Various nations have passed legislation that makes it possible for ruralcommunities to register their lands as a single legalentity and act as decentralized land administration and management bodies. However, due to various political, financialand capacity constraints, these laws are often not implemented successfully.

Significantly, this was the first annual conference that dedicated a specific stream to spatial information. The full day workshop convened by the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) and the World Bank “Spatially Enabling Government and Societies (SEGS) for Sustainable Land Administration and Management” was an excellent complement to the overall conference theme on land governance.