Telecentres, ICTs and climate change

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Permalink Reply by Niranjan Meegammana on December 7, 2009 at 10:09am

Rural Farmers are the first victims of climatic change. Due to the change in rain patterns, water shortage, plant deceases are inevitable. This will disable crop planning and resulting economic losses. Telecenters depending on rural economy is going to be affected as farmers will be able to pay fees of their children using telecenters.

we can term this question another way ? HOW CAN Telecenters would be more useful in preparing people to face climatic change ? How ICTs can help realizing this goal? What tools and information could be developed and deployed through telecenters ?

Niranjan Meegammana
http://www.shilpasayura.org
Shilpa Sayura Foundation

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy L. Calata on December 8, 2009 at 12:19am

Climate change has always been projected to the world as something that causes negative effects. Does it have positive effects at all?

It's always been perceived as an extraordinary threat and challenge, but are there opportunities that go with it?

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy L. Calata on December 8, 2009 at 12:49am

It's good that Climate Change unfolds gradually. So there is enough time for responsive planning and action. As it becomes manifest, it reveals strengths and weakness. The Copenhagen Summit is all about the well-being of our planet and its inhabitants, not that of the fittest only. ICT and telecentres can play a major role too vis-a-vis climate change, now, tomorrow and in the future. Basically, telecentres can contribute to capacity-building among the village people, as well as on internal and external communications and networking for collaborative action. ICT serves as an effective and efficient tool for communication, R&D and implementation of responsive actions or interventions.

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy L. Calata on December 8, 2009 at 1:18am

Being in the frontline and in direct contact with the grassroots, telecentres are good sources of information that help decision makers in coming up with a clearer picture of what climate change is in the villages and the whole planet. The same centres can be good vehicles for the delivery or implementation of climate change-responsive actions or interventions.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Nassali on December 8, 2009 at 8:16am

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can improve environmental performance and address climate change across the economy. The biggest gains for smarter environmental and economic strategies and applications are in power generation and distribution, buildings and transportation – three areas which contribute to the bulk of greenhouse gases. Further environmental benefits of ICT applications are evident in areas such as water management, biodiversity protection and pollution reduction.

ICT innovation is also a key element to spur green growth in the economic crisis and recovery.

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Permalink Reply by tareq ahmed on December 8, 2009 at 8:26am

I think there r two ways.on the one hand,knowledge sharing hub 4 grssroots people who r direct victims of climate change.this can be done through various ICT applications and again using all sorts of ICT tools: from cell phone to internet through community radio. ICT's can really play the pivotal role for spreading knowledge among the affected people and also it can document the local knowledge,which r particularly indigenous/traditional,for exchanging or replicating those in some other regions,like:Africans can share their indigenous knowledge about adaptation or preparedness measures to the people of those regions of asia,particularly South Asia,which r severly vulnerable to climate change&disaster.

On the other hand,players like:telecom sectors or ICT industry can take a lead role through promoting energy efficient technologies for the telecenters.particularly,as energy is becoming a serious concern for a region like:South Asia, green technologies should be promoted by the sectors,which r supporting the telecenter movement through providing equipments,tools etc. also,i think solar power is gradually becoming available in rural areas;so big giants of both telecom& IT sector can start new ventures in doing green technology business.perhaps,it would help them to further expand there network and also boost their business.

There r roles for the governments also,they have to make supportive policies which can support this type of expansion of green technology.waivering or reducing of taxes can be one of the issues for popularizing solar energy at rural areas.

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Permalink Reply by OWINO Fredrick on December 9, 2009 at 12:04am

Tareq, I agree with your suggestions, particularly the knowledge hub one... I think that apart from being a dissemination centre, the hub could be used as a sensitization centre to make the masses aware of safer environmental practices and avoid pollution..This is so because once we put everything clear at the grassroots, we can hold those leaders and policy makers more accountable to environmental and climatic changes!!!...otherwise continue following copenhagen.

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy L. Calata on December 8, 2009 at 8:09pm

Telecentres can serve as the hub for communication and information in their respective villages or communities before, during and after disasters and other forms of fortuitous events, whether natural or otherwise.

Since in every country there are already existing systems and organizations created and are functioning for such purpose, our telecentre networks need not operate as independent hubs for disaster management and coordination.

Our telecentres could simply play a major supportive role to extant organizations, such as the National Disaster Coordinating Council, National Department of Social Welfare and Development, National Red Cross, etc. by serving as their conduits, thus helping much in effectively and efficiently broadening their reach to the grassroots.

Leaders of telecentre networks around the world should be encouraged to work out with disaster-related organizations in their respective countries for the possible forging of partnerships, and to draw the mechanics of participation and empowerment of their telecentres down to the grassroots level.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra Nassali on December 9, 2009 at 2:02am

Hi all, came across this and deemed it would be interesting to share here: International Telecommunication Union has said it wants negotiators at the Copenhagen talks to recognize the role information communication and technology will play to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

"It is estimated that more effective use of ICTs could help reduce total global emissions by 15 per cent by 2020, representing carbon savings five times more than the estimated emissions for the whole ICT sector in 2020," said a statement from the ITU.

The Global e-Sustainability Initiative estimates that these reductions could deliver energy efficiency savings to global businesses of over Sh50 trillion.

ITU pointed to the fact that since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in December 1997, the number of ICT users had tripled worldwide, but ICTs find no mention in the current draft to be discussed in Copenhagen.

Some of the projects undertaken by the ICT community to 'green' the world is the development of the Universal Charging Solution which has resulted in creation of one-size-fits-all chargers that can be used on any future phone.

Use of this charger on mobile phones is estimated to result in a 50 per cent reduction in standby energy consumption, eliminating 51,000 tonnes of redundant chargers, and cutting green house gas emissions by 13.6 million tonnes every year.

A study conducted by the European Telecommunication Network Operators' association and the World Wide Fund for Nature showed that by replacing 20 per cent of business travel in EU's 25 countries by non-travel solutions such as videoconferencing, it would be possible to avoid 22 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year.

Another way ICT can make the earth greener is through what is known as 'Dematerialization' - a process where soft versions replace physical goods.

Examples are e-mail, online billing, online submission of government forms, music downloads to replace CDs, video DVDs, e-magazines and e-books.

Others include use of intelligent transport systems like parking guidance systems that can lead motorists to the most appropriate parking space, reducing engine time.

Use of global positioning systems (GPS) for navigation or vehicle dispatch to reduce journey times.

ITU said using satellite monitoring instead of ground-monitoring for farming needs can reduce CO2 emissions by 97 per cent.

An example is a new initiative by United Nations and mobile telephone companies in some countries to install 5,000 new weather stations to monitor the impact of climate change, transmitting news immediately to farmers' mobile phones via text messaging.

The introduction of digital TV and digital radio (planned to be complete by 2015 for some 120 countries worldwide including Kenya) will cut antenna power consumption by a factor of almost 10 compared with traditional broadcasting equipment said ITU.

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Permalink Reply by OWINO Fredrick on December 9, 2009 at 3:54am

Huh!!
Sandra, now this is what I call superb!!!....I did not know that a lot is going on with regard to this issue of climate change and ICTs. These are excellent efforts , I think. Of great concern to me-I can't imagine it escaped my notice!!- is the fact that.....the number of ICT users had tripled worldwide, but ICTs find no mention in the current draft to be discussed in Copenhagen!!! how can that be possible??? someone should squeeze in something in regard to this. However, on a light note, why cut the Eu travels, who does not like travelling anyway???..On overall, i think they are good measures if they can be implemented in letter and spirit.

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy L. Calata on December 9, 2009 at 4:30am

I also learned that the Philippines' sustainable development programs would embrace, among others, (a) carbon dioxide emission reduction from transport, power and industry, with the use of biofuels, energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy and (b) a systematic garbage management with materials recovery facilities (MRFs) in every village or barangay to reduce methane, a lethal greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

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Permalink Reply by Francis Mwathi on December 15, 2009 at 2:03am

All around the world, the global environment is changing affecting not only the physical surroundings, but the communities of people within it. We cannot always see it, we don’t even always hear about it, so how can we begin to stop it? We havethe opportunity to share our experiences and ideas and unite with other like minded friends to call for global change using the enormous power of social networking websites and other internet platforms.

Thanks alot Fredrick for starting this discussion.

CNN and YouTube have teamed up to present a live YouTube debate, this time focusing on the topic of climate change in honor of the COP15 conference in Copenhagen that is going on.
YouTube has created a channel page for the COP15 conference where you can submit your own questions for the chance to have them aired during the debate on December 15 (TODAY). According to the site, during the debate "leaders and activists at COP15 will come together to answer your top-ranked questions."
Possible topics range from the "economics of climate change" to "personal responsibility." You can submit video questions and vote for your favorites.Youtube, the online video giant is doing great work to test the possibilities of democratic engagement through technology.

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