The United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), in collaboration with the Government of Ethiopia and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), will host the Fourth High Level Forum on United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management at UNECA’s Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 20-22 April 2016.

This forum will be focused on land administration and management, with particular emphasis on sharing experiences, including benefits and challenges, considering fit for purpose aspects, digital land registers, cadastres, and other land data needs, demonstrating practical examples of land administration success stories. Land information and its management are fundamental to successful land administration and the derived benefits to the economies, and overall sustainable development of nations. Therefore, the overarching theme of the Fourth High Level Forum is ‘Good Land Governance for the 2030 Agenda’.

Bringing all stakeholders together, the Forum will: provide Member States and geospatial stakeholders with the unique opportunity to share and learn from each other, new ideas, methods and strategies to support local, regional and global land administration and management initiatives. It will also raise political awareness and highlight the importance to decision makers of the need for timely and fit for purpose land administration and management; facilitate coordination and dialogue among global experts from the land administration and geospatial communities to strengthen the use of geospatial information for good land governance; and collaborate with professional bodies and experts working in land governance, including United Nations bodies and other international organizations, to identify and address common issues of land management and governance in support of sustainable development.