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Dr. Clarissa Augustinus, Chief, Land, Tenure and Property Administration Section (LTPAS) of UN-HABITAT responding to clarifications posed by the participants during the STDM Special Event in FIG Congress, 12 April 2010, Sydney, Australia. (From L-R) Dr. Mohamed El-Sioufi acting as the Chairperson of the Event, Mr. Christiaan Lemmen of ITC and FIG President Stig Enemark joined Dr. Augustinus as Resource Speakers.© GLTN |
A pro-poor land rights recording system - the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM), was launched in a Special Event during the 24th International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) Congress, 11-16 April 2010 in Sydney, Australia. Under the Theme 'Facing the Challenges - Building the Capacity', the Congress which was attended by more than 2,000 participants drawn from all over the world, proved to be a good occasion to highlight STDM and to provide a demonstration of its key features.
The Special Event which took place on 12 April 2010 was led by the FIG President Stig Enemark who acknowledged that STDM recognizes unconventional relationships between people and land thereby empowering the poor and contributing to poverty alleviation. He also launched the Primer on 'Social Tenure Domain Model - A Pro-Poor Land Tool'. The development of STDM is a joint initiative of the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) partners including FIG, the Faculty of Geo-information and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente, the World Bank and UN-HABITAT.
Clarissa Augustinus, Chief, of the Land, Tenure and Property Administration Section (LTPAS) of UN-HABITAT provided the brief historical background of the development of STDM, its capacity to integrate informal, formal and customary land information and how STDM can contribute to improving tenure security of the poor and vulnerable groups like women.
STDM represents a win-win solution to the land industry in general and the surveying community in particular. By enabling the inclusion of undocumented land and properties in informal settlements, customary land, etc. into the land administration systems, STDM can contribute to addressing the gaps and land surveyors can, by embracing it, be a part of an exciting social change. Also, the STDM concept, which is likely to shift the focus away from conventional and expensive tools that have over the years served only limited sections of populations, can enhance the relevance of land professionals and promote the standing of land surveyors within the society. The land industry and the surveying community thus stand to benefit from the STDM endeavor and will be encouraged further to develop pro-poor tools like STDM.
Christiaan Lemmen of Dutch Cadastre and ITC, did the final STDM presentation which included the demonstration of the STDM prototype. Unlike in previous forums where STDM was discussed at conceptual level, the Event showcased the preliminary version of the product. The Prototype is still a work in progress, but the functionalities that it already has and the open source software methodology that underpins its development point to the promise the STDM holds in addressing land access and tenure security issues. This is particularly important where authorities and land administrators cannot afford to use the conventional sophisticated and costly technical solutions.
Following the presentation, the more than 100 participants who attended the STDM Special Event had opportunities to pose questions and share their views. Most speakers applauded the initiative and urged the partners to vigorously pursue and realize the full development of the prototype.
In the course of the discussion, the financial support from the Governments of Norway and Sweden in GLTN including the development of STDM was duly recognized and appreciated.
Moreover, Mohamed El-Sioufi, Head, Shelter Branch of UN-HABUITAT also delivered a speech in a Plenary Session during the Congress focusing on addressing the challenges of climate change, development of sustainable cities and re-echoing the need for the development of pro-poor land tools. Both events were featured in the FIG Congress daily newsletter.
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