed during an FIG visit
San Jose, Costa Rica 13-17 November 2006
Agreement of the 6th FIG Regional Conference was signed by President
Elect Stig Enemark, President Juan Manuel Castro Alfaro,
CIT and Executive Director Olman Vargas Zeledón, CFIA. |
The first FIG Regional Conference in Latin America and the Caribbean
will be held in San Jose, the capital city of Costa Rica - the heart of
the city is Teatro Nacional. |
FIG President Elect Stig Enemark and the FIG Director visited San
Jose, Costa Rica 13-17 November 2006 to discuss the 6th FIG Regional
Conference to be held in San Jose 12-15 November 2006. During the visit the
FIG representatives had meetings with representatives of the Colegio de
Ingenieros Topógrafos de Costa Rica (CIT), the FIG member association from
Costa Rica and Colegio Federado de Ingenieros y de Arquitectos de Costa Rica
(CFIA). CIT is one of the five colegios of CFIA. CFIA has more than 11,000
active members while CIT has about 1,400 members representing all surveyors
in the country.
During the visit the agreement on organizing the 6th FIG Regional
Conference in Costa Rica was signed. The theme of the conference was
confirmed to be “Coastal Areas and Land Administration – Building the
Capacity”. Also the sub-themes and topics were discussed and agreed
based on the needs to Costa Rica and Latin America. This conference will be
the first FIG regional conference to take place in Latin America.
CIT/CFIA and FIG will organize the conference jointly and are looking for
partners like the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),
UN-Habitat, FAO, PAIGH and IHO as partners as has been the case with
previous FIG regional conferences. The concept of this conference will
follow the successful framework that FIG has used at previous regional
events. Also registration fees are reasonable (300-350 EUR for international
participants including meals and social programme). The joint technical tour
on the last day of the conference include a visit to Irazú National Park to
see the largest volcano in Costa Rica.
During the visit several meetings were hold with the leaders of CFIA and
CIT and the FIG delegation was impressed how well the local organizing
committee was prepared for the conference. The venue of the conference will
be Ramada Plaza Herradura in San Jose offering best meeting facilities for
the expected 400-500 conference participants. The conference web site will
be opened in December on www.fig.net.
During the visit President Elect met with representatives from the
Inter-American Development Bank project on “Regularizacion de Cadastro y
Registro” (Integration of Cadastre and Land Registration). At this
meeting Ing. Juan M. Castro Alfaro, President of CIT, Prof. Enemark
and Karen B. Molines, Rebecca L. Morales, Marlon A. Chaves
and Isteban G. Segura, from the IDB Project (www.uecatastro.org).
The meeting was arranged to provide an insight in the project for
modernizing and integrating the cadastral and land registration functions,
in order to design some relevant sessions at the upcoming FIG Regional
Conference. The key focus of the 100 million USD project is to integrate the
cadastral and land registration functions in order to solve a whole range of
problems related to the current situation of having two separate and
uncoordinated institutions for the physical description and the legal
registrations.
It was agreed that that project represent a core model for many countries
in the regions sharing the same problems as in Costa Rica. This was also the
conclusion at the Special Forum organized by FIG in Aguascalientes, Mexico,
November 2004 (see Aguascalientes Statement at
http://www.fig.net/pub/figpub/pub34/figpub34.htm). The project will have
a core role the upcoming FIG Regional Conference, November 2007 that will
also provide for the opportunity of exchange of experiences and lessons
learnt from other key project in the region.
Prof. Enemark and President Castro had also a meeting with
representatives of universities from Costa Rica; Director Edwin G.
Solórzano, Escuela de Ingenieria Topografica, Universidad de Costa Rica;
Lecturer Julio R. Rodriguez, Escuela de Topografia Cadastro y
Geodesia, Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica; and Chair Enrique M. Alvarado,
School of Topografia, Private University, Costa Rica.
The meeting was arranged to provide an overview of the surveying programs
that are currently offered in Costa Rica, in order to design some relevant
sessions at the regional conference. Surveying education (Topography) was
established about 40 years ago at the Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica.
Recently (about three years ago) two new programs were established at
Universidad de Costa Rica, and the Private University. There is a need for
curriculum development to adapt the programs to societal needs and
international trends in land management. There is also a need for
accreditation measures as well as exchange and cooperation at regional and
global level. The upcoming FIG Regional Conference should provide for
developing such opportunities.
Further reading:
The venue of the 6th FIG Regional Conference will be Ramada Plaza
Herradura Hotel and Conference Centre in San Jose.
|
The hotel offers excellent facilities for meetings and relaxation. The
fees are also reasonable. Hotel rates vary 85-90 USD incl. breakfast
while the conference fee is 300-350 EUR including lunches, dinners and
the technical tour. |
CFIA headquarters in San Jose, CFIA has more than 11,000 members and CIT
has about 1,400 surveyors as members. |
Meeting with the representatives of the IDB cadastral project.
|
Stig Enemark and President Juan M. Castro, CIT. |
Central Plaza in San Jose. |
Costa Rica is known for fruits, coffee and great touristy attractions... |
... like waterfalls, rainforests, volcanoes and superb wildlife. |
Technical tour during the conference includes a visit to Irazú Volcano,
which is the largest in Costa Rica. |
Representatives of CIT/CFIA and FIG at the Irazú Volcano at the height
of 3,100 metres.
|
The cultural evening includes traditional dancing... |
... and mask dancers. |
Stig Enemark
FIG President Elect
25 November 2006 |
