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ITU Symposium:
“ICTs and Climate Change”
Quito, Ecuador
8-10 July 2009
Call for papers and speakers
Organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Supported and hosted by Centro Internacional de Investigación Científica
en Telecomunicaciones, Tecnologías de la Información y las
Comunicaciones (CITIC) Ecuador
Hilton Colon Quito Hotel, Amazonas N 1914 y Avenida Patria 1
Climate change is a concern for all of humanity. The Earth’s climate is influenced by factors such as
the amount of green house gases (GHG) in the atmosphere emitted by all sectors of the economy.
Since 1970, the production of GHG has risen by more than 70 per cent causing changing weather
patterns. Moreover, it is expected that the global effects of climate change, including deforestation
could increase the likelihood of floods and droughts caused by severe atmospheric and oceanic
disturbances, affecting not only ecosystems but also human habitat.
Countries are required to take the necessary steps related to transfer of technology, funding, farming,
insurance, deforestation, adaptation, mitigation, developing of new policies, monitoring etc.
ICTs can contribute to combat climate change and its consequences by playing an important role in
environmental protection, for instance, besides working to reduce its own emissions which are
estimated to be around 2 to 2.5 per cent of the total of GHG emissions, could help indirectly to
reduce GHG emissions belonging to other sectors, as well as, in climate monitoring, farming, helping
to avoid further deforestation and setting up the necessary communications networks in the major
emergencies and disasters around the world.
As part of a major initiative on ICTs and climate change, ITU is organizing the Third Symposium on
ICTs and Climate Change in Quito, Ecuador on 8-10 July 2009, hosted by Centro Internacional
de Investigación Científica en Telecomunicaciones, Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones
(CITIC). The first Symposium was held in Kyoto, Japan in April 2008, hosted by Ministry of Internal
Affairs and Communications (MIC) Japan, the second in London, UK, in June 2008, hosted by British
Telecom.
The symposium in Quito will bring together key specialists in the field, from top decision-makers to
engineers, designers, planners, government officials, regulators, standards experts and others, who
will present and discuss ICTs Policy Framework, Mitigation ICTs Sector - Directly, Climate Monitoring,
Mitigation In Other Sectors – Indirectly, Adaptation to Climate Change, ICTs and Emergencies,
Deforestation, Broadband in Latin America, Green Technologies and Financial Aspects, important issues
to bring climate change to a halt.
To contribute to this work, you are invited to submit an abstract, of a maximum 300 words in
English or Spanish, for a paper or presentation, which is relevant to one or more of the topics below.
TOPIC 1 – ICT POLICY FRAMEWORK
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National and regional policies on ICTs to address climate change.
Key policy issues in Latin America.
Status of UN negotiations on a new CC Agreement.
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Ongoing work in ITU on climate change
TOPIC 2 - MITIGATION 1A: REDUCING THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF THE ICT SECTOR.
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NGN to reduce carbon foot-print and mitigate climate change effects
New radio technologies and greenhouse gases emissions.
Future telecommunication networks.
Internet and Data Centers
TOPIC 3 – CLIMATE MONITORING
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Use of ICTs to monitor climate change and predict climate change related natural disasters.
Current sampling schemes to detect climate-driven changes.
ICTs and prediction, detection and mitigation of natural disaster initiated by climate change
Data Collection and Simulation Modelling to achieve carbon and cost accounting per service or
task.
TOPIC 4 - MITIGATION 2: USING ICTS TO REDUCE EMISSIONS IN OTHER SECTORS
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ICTs as a tool to reduce carbon-based emissions in other sectors.
Measuring the impact of ICTs in other sectors
Setting priority areas for use of ICTs to reduce emissions
TOPIC 5 - ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
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ICTs to predict, identify and measure the extent of the problem of climate change.
Effective response strategies to mitigate negative effects of climate change.
Farming and ICTs.
Technological paths to sustainability.
Actions on technology transfer.
Alternative Energies sources.
TOPIC 6 – ICTS AND EMERGENCIES
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ICTs as a tool for early warning and providing assistance during emergencies.
Setting up telecommunications during emergencies – ITU practical assistance.
Improving effectiveness of ICTs in situations of crisis.
Strategies to establish critical telecommunications.
Approaching strategies in emergency situations.
Remote control and areas at risk.
TOPIC 7 - ADAPTATION: DEFORESTATION
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Reducing CO2 emissions caused by deforestation and forest degradation.
Monitoring deforestation using modern satellite remote sensing equipment.
Technological paths to sustainability and protection of tropical forest.
E-applications in working environments.
Governmental initiatives addressing deforestation issues.
TOPIC 8: COST - EFFECTIVE NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE
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The role of broadband in mitigation of GHG emissions.
Current level of broadband in Latin America.
Challenges in deploying Broadband in the Latin America Region.
Impact of broadband in other economic sectors.
New Broadband Technologies and ITU standards.
TOPIC 9: MITIGATION 1B: GREEN TECHNOLOGIES TO REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINT
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Current and future impact of ICTs on climate change.
Eco-friendly Technology materials.
E-waste management.
E-disposals.
Technologies Life-Cycle analysis.
Manufacture of green technologies.
Dematerialization.
TOPIC 10: FINANCING SOLUTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE
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Financial requirements of developing countries and economies in transition to adapt, prevent
and mitigate climate change effects.
Carbon Trading Funds and Climate Change.
Financial Mechanism and funds for developing countries.
Government priorities and their budgets.
To participate in the Call for papers, please send your abstract by email to [email protected] by
30 April, 2009. Authors wishing to present papers should submit the following:
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The title of the proposed paper or presentation;
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A brief abstract (maximum 300 words),
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The topic(s) from the list above to which it is relevant,
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The author’s full name, job title, affiliation and nationality
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A short biography for the lead author(s)
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Contact details: postal address, telephone/mobile number and e-mail.
You may alternatively suggest a particular high-level speaker for inclusion in the programme.
Authors will be notified of the acceptance of their papers following a peer-review process, drawing
upon the resources of the Technology Watch Correspondence Group. Sales/Product promotion
proposals will not be accepted for the workshop. Therefore, any commercial contributions submitted
will be automatically rejected.
Accepted papers/presentations should be submitted, in full, no later than 1 June, 2009.
All accepted papers/presentations will be published on the ITU website for the Symposium and in any
published proceedings of the symposia. Author(s) of accepted papers will be invited to assign to ITU
the right to reproduce the paper in the published proceedings of the symposium, in any forms and/or
languages.