ICTs and the Environment

Big World > Links > ICT Sources by Topic

An annotated list of key on-line sources which focus on ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) and the environment.

A Community-based Electronic Environmental Network in the Msunduzi River Catchment: A Review and a Model

http://www.idrc.ca/acacia/03981/index.html

Author(s): Nick Rivers-Moore & Duncan Hay (Institute of Natural Resources)

Date of publication: August 1998

Summary: This is a work in progress that will, we hope, contribute in some small way to the rehabilitation and sustainable development of the Msunduzi River catchment and to the social development of its residents. Please provide us with any comments or criticism that you might have. Through this process its contents will be developed and refined into a formal technical by the end of the project.

A Survey of Information Communication Technology in Sub-Saharan Africa

http://www.idrc.ca/acacia/old/studies/ir-heusden.html#index

Author(s): Peter van Heusden

Date of publication: August 1996

Summary: The objective of this of this study is to gather information and data on current and planned initiatives on the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) that add value to development programs in the areas of natural resource management in Sub-Saharan Africa (in particular, water, forestry, environmental management, agriculture/food/fisheries).

Connecting People and Organizations for Rural Development through Pilot Multi Purpose Telecentres http://www.unesco.org/webworld/public_domain/kothmale_docs/Philippines.ppt

Summary:A presentation on Multipurpose Community Telecenters (MCTs) in Selected Philippine Barangays

Developing National Information and Communications Infrastructure (NICI) Policies, Plans and Strategies: the 'why' and 'how'

http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/adf/codipap2.htm

Date of publication: June 28 1999

Summary: Attempts are made in this paper to assess the ICT situation in African countries, to outline the pressing need to build-up NICI plans and strategies and the various steps to be taken to enable countries to be part of the information society.

Ecology, Information Technology, and Environmental Policy: An Ecologist's Perspective on Values and Value Added

http://www.cisp.org/imp/october_99/10_99hunt_jones.htm

Author(s): Michael Hunt Jones

Date of publication: October 1999

Summary: Information technology has made it possible to conduct insightful ecology in ways barely envisioned a decade ago. Ecologists must use these tools wisely, in part by giving the tools real ecological value through creative partnerships with the information technologists. . . Equally importantly, policymakers must see the value in funding the development of new tools in ecology, and must themselves critically evaluate the value of the information they employ for creating and conducting environmental policy."

Examples of Applications: ICTs in developing countries

http://www.iicd.org/base/show_article?cat=1&article_id=13&subcat=7

Author(s): Andreas Crede; Robin Mansell (eds.)

Date of publication: August 13 1998

Summary: This fourth booklet contains a series of case studies illustrating the potential role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in development. The cases that are described highlight possible ICT applications in a selected number of sectors. The first booklet discussed on the nature of ICTs and their importance for sustainable development. The second booklet focused on the gaps in the provision of ICTs in developing countries and the opportunities for bridging this gap. A third booklet examined the need to develop a national ICT policy framework.

From ISAD to the African Development Forum: the expansion of interest in ICTs in Africa from 1996 to 1999

http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/adf/kate.htm

Author(s): Kate Wild, Claire Sibthorpe, IDRC, Johannesburg

Date of publication: August 25 1999

Summary: A paper fromAfrican Computing & Telecommunications Summit, Cambridge:

This presentation will review the experience of the last three years from three points of view:

The new institutional mechanisms and partnerships intended to improve the effectiveness of donor programmes in the ICT arena.

The (mainly donor-sponsored) events that have followed ISAD with the intention of focussing political attention on the ICT and development connection.

The types of ICT projects that are emerging as priorities for support.

Greening the Internet: Ten Ways E-Commerce Could Affect the Environment and What We Can Do

http://www.cisp.org/imp/october_99/10_99cohen.htm

Author(s): Nevin Cohen

Date of publication: October 1999

Summary: As the Internet burgeons, electronic commerce is becoming ever more important. The future of the environment may be profoundly affected -- for better and for worse.

Information, Environment and Development

http://www.igc.apc.org/habitat/rp/docs/ied.html

Author(s): Robert Pollard

Date of publication: November 1990

Summary: The challenges of environment and development that constitute the basis for the UNCED agenda are taking place during a time that marks the emergence of an information revolution. One key component of the environment and development challenge is that of absorbing, digesting, and understanding a massive body of information on the impact of human behavior -- including agriculture, industry, technology and consumption -- on local, regional and global ecosystems. A second component is that of enabling access to that information in a way that on how to alter human behavior so that it can regain a balance with the natural world.

Information Technology and the Environment: Choices and Opportunities

http://www.cisp.org/imp/october_99/10_99kelly.htm

Author(s): Henry Kelly

Date of publication: October 1999

Summary:The capabilities which put information technology at the epicenter of recent economic growth are precisely those needed to ensure that this growth can be achieved through reduced use of energy and other natural resources and an improved environment.