Type the magic letter three times and the whole world flashes in front of you. Sounds like a fairy tale, doesn’t it? But how many of us appreciate the magic behind the “www” code? Howmany give a second thought to the engineering behind multilanguage support, online payments or wireless technologies? A wonderful, functional, easily accessible, truly global resource has grown so fast that governments and international organisations find it hard to follow and regulate. That is probably the Net’s major attraction—individual citizens across borders and continents can access information and resources without government control. But for the system to develop further, it needs some sort of coordination. The first Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was called by the United Nations’ Secretary General in November to guide development of the Internet following upon the World Summit on the Information Society (2003-2005). Environmental protection was on the agenda.

Greening Development through Internet Communications Technology (ICT) and Civic Engagement was the title of one of the summit’s workshops. Bluelink, the environmental NGO network in Bulgaria, and the global Association for Progressive Communications (APC) held the workshop with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The workshop sought out synergies in policy and technical solutions that would link Internet governance with sustainability.

AMNESTY: ICT activists are more vocal about protecting human rights than the environment.

To many, electronic waste and energy consumption are the only environmental issues relevant to IT. But there is much more, said Hans Hansel, a trade policy adviser at UNECE and leader of that body’s ICT group for development. The potential of the Internet and ICTs to facilitate environmental protection and the sustainable use of nature’s resources creates a vast area for policy synergies, said Hansel. Attendees suggested future Internet governance and ICT policies will develop so as to:

• decrease emissions of harmful substances
  into the environment;
• facilitate public access to information
  regarding the environment and human
  health;
• improve transparency and good governance
  regarding environmental issues;
• enhance equitable distribution of
  resources;
• foster corporate responsibility; and
• support other policy fields related to sustainable development.

Probably the most exciting finding in Athens was the parallel between guiding principles of Internet governance and the principles behind environmental sustainability policy instruments. The UNECE’s Aarhus Convention <www.unece.org/env/pp> is a fresh example of this. The principle of subsidiarity in decision making (meaning that matters ought to be handled by local bodies, with the central government serving a subsidiary roll) is inherent in sustainable development policies and is particularly relevant for Internet Governance and ICT policies, said Michael Stanley-Jones of the Aarhus Convention’s secretariat. Other common principles between Internet governance and the Aarhus Convention include multi-stakeholder involvement and broad public participation in international forums, Stanley- Jones said.

Regulations obliging governments and businesses to maintain environmental databases and share information with the public is another potential direction of IT policies, with precedents in the Aarhus Convention and its protocol on Pollution Release and Transfer Registers. One major suspicion was put to rest in Athens: that sustainability limits innovation. In fact, today’s demands for fresh approaches will do just the opposite.

Pavel Antonov moderated the Greening IT workshop at IGF