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Session 6: Review and
Wrap-up
Accra, 8 July 2011
International
Telecommunication
Union
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the ITU or its Membership.
Key Messages from
Session 1: Adaptation and
Climate Change
Accra, Ghana
8 July 2011
6th ITU Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
Session 1: Adaptation and Climate
Change
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Global effort towards greenhouse emission reduction needs to
intensify to avoid locked-in impact of climate change in the future
Should global emissions be to reduced to zero today, there will
still be the need for humankind and ecosystems to adapt to
climate change as a result of historical emissions
Developing countries will be most impacted and Africa will be
among those regions that will be severely hit by climate change
Climate change poses a great threat to sustainable development.
Climate change can hinder the attainment of millennium
development goals.
There is enough global statistics to demonstrate the impacts of
climate change and its related disasters on development
Climate change is not only a risk, but it also provides tremendous
opportunities for sustainable development
July 2011
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Committed to Connecting the World
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ICT and ICT industries can contribute to addressing climate
change in three basic ways
o Reduce its carbon foot print by using smart technologies that lead to internal ICT
climate change mitigation
o ICTs needs to adapt to the impacts of climate change
o ICT can serve as transformational tool for climate change mitigation and
adaptation in other sectors
• ICTs can play a crucial role in climate change adaptation and
disaster risks reduction
• However the application of ICTs in climate change adaptation and
disaster risk reduction is in its nascent stage and global effort is
required to enhance the effective us of ICTs for climate change
adaptation
• Enhancing the transformational role of ICT for climate change
adaptation and disaster risk reduction, will require the use three
technology types,
o telecommunication systems,
o observation systems, and
o information systems
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There is the need to build capacities in developing countries to
support ICT as tool for climate change adaptation and disaster
risks reduction.
• Capacity development is required in three dimensions institutional development, human resources enhancement and
systems development, in particular, relating to legislative and
regulatory frameworks
• High performance computing resources are required in Africa to
develop scenarios for climate change adaptation and to process
data for use by stakeholders, for example farmers
• Forging of partnerships and engagement of all stakeholders to
address climate change, due to its multi-disciplinary nature, are
critical. There is the need to work closely with the private sector
(especially within the ICT industry) and the youth on this front.
July 2011
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Key Messages from
Session 2:
ICTs As a Green
Technology for Sustainable
Development
Accra, Ghana
8 July 2011
6th ITU Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
Session 2:
ICTs As a Green Technology for Sustainable Development
Walking the talk
 Energy efficiency is a priority in developed countries …
… it is an imperative for developing countries
 Lots of innovation on efficient ICT is underway, lots already
available
Need to make it widespread (early)!
 The new “smart” services will rely on ICT and will mean
much more ICT
Need to develop transformative solutions!
 ICT is vital in Climate Change monitoring and disaster
warning
Opportunity to use the ICT sites (telecom masts,
remote sites …) to host and interconnect sensors!
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Committed to Connecting the World
Discussion outcome:
 Need to consider the needs of clients and, in
particular, of the developing areas (quite different
priorities and environment)
Uganda  only 5% citizens connected to the electric
grid
 Digital inclusion - Efficient ICT is vital to develop
communications in rural areas and connect the
World (e.g. powering remote sites)
 Developing countries should have their voice heard
at all levels and, of course, within Standardization
 Need to develop an aggressive awareness and
capacity building program on the use of ICTs to
tackle Climate Change
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“ICT should clean up its act and all the
other sectors can ride on its success
and potential to achieve sustainable
development”
July 2011
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Key Messages from
Session 3:
Industry Engagement
Towards a Climate-Neutral
ICT sector
Accra, Ghana
8 July 2011
6th ITU Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
Session 3: Industry Engagement
Towards a Climate-Neutral ICT sector
 Connectivity is growing and there is a growing demand for
ICT products and services
 The ICT Industry is engaging in a number of measures to
reduce the carbon footprint of their products and
operations including:
 More eco – friendly design of product (universal
charger)
 Cloud computing
 Data centre optimization and consolidation
 Increase in energy efficiency of products, services and
facilities
July 2011
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Committed to Connecting the World
 E-Waste is increasing globally as more ICT products are
produced
 Greater need for e-waste solutions on a global basis
 The ICT industry must step up with solutions to address
the full life cycle of their products
 ITU is leading the development of standards that will
measure the environmental impact of ICT including:
 Goods, Networks and Services
 Organizations
 To follow are projects, cities and countries
 The ICT industry can provide many of the tools and
infrastructure to enable climate change solutions, however
the innovations required will require others to be involved
with a greater understanding of climate change
July 2011
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Key Messages from
Session 4:
Space and climate change
Accra, Ghana
8 July 2011
6th ITU Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
Main conclusions
 The use of satellites to monitor processes and
trends at the global scale is essential in the
context of climate change.
 Satellites, as part of the global array of networks
of systems to monitor climate change, now
provide a vital and important means of gathering
observations of the climate system from a global
perspective.
 Available spectrum is paramount to the success
of any application including earth observation.
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Main proposals
 Further enhance climate observation, in
particularly from space
 Commitment by space agencies involved in global
observations to improve climate monitoring
capabilities on a sustained basis are required
 Parties that support space agencies in such
observations are encouraged to continue and to
respond to the relevant need
 Telecommunication Administrations have to
understand special needs of space science in
spectrum and to support earth observation society
in protection of their spectrum requirements
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July 2011
Key Messages from
Session 5:
E-Waste
Accra, Ghana
8 July 2011
6th ITU Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change
International
Telecommunication
Union
Committed to Connecting the World
Situation Analysis
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ICT has revolutionized modern living, and is recognised as a valuable tool
to adapt to the effects of Climate change
PCs & Mobile Phones are the major IC equipment and more will be
deployed for climate adaptation
Early obsolescence of electronic products is causing production of
uncontrollable large volumes of e-wastes 40-50 million metric tonnes
annually.
The volume of obsolete PCs generated in developing regions will exceed
that of developed regions by 2016-2018.
E-waste has therefore become a global crisis , not only from the quantity,
but also from various hazardous contents such as heavy metals and
endocrine disrupting substances e.g. brominated flame retardants BFRs.
E-waste is a paradox as it is both a problem and also an opportunity as it
also contains valuable ferrous (e.g. iron), non-ferrous (e.g. copper),
precious and strategic metals (e.g. indium, gallium) that are scarce and
may be lost if e-waste is improperly processed as in developing countries.
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International Responses to EWaste Problem
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SBC established Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative (MPPI) 2005 and
Partnership for Computing Equipment (PACE) 2009 . Both initiatives have
developed Guidelines for ESM of Mobile phones and PCs.
Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) by United Nations University, UNU.
E-waste adopted as one of the four emerging global environmental policy
issues in May 2009 by the 2nd International Conference on Chemicals
Management under SAICM OF UNEP .
SBC E-waste Asia-Pacific and Africa Projects
Goals of these Projects :
- Prevention and minimization of e-waste generation,
- ESM of e-waste by promoting best practices and sound
recycling technologies, and
- illegal traffic prevention through capacity building and
strengthening of national enforcement structures
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Committed to Connecting the World
Way Forward
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Multi-stakeholders cooperation needed
pivotal on the recognition that
procurement of new ICT equipment should take cognizance of
environmentally sound lifecycle management as well as environmentally sound
disposal of old/replaced equipment more so as we move from analogue to
digital equipment
The electronics and telecommunications industry can do more to help to
improve the management of e-waste through implementing ‘’Take Back
scheme’’and implementing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
in
developing countries.
There is need to adopt a closed-loop ‘cradle-to cradle’ approach in the
production, purchasing and recycling of Smart ICT .
Developing countries should ratify and domesticate into national legislation
the Basel Convention as well as enacting e-waste regulations with diligence
enforcement
There is need for best practices and global standards and certification
schemes for E-wastes management issues
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July 2011
Thank you
Accra, 8 July 2011
International
Telecommunication
Union
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the ITU or its Membership.