The Working Group for Effective Land Administration emerged as an initiative during the 10th session of UN-GGIM: Americas, held in Santiago, Chile, in October 2023. This initiative, led by Honduras, received support from Chile. Since 2024, both Honduras and Chile have taken on the coordination of the working group.

The main objective of this group is to serve as a collaborative entity supporting the definitions established by the global expert group on land administration, EG-LAM. In this context, over the past two years, the group has defined activities related to the dissemination of the Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA). Actions carried out include a preliminary survey in 2024, which provided insights into the status of countries regarding the topics addressed by FELA, as well as webinars held in May, November, and December 2024.

During the 11th session of UN-GGIM: Americas in 2024, held in Mexico City, the document titled “Resolutions of the 11th Session of UN-GGIM: Americas” included Resolution No. 19 on the progress of the working groups, which stated: “It is proposed to hold the first in-person meeting of the regional Land Administration Working Group within the framework of the 12th plenary session of UN-GGIM: Americas in October 2025, and to coordinate and create interim instances to prepare for this meeting.” Due to resource availability, this meeting was scheduled to coincide with the 12th session of UN- GGIM: Americas.

The ongoing interest in land administration topics, the recent activities carried out by the coordination team, and the new challenges raised during the 15th session of UN-GGIM in New York regarding these issues, make it necessary for the working group to establish guidelines and make decisions about its actions in the coming months, considering an evaluation of what has been accomplished.

This collaborative working instance will allow us to continue developing the path we have set and incorporate the new challenges we face.

Objective of the Side Event:

Strengthen the coordination and actions of the Regional Working Group for Land Administration within UN-GGIM: Americas, through the evaluation of activities carried out, the definition of strategic guidelines to guide its collaborative work in the short and medium term, in alignment with the Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA) and the recommendations of the global expert group EG-LAM.

The specific objectives of the Side Event are to:

1. Evaluate the activities carried out by the Working Group.
2. Achieve greater participation and commitment from the countries in the Working Group to complete the review of the official FELA survey being prepared by the group’s coordination team.
3. Review the new guidelines and challenges presented during the 15th session of UN-GGIM in New York, related to land administration, in order to incorporate actions into the 2026 plan.
4. Align criteria regarding the Working Group’s engagement with other institutions in the Americas that are also dedicated to land administration topics.