ICTs, the Internet and Sustainability: Where Next?
This final paper in the IISD Global Connectivity project—ICTs, the Internet and Sustainability—presents an analysis of the views of ten international thought leaders and opinion shapers, in the context of Rio+20 and upcoming major events in the telecommunications and Internet sectors.
The first section summarizes the responses to the project's core question: How far and in what ways do we need to change our understanding of sustainability in the light of the information and communication revolution?
The second section looks at the Rio+20 Summit and its outcome document, The Future We Want, seeking to explain the very limited extent to which Rio recognized the impact and implications of ICTs and the Internet on sustainability.
The third section asks what needs to be done now to address four challenges that are central to the interaction between ICTs and sustainability:
- Mitigation of the environmental impact of ICTs
- Maximization of their potential contribution to environmental adaptation, sustainable economic growth and social equity
- Understanding of the long-term changes that are inherent in an evolving Information Society
- The need for more productive international discourse around ICTs, the Internet and sustainability than that which currently takes place
You might also be interested in
Rethinking Investment Treaties
The reports maps out how the treaty system can be redesigned from the bottom up to accelerate—rather than obstruct—genuine sustainable development and international cooperation.
Modernizing Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining
How will emerging technologies affect the artisanal and small-scale mining sector?
Financial Benefit-Sharing Issues for Critical Minerals: Challenges and opportunities for producing countries
Exploring nuances in the key features of critical minerals and the new challenges and opportunities they present to fiscal regulation.
National State of the Environment Report: Uzbekistan
The National State of the Environment Report (NSoER) is a comprehensive document that provides a snapshot of current environmental trends in Uzbekistan's socio-economic development for citizens, experts, and policy-makers in the country of Uzbekistan.