Sixth Symposium on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change
7 Jul 2011 - 8 Jul 2011The main purpose of the event was to move forward the agenda on using ICTs to monitor climate change, mitigate and adapt to its effects and, in this light, identify future requirements for ITU?s related work ? including standardization of ICT equipment and networks as well as development activities. (see Resolution 73 of the 2008 World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-08), Resolution 66 of the 2010 World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-10) and Resolution 182 of the 2010 Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-10)).
The symposium in Ghana focused on the issue of ICTs, the environment and climate change in Africa and the needs of developing countries. Topics discussed included mitigation and adaptation to climate change, e-waste, disaster planning, cost-effective ICT technologies, methodologies for the environmental impact assessment of ICTs, challenges and opportunities in the transition to a green and resource efficient economy.
The symposium concluded with a Call to Action addressing climate change and the forthcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP17-CMP7), to be held in Durban, South Africa in November 2011 and for the first time sustainability and the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD 2012 or Rio+20).
The symposium brought together leading specialists in the field, from top policy-makers to engineers, designers, planners, government officials, regulators, standards experts and others. More Information