| |
| |
 |
A
plan that calls for universal access to information and computer technologies
emerged from the World Summit on the Information Society. But are there
cables attached? - By Pavel Antonov
Or at least that was the expressed hope of participants at the World Summit on the Information Society, held in Geneva in December. The ambitiously titled event passed without much fanfare, although participation was diverse: business leaders, scientists and activists joined high-ranking officials to figure out how technology could help to end poverty and environmental decline. In the end, 44 heads of state and other governmental leaders joined 83 ministers and vice-ministers from 176 countries in endorsing the summit's Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action, which aims to connect all schools, villages, governments and hospitals, and bring information and computer technologies (ICTs) to half the world's population, all by the year 2015. The next phase of the process, to be held in Tunis in 2005, will take stock of the progress made. Providing equitable access to ICTs to everyone on Earth was among the guiding themes of the summit. ICT development in low-income countries, Internet training, low-cost products to overcome the illiteracy barrier to ICT, and bringing ICT skills to underserved communities were among the summit's practical outcomes, delivered by corporate giants like HP and Microsoft. A EUR 1 million contribution to information technology in developing countries was announced by the cities of Geneva and Lyon and the Government of Senegal. The contributions are intended to be the first three payments towards the Digital Solidarity Fund, the creation of which is to be considered by a UN working group for the Tunis phase. However, the governments' refusal to launch the fund triggered criticism from NGOs. The summit's most notable achievement, according to the UN organisers, was across-the-board support for the declaration, which covered several contentious issues. Among other benefits of the spread of ICTs will be better environmental protection and natural resource management, the declaration stated. It also recommended that ICT-related efforts and programmers be fully integrated into national and regional development strategies, while claiming that ICTdriven growth contributes to poverty eradication and sustainable development. Civil society representatives were not impressed, calling the declaration and the entire summit process disillusioning and frustrating. Their alternative declaration, entitled "Shaping Information Societies for Human Needs," called for information societies that are "free from discrimination and conflict and based on a framework of social, political and economic justice and a more equitable distribution of resources." The civil society working group looking at ICTs' impacts on the environment warned that the summit's commitments "will be forgotten even more quickly than last year's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg." The group committed itself to seeking more coherency between the two international processes. "Telephones will not feed the poor, and computers will not replace textbooks," cautioned Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, "but ICTs can be used effectively as part of the toolbox for addressing global problems." — The REC's collection of good ICT practices for the environment is available at www.rec.org/e-aarhus |
 |
      |
|||
|
