Session 6: Review and Wrap-up

InternationalTelecommunicationUnion

Session 6: Review and Wrap-up

Accra, 8 July 2011

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 fromSession 1: Adaptation and

Climate Change

Accra, Ghana8 July 2011

6th ITU Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change

July 2011

Committed to Connecting the World

Session 1: Adaptation and Climate Change

• 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

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July 2011


• 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 changeo 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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July 2011


• 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.

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Key Messages fromSession 2:

ICTs As a Green Technology for Sustainable Development



July 2011


Session 2: ICTs As a Green Technology for Sustainable Development

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Walking the talkEnergy efficiency is a priority in developed countries …

… it is an imperative for developing countriesLots 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!

July 2011


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

gridDigital 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 8

July 2011


“ICT should clean up its act and all the

other sectors can ride on its success

and potential to achieve sustainable

development”

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Industry Engagement Towards a Climate-Neutral

ICT sector



July 2011


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

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July 2011


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

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Space and climate change



July 2011


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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July 2011


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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Key Messages fromSession 5:E-Waste



July 2011


Situation Analysis 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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July 2011


International Responses to E-Waste Problem

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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July 2011


Way Forward 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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Thank you

Accra, 8 July 2011

The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the ITU or its Membership.

Session 6: Review and Wrap-up

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