Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the Sixth Session of the Regional Committee of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management in Africa (UN-GGIM Africa) was held online from 1 to 4 December 2020. The meeting started with opening remarks from the Chair of UN-GGIM Africa, the Director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), and the UN-GGIM Secretariat.

The Fifth Session of the Regional Committee of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management in Africa (UN-GGIM: Africa)  took place from 18 to 22 November 2019 in Kigali, Rwanda, in conjunction with the AfricaGIS 2019 Conference.

The Pan American Institute for Geography and History (PAIGH) held its 49th Meeting of the Directing Council on 20 November 2019 in Mexico City, Mexico.

The Directing Council approved eleven resolutions amongst other: the 2020 Budget program, academic grants and study visits, priorities for Technical assistance, the Geoportal and on the authorization for making agreements about the use of The Integrated Maps of America.

The majority of people who are food insecure live in developing countries, where nearly 13% of the population is undernourished.

From 30 September to 02 October, CIESIN hosted the “Second Human Planet Forum” bringing over 130 experts on population, settlement, infrastructure data, poverty mapping, and subnational administrative boundaries to the Columbia University Lamont-Doherty campus, New York.

UNFPA organized capacity strengthening workshops on mapping spatial access to health facilities, Geospatial Data and Standards and small area estimation in Lusaka, Zambia from 17 to 21 June 2019.

Responding to the invitation of the Bureau of UNGEGN to make a special presentation on the SALB programme and its ongoing activities, the presentation, also recorded during the UNGEGN proceedings, emphasized the overarching agendas referring to geospatial information, objectives of the programme and highlighted the contribution of

In March and April 2019, Mozambique was hit by two consecutive tropical cyclones that left a trail of death, damage and destruction in their path. As the first cyclone approached the coast of Mozambique, the authoritative geospatial dataset on administrative boundaries, provided by the Cenacarta (Centro Nacional de Cartografia e Teledeteção), was published on the SALB website.

The SALB programme of the United Nations and the Instituto Pan-American Insitute of Geography and History discussed a partnership toward the achievement of the objectives of SALB in making available a world-wide geospatial data on administrative boundaries. The collaboration was agreed at the beginning of March 2019 and the Instituto Pan-Americano de Geografia e Historia has already started to reach out to its constituents to request their support in contributing their data to the SALB programme.

The first United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress held in Deqing, Zhejiang Province, China, from 19 to 21 November 2018 was convened under the auspices of the United Nations. During the congress, the Secretary-General of the United Nations delivered a video message in which he highlighted the role of geospatial information management towards implementing the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.