SEMINAR ON GLOBAL MAPPING TO HELP IMPLEMENT ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS ENDS WITH STATEMENT FOR PROPOSED ACTION
Press Release
DEV/2128
SEMINAR ON GLOBAL MAPPING TO HELP IMPLEMENT ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS ENDS WITH STATEMENT FOR PROPOSED ACTION
19961118 Standardization of Data, Financial Incentives, Cooperation Among National, Regional, United Nations Agencies Are RecommendedNEW YORK, 18 November (DDSMS) -- A four-day interregional seminar on global mapping to help in the implementation of the multinational environmental agreements ended on 16 November in Santa Barbara, California. Eighty experts from 23 countries, both developed and developing, took part in the event, which ended with the drafting of a statement.
The seminar was opened by Haruho Fujii, former Vice-Minister of Japan's Ministry of Construction, and by the Chancellor of the University of California, at Santa Barbara, Henry Yang. Delegates were welcomed by Beatrice Labonne, Director of the Division for Economic and Social Development and Natural Resources Management of the United Nations Department for Development Support and Management Services. She spoke on behalf of Razali Ismail (Malaysia), President of the current General Assembly.
The final document -- the Santa Barbara Statement -- recognized that the implementation of the multinational environmental agreements and the specific chapters of Agenda 21 (adopted by the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development) required improved worldwide availability of, and access to, relevant and standardized data at appropriate scale. The Statement emphasizes the value of global mapping to this endeavour. The need to bring the developing countries into the emerging global mapping efforts, taking into account their specific national cartographic requirements and pressing development priorities, was stressed. Financial incentives, such as fee for service, and benefits for project partnership within the development of a global spatial data infrastructure should be devised to facilitate the participation of national agencies of developing countries and economies in transition.
The Statement said donor agencies and development banks should increase their assistance to institutions of the developing countries and economies in transition, in order to improve the quality of spatial data products and services, as well as facilitate access to these data for the creation of regional and global mapping products. Complementary efforts for the provision of technical support by a variety of national, regional and international organizations should also be encouraged.
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It was said that, to maximize the benefit of global map and information products, spatial data-sharing between suppliers and users must be further encouraged. A global mapping forum should be organized for bringing data users and providers together.
Global mapping support networks are regarded as critical to harmonizing methods used for mapping within the context of global spatial data infrastructure. Such networks, it was stated, could be connected to the Internet and/or other means to facilitate communications, from local to global users. With the support of the relevant national technical agencies, the United Nations could play a critical role in facilitating these networks.
There was recognition for the work done in the context of the Global Resources Information Database of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/GRID), and it was agreed that it should be strengthened to provide the necessary technical backup and metadata services to United Nations agencies and member countries. It was felt that agencies, specifically the national ones implementing Agenda 21 agreements, should define precisely their spatial data and information requirements for implementation, compliance and monitoring.
It was stated that the overall development of global mapping should be fostered under the umbrella of the United Nations and should recognize initiatives being taken at national, regional and global levels. It was recommended that issues related to spatial data policy and access must be discussed at the United Nations regional cartographic conferences. It was recommended that the proposals outlined in the Santa Barbara Statement be embodied in a report to be presented to the special session of the General Assembly on the implementation of Agenda 21, to be held in June 1997.
The seminar was organized jointly by the United Nations Department for Development Support and Management Services, the Geographic Survey Institute of Japan and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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