Vol. VII No. 3
March 2009
The first monthly magazine on ICT4D
ICTs to combat climate change International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
ICIMOD: For mountains and people Information for development
w w w. i 4 d o n l i n e . n e t
Andreas Schild, Director General, ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal
National Action Plan on Climate Change
ISSN 0972 - 804X
Climate Change Special
Akhilesh Gupta, Adviser, Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences
knowledge for change
Contents
Vol. VII No. 3
Features 5
Editorial
6
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
2009 is the International Year of Climate Change
ICTs to combat climate change Hamadoun I Touré
8
Climate Change Act 2008, United Kingdom Demonstrating global leadership
14
Forced Migration Policy Briefing 1, Refugee Studies Centre - University of Oxford, UK
March 2009
Rendezvous 40
27
GSM Association, London, UK Towards an unwired planet Jack Rowley
Improving microlevel drought preparedness using GIS Case study of Addakal Mandal, AP G Sreedhar, V Ramnaresh Kumar, R Nagarajan and V Balaji
31
Interviews Schild, Director 15 Andreas General, ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal ICIMOD: For mountains and people Gupta, Adviser, 23 Akhilesh Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences National Action Plan on Climate Change
33
Climate Change Act 2008, United Kingdom Sharing global e-sustainability solutions Luis Neves
36
Columns 42 44
Curtain raiser: International workshop on ‘Climate Change and Food Security’, 10-17 April 2009, Cairo, Egypt Climate change and food security
UNESCO’s comparative study on CSC and CMC in India Experiences from the state of Madhya Pradesh Sabyasachi Kashyap
45 46
Book received A guide to communicating the role of technology in addressing climate change challenges
What’s on
Saloni Malhotra CEO, DesiCrew Solutions Pvt Ltd, Chennai saloni@desicrew.in
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25-27 August 2009 Hyderabad, India
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Sharing the research findings
Environmentally displaced people
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Seminar by Shobhakar Dhakal on Global Carbon Budget, 2 March, 2009, ICIMOD, Kathmandu, Nepal
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i4d Editorial Calendar 2009 Month
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January
Rural BPOs
Feburary
e-Agriculture
March
ICT in Climate Change
April
ePanchayat
May
Mobiles for Development
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Social Entrepreneurship i4d | March 2009
Editorial 2009 is the International Year of Climate Change Advisory Board M P Narayanan, Chairman, i4d Chin Saik Yoon Southbound Publications, Malaysia Karl Harmsen United Nations University Kenneth Keniston Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA Nagy Hanna e-Leadership Academy, University of Maryland, USA Richard Fuchs IDRC, Singapore Walter Fust Global Humanitarian Forum, Switzerland Wijayananda Jayaweera UNESCO, France
A little over eleven years ago, in December 2007, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, United Nation’s the Under Secretary General and the UNEP’s Executive Director, in a very powerful editorial wrote about the need to take cognizance of the issue of anthropogenic climate change activities and the need to take global concerted action to make positive changes in global consumption and energy use patterns. This year, the United Nation’s current Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has declared 2009 as the International Year of Climate Change. The Nobel Committee felt the importance of the work of the International Panel on Climate Change and recognised the work of the scientists whose assessments forewarn us of the consequences of global warming. The threat of severity and extremities of weather changes like storms, rains, snows, floods and droughts make developing economies where disaster mitigation strategies are not well equipped, makes it most vulnerable.
EDITORIAL BOARD Akhtar Badshah, Frederick Noronha GROUP DIRECTORS Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar EDITORIAL TEAM Editor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta
Being a truly transcontinental issue, Climate Change requires courage, concerted action on parts of governments to not just take active part in global deliberations and honour the commitments, but also to make them legally binding within the mandate of the nation states. United Kingdom takes the lead in this by having recently promulgated the Climate Change Act.
Programme Co-ordinator Jayalakshmi Chittoor Sr. Research Associates Ritu Srivastava Research Assistant Subir Dey Sr. Graphic Designer Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Graphic Designers Om Prakash Thakur, Shyam Kishore,
There are other countries which look at this issue within the mandate of the Ministries of Energy, Environment, Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, etc. have set up either Special Committee of Experts or created Departments to look at this issue more seriously.
Chandrakesh Bihari Lal (James) Web Programmer Zia Salahuddin i4d G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA, UP, 201 301, India Phone +91 120 250 2181-85 Fax +91 120 250 0060 Email info@i4donline.net Web www.i4donline.net Printed at R P Printers, Noida, India i4d is a monthly publication. It is intended for those interested and involved in the use of Information and Commnication Technologies for development of underserved communities. It is hoped that it will serve to foster a growing network by keeping the community up to date on many activities in this wide and exciting field. i4d does not necessarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors. i4d is not responsible or accountable for any loss incurred directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided.
It is important for countries to be actively involved in the deliberations happening internationally, say in the upcoming event being organised by International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Quito or the next conference at Copenhagen. It is also important to honour the commitments made, and take affirmative action. Mitigation and Adaptation are both areas that need to be addressed and Information and Communications Technologies play a critical role in creating massive awareness and advocacy. At CSDMS we have committed ourselves to address this issue in-depth, and look forward to partners who are willing to work together to do their bit on collaborations for research and knowledge sharing on role of ICTs in Climate Change mitigation and adaptation strategies from a developing country perspective.
Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, 2008 Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License
i4d is supported by:
March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
Ravi Gupta Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in
5
INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION (ITU)
ICTs to combat climate change ICTs can more than compensate for their own adverse effects and make a substantial net contribution to combating climate change and its consequences. 2009 has been declared as the Year of Climate Change by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
Hamadoun I Touré Director General International Telecommunication Union Geneva, Switzerland Image copyright: ITU Image source: ITU / J M Ferré
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We are living in one of the most challenging periods in human history, faced with the prospect of irreversible global climate change. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has described climate change as the ‘moral challenge of our generation and declared 2009 as the Year of Climate Change, urging world leaders and top-level business executives to launch a global ‘Green New Deal’ that creates jobs and fights climate change by investing in renewable energy and technological development. During a recent visit to ITU Headquarters in Geneva, he remarked that “ITU is one of the most important stakeholders in terms of climate change” in bringing the benefits of ICTs to meet the challenge of climate change. The digital revolution and proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have changed people’s lives dramatically and boosted economic growth. At the same time, ICTs have also had a negative impact on the environment, be it carbon dioxide emissions related to network operations, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from refrigeration, perfluorocarbons (PFCs) from fire suppression systems, solvents from installation processes, lead and beryllium from components, waste from phones and personal computers or power for base stations. According to various studies, it is estimated that the ICT sector contributes around 2.5* per cent of GHG emissions, with 40 per cent of this deriving from the energy requirements of personal computers and monitors, plus a further 23 per cent from data centres. Fixed and mobile telecommunications contribute an estimated 24 per cent of the total. However, ICTs have the potential to assist the remaining 97.5 per cent of the global economy in reducing
www.itu.int/climate
emissions, for example, by tele-working and teleconferencing. Businesses around the world could unlock global energy efficiency savings of over 500 billion Euros by systematically using ICTs.
Mitigation: ICTs and clean technology Climate change presents us with incredible challenges, including food and water security with new forecasts suggesting that half the world’s population could face climate-induced food crisis this century. Inevitably, most of those people will be the ones who are least well equipped to deal with such challenges - the peoples of the developing world. If we want to ensure a safe and prosperous existence for our children and future generations, we must act now. ITU’s mission is to connect the world and ensure that all people, wherever they live, have access to the vast range of benefits ICTs offer. This of course presents not just a huge development challenge, but a formidable ecological challenge as well. ICTs can play a critical role to combat climate change thru mitigation of effects. As the UN Specialised Agency dealing with ICT-related issues and the global focal point for governments and the private sector in developing networks and services, ITU takes climate change very seriously indeed, focusing on how ICTs can help prevent and avert climate change. Probably the most obvious area for carbon abatement opportunities offered by ICTs is in reducing, or substituting for, travel requirements. The ICT industry offers a number of different tools and services which can replace physical travel, especially business travel, ranging from the commonplace (e-mail, phone calls, text messaging) to the sophisticated (high-performance videoconferencing). i4d | March 2009
A second area where ICTs have been extensively used for reducing CO2 emissions caused by transport is in the use of intelligent transport systems (ITS). These systems are used in applications such as ‘eco-driving’, congestion charging, as well as for traffic management and parking optimisation. A third way is through ‘dematerialisation’, or the replacement of ‘atoms’ with ‘bits’. An example of this is the current shift under way in the market for pre-recorded movies and music away from physical distribution (such as DVDs and CDs) to online delivery. ITU is also making its own contribution to dematerialisation through the long-term shift away from paper-based to online publishing. Many ITU publications are now available online free-of-charge. New communication technologies are being designed to reduce emissions. Next-Generation Networks (NGN) have been a major focus of ITU’s work in recent years. NGN are expected to reduce energy consumption by 40 per cent, compared to today’s technology. The savings will be achieved in a number of ways, including: • A significant decrease in the number of switching centres required • More tolerant climatic range specifications for NGN switching locations resulting in less need for air conditioning • Implementation of standards, such as VDSL2 (ITU-T G.993.2), which specify three power modes (full, low and sleep) for ICT devices and to lower energy consumption The ICT industry is already taking steps to reduce its own CO2 emissions, by adopting standards for environmental management and recycling waste. There have also been moves within the mobile industry to use renewable energy sources such as solar, wind or sustainable biofuels to power new and existing off-grid base stations in developing countries by 2012. Measuring the impact of ICTs in reducing emission is a key challenge. ITU held two major symposia on ICTs and Climate Change in Kyoto and London in 2008. As a result of those meetings, ITU has formed a Focus Group in its Standardisation sector with the task to develop a methodology to measure the impact of ICTs in reducing emissions on all sectors. Furthermore, all ITU study groups working on standards have been encouraged to evaluate existing and new Recommendations to identify their impact and demonstrate ways in which they contribute towards the reduction of GHG emissions. The ITU World Telecommunication Standards Assembly, which took place in Johannesburg, South Africa in October 2008 recognised that ICTs can make a substantial contribution and be a major factor in mitigating the effects of climate change, for example through energy-efficient devices, applications and networks. The Assembly agreed that climate change is a high priority for ITU in contributing to the UN processes and global efforts to moderate climate change.
Adapting to climate change The current impact of global warming on the world’s climate is relatively small compared with what can be expected in the future, even if the increase in greenhouse gas emissions is stabilised. The impact of climate change is likely to be highly uneven in their distribution, with low-lying coastal areas (such as small island March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
developing States, the Bangladesh delta and the Netherlands) at risk because of rising sea levels; sub-Saharan Africa threatened by increasing desertification; a growing number of environmental refugees and increased pressure on sources of fresh water and on vulnerable ecosystems such as coral reefs, tundra and coastal wetlands. ICTs can more than compensate for their own adverse effects and make a substantial net contribution to combating climate change and its consequences. ICTs facilitate concerted efforts to identify and measure the extent of the problem, develop effective response strategies, apply energy-saving and improved resource management technologies and processes across all sectors, and deal more effectively with disasters and other outcomes of climate change. ICTs can save lives, and ITU promotes the use of ICTs for disaster management through the development of national emergency telecommunication plans, the setting up of early-warning systems and the deployment of remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Wireless communications play an important role when disasters strike, and ITU has established a database of currently available frequencies for use in emergency situations. As part of the work on standardisation in emergency situations, the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs UNOCHA was assigned a special E.164 country code (888) to facilitate the provision of an international system of naming and addressing for terminals involved in disaster relief activities.
The ITU commitment to climate neutrality ITU is pioneering the use of ICTs to reduce emissions through paperless meetings and offices, virtual conferencing and tele-working, as well as sharing its expertise with other institutions in optimising the use of ICTs as a vital component of energyefficient work methods. ITU is also embarking on raising public awareness to illustrate the impacts of climate change and the relevance of its work in the field of ICTs to address this issue. By pioneering the use of remote participation tools in its own work and lending that expertise to others, ITU serves as a model for the UN system and also assists in bridging the standardisation gap. ITU joins efforts of the UN system, which brings together the system’s expertise and ongoing work in diverse areas - ranging from science and technology to agriculture, transport, forestry, and reduction of disaster risks - aimed at tackling climate change. In 2000, UN Members adopted the Millennium Declaration as a renewed commitment to human development, including the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, climate change impacts will tend to offset progress being made to meet the MDGs by 2015, so it is crucial to empower developing countries by facilitating their access to the ICTs needed for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. ITU and its Members are committed as partners to all stakeholders to making ICTs a critical tool and enabling technology to successfully combat climate change and will continue to actively participate in the negotiations that hopefully will lead to a new agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009. * This number does not include emissions from radiocommunication systems/ equipment.
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CLIMATE CHANGE ACT 2008, UNITED KINGDOM
Demonstrating global leadership
www.theccc.org.uk
Rationale Two key aims underpinning the Act: • to improve carbon management and help the transition towards a low carbon economy in the UK; and • to demonstrate strong UK leadership internationally, signalling that we are committed to taking our share of responsibility for reducing global emissions in the context of developing negotiations on a post-2012 global agreement at Copenhagen next year.
“There is time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, if we act now, and act internationally” Lord Stern
Background Demonstrating the United Kingdom Government’s commitment to addressing the causes and impact of climate change, the United Kingdom has introduced the world’s first long-term, legally binding framework to tackle the hazards of climate change. The law was adopted on 26 November 2008. The Climate Change Act, 2008 is aimed at creating a new approach to managing and responding to climate change by setting targets, taking initiatives to achieve those targets, strengthening institutional framework, enhancing the country’s ability to adapt to the impact of climate change and establishing clear and regular accountability mechanisms. This development is in sync with the statement of Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). His statement at the Fourteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP14), Poznan, Poland on 11 December, 2008 stated: “Mexico, South Africa, Indonesia have climate change strategies. India, China, Egypt have climate change plans and programmes. Nigeria, Angola, Pakistan are developing theirs. All these Parties and more have identified additional mitigation actions that can be implemented with measurable, reportable and verifiable support. On Monday (15 December, 2008), Minister Wong will announce Australia’s target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. President-elect Obama wants to return to 1990 levels by 2020. The EU is assuring us that it will stick to minus 20 per cent by 2020. And there is more. By 2020, Norway intends to be at minus 30 per cent, the United Kingdom has committed to minus 26 per cent and Sweden is discussing a target of ‘minus 35 per cent.”
8
Key Provisions •
•
Legally binding targets: Green house gas emission reductions through action in the UK and abroad of at least 80 per cent by 2050, and reductions in CO2 emissions of at least 26 per cent by 2020, against a 1990 baseline. The 2020 target will be reviewed soon after Royal Assent to reflect the move to all greenhouse gases and the increase in the 2050 target to 80 per cent. A carbon budgeting system which caps emissions over five year periods, with three budgets set at a time, to set out our trajectory to 2050. The first three carbon budgets will run from 2008-12, 2013-17 and 2018-22, and must be set by 1 June 2009. The i4d | March 2009
•
•
•
•
•
• •
•
•
10
Government must report to Parliament its policies and proposals to meet the budgets as soon as practical after that. The creation of the Committee on Climate Change, a new independent, expert body to advise Government on the level of carbon budgets and where cost effective savings could be made. The Committee will submit annual reports to Parliament on the UK’s progress towards targets and budgets to which the Government must respond, thereby ensuring transparency and accountability on an annual basis. International aviation and shipping emissions: the Government will include international aviation and shipping emissions in the Act or explain why not to Parliament by 31 December 2012. The Committee on Climate Change is required to advise the Government on the consequences of including emissions from international aviation and shipping in the Bill’s targets and budgets. Projected emissions from international aviation and shipping must be taken into account in making decisions on carbon budgets. Use of International credits: Government is required to “have regard to the need for UK domestic action on climate change” when considering how to meet the UK’s targets and carbon budgets. The independent Committee on Climate Change has a duty to advise on the appropriate balance between action at domestic, European and international level, for each carbon budget. The Government also amended the Bill in its final stages to require a limit to be set on the purchase of credits for each budgetary period, by secondary legislation requiring debate in both Houses of Parliament, and taking into account the Committee’s advice. Further measures to reduce emissions include powers to introduce domestic emissions trading schemes more quickly and easily through secondary legislation; measures on biofuels; powers to introduce pilot financial incentive schemes in England for household waste; powers to require a minimum charge for single-use carrier bags (excluding Scotland). On adaptation the Government must report at least every five years on the risks to the UK of climate change, and publish a programme setting out how these impacts will be addressed. The Act also introduces powers for Government to require public bodies and statutory undertakers, which are utilities companies which provide a public service. To carry out their own risk assessment and make plans to address those risks. An Adaptation Sub-Committee of the Committee on Climate Change, in order to provide advice to and scrutiny of the Government’s adaptation work. A requirement for the Government to issue guidance next year on the way companies should report their greenhouse gas emissions, and to review the contribution reporting could make to emissions reductions by 1st December 2010. Requirement also that the Government must, by 6th April 2012, use powers under the Companies Act to mandate reporting, or explain to Parliament why it has not done so. New powers to support the creation of a Community
Energy Savings Programme, as announced by the Prime Minister on 11 September 2008 (by extending the existing Carbon Emissions Reduction Target scheme to electricity generators). New requirement for annual publication of a report on the efficiency and sustainability of the Government estate.
•
Box 1
Key milestones of the UK’s climate change legislative process • •
•
•
•
1 December 2008: Committee on Climate Change established as an independent body 1 December 2008: Committee on Climate Change provides advice to Government on the level of the first three carbon budgets and its full review of the 2050 target - see www.theccc.org.uk Spring 2009: Government to announce proposals for the level of the first three carbon budgets alongside the (fiscal) Budget 2009 1 June 2009: deadline for Government to set the first three carbon budgets through secondary legislation agreed by both Houses of Parliament Mid 2009: Government will publish policies and proposals to meet the first three carbon budget
“Climate change is accelerating” Rajendra K Pachauri, Chairman, International Panel on Climate Change
Introductory note in the Act, passed on November 26, 2008 An Act to set a target for the year 2050 for the reduction of targeted greenhouse gas emissions; to provide for a system of carbon budgeting; to establish a Committee on Climate Change; to confer powers to establish trading schemes for the purpose of limiting greenhouse gas emissions or encouraging activities that reduce such emissions or remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere; to make provision about adaptation to climate change; to confer powers to make schemes for providing financial incentives to produce less domestic waste and to recycle more of what is produced; to make provision about the collection of household waste; to confer powers to make provision about charging for single use carrier bags; to amend the provisions of the Energy Act 2004 about renewable transport fuel obligations; to make provision about carbon emissions reduction targets; to make other provision about climate change; and for connected purposes. For downloading the 108 pages full Act please log on to: http:// www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2008/pdf/ukpga_20080027_en.pdf i4d | March 2009
Box 2
Key sections and schedules of the Climate Change Act PART 1
PART 4
CARBON TARGET AND BUDGETING • The target for 2050 • Carbon budgeting • Limit on use of carbon units • Indicative annual ranges • Proposals and policies for meeting carbon budgets • Determination whether objectives met • Alteration of budgets or budgetary periods • Targeted greenhouse gases • Carbon units, carbon accounting and the net UK carbon account • Other supplementary provisions
IMPACT OF AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE • National reports and programmes • Reporting authorities: non-devolved functions • Reporting authorities: devolved Welsh functions • Interpretation
PART 2 THE COMMITTEE ON CLIMATE CHANGE • The Committee • Functions of the Committee • Supplementary provisions • Interpretation
PART 3
PART 5 OTHER PROVISIONS • Waste reduction schemes • Collection of household waste • Charges for single use carrier bags • Renewable transport fuel obligations • Carbon emissions reduction targets • Miscellaneous
PART 6 TRADING SCHEMES • Trading schemes • Authorities and regulations • Other supplementary provisions • Interpretation
GENERAL SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS • Territorial scope of provisions relating to greenhouse gas emissions • Orders and regulations • Interpretation • Final provisions
SCHEDULES
•
Schedule 1 — The Committee on Climate Change Schedule 2 — Trading schemes • Part 1 — Schemes limiting activities • Part 2 — Schemes encouraging activities • Part 3 — Administration and enforcement Schedule 3 — Trading schemes regulations: further provisions • Part 1 — Regulations made by a single national authority • Part 2 — Regulations made by two or more national authorities
Part 3 — Power to make provision by Order in Council Schedule 4 — Trading schemes: powers to require information Schedule 5 — Waste reduction schemes • Part 1 — Main provisions • Part 2 — Consequential amendments Schedule 6 — Charges for single use carrier bags • Part 1 — Powers to make regulations about charges • Part 2 — Civil sanctions • Part 3 — Procedures applying to regulations Schedule 7 — Renewable transport fuel obligations Schedule 8 — Carbon emissions reduction targets
The contents of this article have been extracted from the following websites, for purposes of public awareness and advocacy to encourage other countries to learn from the leadership of UK: http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/legislation/index.htm http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/climatechange/uk/legislation/provisions.htm
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i4d | March 2009
FORCED MIGRATION POLICY BRIEFING 1, REFUGEE STUDIES CENTRE - UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, UK
Environmentally displaced people The Refugee Studies Centre, part of the University of Oxford’s Department of International Development has come up with a report that examines the severity of the climate change phenomenon and its impact on humans. “There are well-founded fears that the number of people fleeing untenable environmental conditions may grow exponentially as the world experiences the effects of climate change. This new category of ‘refugee’ needs to find a place in international agreements. We need to better anticipate support requirements, similar to those of people fleeing other unviable situations.” Dr Janos Bogardi, Director, UN University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) Quoting these lines, the report stresses on the need for the International Community to foresee the impending crisis and prepare for the future. There is increasing evidence that serious and relatively rapid alterations to ecosystems induced by climatic and anthropogenic factors will have direct and indirect impacts on societies which, when other coping mechanisms are overcome, will have no other option but to migrate as a permanent or temporary coping strategy. Although it has no international standing, widespread use of the term ‘environmental refugees’ draws attention to the increasing significance of protection and human rights issues for those likely to be displaced by environmental change. Estimates of the global numbers of people who may be displaced vary so widely that they offer an inadequate basis for formulating policies and obscure the enormous regional variations and responses
14
http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk
(principally UNHCR, UNEP, UNDP, IOM), the World Bank, and International NGOs to develop policies.
that will occur. More research is needed on the environmental change–conflict– migration nexus and the ways it may undermine human security. Projecting the likely future distribution and movement of people and responding to the conservation threats and opportunities associated with migration, will require new skills and greater collaboration and integration among disciplines and organisations. In a warmer world, the traditional definition and understanding of the concepts of ‘refugee’ and ‘protection’ may both need to change. Public policy can mitigate environmental migration, but a holistic approach is needed if the international community is to overcome deficiencies in its understanding of the issues and its ability to make projections and implement response mechanisms. The Briefing stresses the need for collaboration between donors, national governments, UN organisations
Amongst the key policy recommendations are: Strengthening the knowledge base and harmonising understanding by: • promoting high-level dialogue in order to develop international understanding of concepts, knowledge-base, vocabulary and experience related to the multiple cause–effect links between environmental degradation, socio-economic impacts and environmentally-induced forced migration; • promoting the development of more sophisticated typologies of environmentally-induced migration; • generating, collating and disseminating reliable data on the numbers of people migrating because of environmental impacts; • promoting the identification and mapping of potential environmental ‘hotspots’, ‘tipping points’ and migration trends in relation to environmental depletion; • enhancing knowledge of livelihood resilience, successful adaptation, preparedness and coping strategies used by local populations to mitigate the impacts of environmental change; • supporting research which will enhance understanding of the relationship between environmental change and conflict; • commissioning research on potential governance models for areas experiencing degradation and migration pressures. This report is available at http://www.rsc. ox.ac.uk/PDFs/RSCPB1-Environment.pdf i4d | March 2009
INTERVIEW: ANDREAS SCHILD, DIRECTOR GENERAL, ICIMOD, KATHMANDU, NEPAL
ICIMOD: For mountains and people www.icimod.org
Dr Andreas Schild Director General, ICIMOD dir@icimod.org Andreas Schild is a development specialist with over 30 years of experience in designing, planning, executing and monitoring co-operation programmes mainly in sustainable natural resource management and rural development. Though his long-term assignments and multiple missions in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, he is familiar with the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region. He joined the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in April 2007 as the Director General and was awarded with the Sir Edmund Hillary Himalayan Environment Award by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation on 14 October 2008. March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
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Photo credit: Paribesh Pradhan, ICIMOD View of Dig Tsho Lake taken during Eco Everest Expedition 2008
What makes the Himalayan mountain ecosystem fragile? The Himalayan mountain system is geologically young and still at a formative stage. This translates into seismic activities and a high incidence of erosion. The fragility also refers to other phenomena: the Himalayas – due to the enormous differences in altitudes and microclimates – harbour an enormous biodiversity and cultural and biological wealth within a very limited geographic space. This diversity is easily affected by changing temperature and precipitation patterns and this, together with the increased risks of natural hazards, makes the Himalayan region among the most vulnerable areas for climate change, similar to some coastal areas. What will be the impact of glacial melting on the biodiversity of the region? Glacier melting has little direct impact on biodiversity except for large-scale habitat destruction through flash floods. More important are the indirect consequences due to the loss of wetland habitats and lack of water when the glaciers disappear. Glaciers and biodiversity suffer equally from climate change. The effect of climate change on biodiversity cannot yet be assessed comprehensively in the Himalayas: We cannot say that biodiversity has been reduced: we are aware that certain ecotones (between alpine and tundra and between sub-alpine and alpine) are in danger, and with this the related species. There are indications of change in phenology, where plants are flowering earlier than normal bringing changes in migratory patterns of nectivorous species, and sometimes shifting of species to higher altitudes. However, there are multiple factors playing a role. What we can observe in the mountains very clearly is the invasion of non-palatable species in rangelands, a phenomenon which
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affects cattle rearing in mountain areas. So, there is a linkage between biodiversity, glacier recession due to climate change, and people’s livelihoods. Could you inform our readers about the link between glacial melting and the rising sea levels which are considered a major threat to the Small Island Nations around the world? During the decade from 1993 till 2003 the sea level rose by an annual average of 3 mm. According to the IPCC estimates, half of this rise is due to thermal expansion and one-third is attributed to glacier melting. These are figures deducted from modelling exercises and contain a certain degree of error. The consequences of glacier melting are felt more immediately in the directly affected mountain areas and the river basins. The glaciers, and cryosphere in general, lose their regulatory power: Precipitation runs off more quickly in the form of water instead of being stored as snow and ice. In short, we can say that in the river basins, due to glacier melting, we have more water at the time that we have too much anyway (during the monsoon) and we have less water, when we need it most. How does ICIMOD’s research demonstrate this link and prove that certain human activities accelerate global warming which is the primary culprit of sea level rise? At present, ICIMOD’s main focus is not on the establishment of cause and effect between human activities and accelerated warming. We concentrate on the observation of the consequences in terms of increased natural hazards, and on the adaptation mechanisms and how to enhance resilience. This might appear short-sighted. But it is done because in general the mountain systems are suffering from global warming and not generating it. However, I agree that i4d | March 2009
Could you explain why people living at high altitudes are more vulnerable to the impact of climate change as compared to people living in other regions? In general, how will climate change impact the livelihoods of the people living in mountainous regions? I would say people living in the mountains are more vulnerable than people living in most lowland areas, although people in the low-lying coastal belts, particularly the small island states, are as vulnerable as mountain people. The vulnerability in the two regions has different characteristics. The vulnerability in the mountains has different faces: first, the temperatures are increasing at a faster rate at higher altitudes than in the plains. This phenomenon is global, and particularly observable in the Himalayas, and means that the changes are more rapid and thus more difficult to adapt to. In the Himalayas, many people are still reliant on subsistence agriculture and natural resources for their daily survival, and the changes in temperature and weather patterns affect these directly, for example, in the viability of growing particular crops, and the availability of wild plants and animals. Then mountain people are particularly affected by increased risks and hazards like glacial lake outbursts, flash floods, landslides, and droughts. The risks for the mountain people are not new: they have always existed. But now they are more frequent, more intense, and less predictable. These new vulnerabilities are partly being met by seasonal or permanent migration. Globalisation and climate change are mutually reinforcing the impact on vulnerability. However, climate change and globalisation also create new opportunities. Mountain people are not just losers, they can also be winners. Warming on the Tibetan plateau creates new economic opportunities (see the number of greenhouses around Lhasa). Potentially they might be better off than their colleagues in the coastal areas as a result of clever policies using the money transfers from migrant labour and creating infrastructure for new opportunities for niche products, as well as the generation of hydropower. There is a growing awareness of the ecosystem services mountains provide to the downstream areas: reduction of erosion and water harvesting through integrated watershed management and afforestation, providing carbon sinks, conserving and managing biodiversity as a world heritage and also as a gene bank, maintaining intact landscapes as areas of recreation for city dwellers and tourists, and many others. Harnessing these services requires appropriate policies and priority setting. One prerequisite is probably awareness building among the population and strengthening their potential to voice their grievances. There are enormous governance and access issues to be solved. But we see mountain people potentially as winners and not losers of change. The challenge is to create appropriate policy and institutional frameworks and to develop sufficient political power March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
that the adverse impact of climate change can be minimised and opportunities maximised. How does ICIMOD spread awareness among the vulnerable communities about the risks of climate change? Broadly, ICIMOD has adopted a three-pronged approach that includes the following: a) Enhancing knowledge and understanding about the risks of climate change through its research, as knowledge on the risks and impacts of climate change and adaptation mechanisms is the key factor for developing an informed policy response to climate change, which is lacking in the Himalayan region at a regional scale. b) Dissemination of knowledge, information, and understanding through different mechanisms such as publications, networks, seminars, symposia, and formal and informal interactions about the risks of climate change as well as adaptation options and mechanisms to enable communities to cope with the effects of climate change c) Building partnership with national, regional, and global networks, and civil society organisations, NGOs, and CBOs We think awareness building and dissemination of concrete and factual information will become more and more a core
Photo credit: Basanta Shrestha, ICIMOD
we need to be able to explain the phenomena in order to have proper answers. One important factor is atmospheric pollution. So far, we have limited our role to the collection and analysis of data to enhance understanding and knowledge in the frame of global research programmes. As soon as we have more resources, we shall pay more attention to atmospheric pollution because this is probably a major cause of glacier melting.
Dr. Andreas Schild at the Everest Base Camp, Eco Everest Expedition 2008
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activity of ICIMOD. We want to use our institutional strengths: we are hosting on our premises the Mountain Forum, a global network for the dissemination of knowledge and experience, we are hosting the Asian hub of the Mountain Partnership, where we want to bring complementary institutions together, and we are hosting SANDEE, the South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics, as well as directly managing the Asia Pacific Mountain Network (APMN), the Asia Pacific node of Mountain Forum. Based on this potential, we want to use modern communication instruments more systematically, and are actively looking for like-minded partners. Together with them, we want to create a powerful Asian network of information exchange and mutual learning, with the objective of creating awareness among the young, first, the professionals, second, and the policy makers at the top. Does ICIMOD undertake any capacity building activities to help the the local populace adapt to the impact of climate change? Capacity development through training, access to information, and strengthening the institutional capacities of stakeholders is one of our top priorities. We do not do this directly at the grass roots level, there are many NGOs and CBOs who do this much better than we do. We promote the knowledge of decision makers and multipliers, and train trainers, researchers, and academic institutions so that they can multiply the impact of our work. ICIMOD also supports strengthening of the institutional capacity of its regional member countries so that they in turn can build the capacities of local communities for adaptation to the adverse impact of climate change. Do you partner with the local people in your capacity building and awareness generation programmers? For capacity building and awareness creation, we partner with local organisations and NGOs. Identifying dynamic groups as multipliers is the challenge. We are using different avenues for this. Our knowledge products and services (books, manuals, training, and courseware) are developed with the different user groups in mind. We publish specific training manuals which are tested with local partners on usability. These manuals can be downloaded by users and applied in their local environment without further support from ICIMOD. Workshops are conducted and materials shared and used. The knowledge can be reused by the participants in their local situation. Through our network, we inform the mountain communities (NGOs, universities, policymakers) on lessons learned from elsewhere which can be adapted to this region, and of course we work together with regional and international development organisations – the best avenue for disseminating the message. We have to be aware that working through local people and institutions is the royal path to bring about awareness and change which is sustainable. Could you elaborate on how ICIMOD monitors the changes in climate over a period of time? How do you study and forecast its impact? We are using different models and approaches to monitor changes. First of all, although I agree it is not very scientific, we monitor
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changes through human observations. ICIMOD has a growing photo library which holds images of the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountains from way back. It is easy to look at a mountain range in 1960 and compare that with 2000. Our international photo exhibition on the effects of Changing Landscapes in the Himalayas is a result of this comparison, working together with The Mountain Institute and others. In addition we monitor, in collaboration with other observers, changes in the HKH region, through a combination of direct monitoring, and remote sensing and satellite imagery, enabling us to view the behaviour of the glaciers in the Himalayan region. However, we need to collect more data on many variables. The census bureaus in the regional countries do collect data, but what is currently missing is a tool to integrate this data and make it comparable. Also, many data are captured by the scientific expeditions that frequently visit the Himalayas. It is ICIMOD’s aim to develop a portal which captures data and provides access routes to data collections in our member countries. It is worth mentioning that ICIMOD is promoting a regional programme to assess the changes resulting from climate variability through local researchers, universities and global research programs working in the areas concerned. In addition, we are undertaking a regional programme to analyse the perceptions of local people and their adaptation to climate change. What kind of technologies/tools (Information and Communications Technologies, in particular) do you utilise for these studies? In 2008, ICIMOD adopted a new Strategic Framework for 2008-2012. One of the topics in this Framework is implementing a revised knowledge management programme. This entails, looking into the new possibilities for information exchange such as Web2.0 and network, collaboration tools, etc. It is also clear that ICIMOD should be able to repackage information quickly for different platforms such as mobiles and iPods and apply different formats such as e-books and YouTube. We have already drastically overhauled our website, which is now based upon the newest technologies and provides an excellent dissemination platform for the years ahead. A recent example of this were the highly successful conferences and workshops on biodiversity that we organised in December 2008. The organisation of these events, and the collaboration among participants and speakers, was facilitated by our new website, which enhanced the speed of communication and dissemination. We are gradually moving into the area of e-learning and e-training modules using modern ICT. So we can say that new and modern technologies are being used. Teleconferences, communities of practice and social networking tools are more and more applied, but we also realise that there is a digital gap between the urban and rural areas. Despite the many advances ICT brings to the table, we recognise the continuing importance of face to face contacts and interactions. We need to blend different approaches that suit different audiences. We strongly believe in horizontal learning experiences through exposure visits and peer learning. We also experience that informal events like an open house and brown bag seminars are very popular and attract particularly the younger generation. „ i4d | March 2009
GSM ASSOCIATION, LONDON, UK
Towards an unwired planet
www.gsmworld.com
The author talks about the ‘connected’ world and how this ‘indicator of development’ contributes to global warming
Introduction In March 2009, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) reported that more than 4 billion people use a mobile phone, with three times more mobile cellular subscriptions than fixed telephone lines globally. Two thirds of those are now in the developing world compared with less than half in 20021. There are recognised social and economic benefits associated with mobile communications, including evidence that in low income countries, an average of 10 more mobile phone users per 100 people was associated with a per capita GDP growth of 0.59%2. The main environmental impacts from mobile communications are through materials use at the design stage, energy use during operation and recycling of endof-life equipment. There are also potential environmental opportunities using wireless communications to improve the energy efficiency of other sectors. The particular importance of mobile communications in the developing world offers additional opportunities in adapting local behaviours and providing warnings about weather or other hazards.
Energy use
Jack Rowley Director Research & Sustainability, GSM Association, London, UK jrowley@gsm.org
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The Global eSustainability Initiative (GeSI) estimates that mobile communications currently represents about 3% of the global ICT sector impact though this could grow to 13% by 2020 through the continued growth in subscribers 3. This numbers should also be seen in the context of GDP contribution, in the UK alone mobile communications contribute about 0.3% of national greenhouse gas impacts and around 1.8% of GDP, evidence of a low climate impact industry sector4. About 80% of a mobile operators’ energy is used by the network, so significant efforts are underway to improve efficiency.
About half the energy used by the site is for radio transmission purposes and a large proportion of the remaining 50% is associated with active cooling, especially the use of air-conditioning. Operators have reported three-fold increases in the efficiency of radio transmitters in recent years and the move from 2G to 3G communications technologies can support up to eight times more subscribers on each transmitter. In cooler climates there is an increasing move to eliminate air conditioning for base station equipment and instead use fans or passive cooling through better air flow design. Operators in developing countries have successfully run base station equipment at 45°C, rather than 25°C, and newer equipment is being supplied with specified reliability at these higher temperatures, thus substantially easing cooling needs.
Greenpower opportunity An increasing number of base stations are being built in off-grid and unreliable grid locations, the GSM Association (GSMA) estimates that 75,000 new off-grid sites will be built each year in developing countries through to 20125. It can cost an operator up to $30,000 and lead-times can be up to 2 years to provide grid electricity to a new site. Even where grid electricity is available, it may be unreliable and operators rely extensively on diesel generators to power base stations. There are significant costs not just in the price of diesel but also in transport to sites and provision of security. As the power required to operate a base station has reduced, the feasibility of alternative energy solutions, especially wind and solar has improved. Wind is harder to predict for power planning purposes and site surveys are recommended (though not always done) before installation is i4d | March 2009
undertaken. Where feasible, wind can provide sufficient energy for larger sites. Solar power is economical for lower powered sites if used alone or as a complement to wind energy. A significant advantage to solar is easier power planning through readily available databases of incident solar energy for various geographic locations. Typical payback periods for alternative energy installations are 2-3 years. The GSMA has announced a target of 118,000 green power sites by 20126. Achieving that target would save up to 2.5 billion litres of diesel per annum and cut annual carbon emissions by up to 6.3 million tonnes. This is an ambitious target as it is estimated that at the end of 2008, there were only 1,500 green power base stations worldwide.
Universal charger initiative About 1 billion new mobile phones are sold each year. Between 50% and 80% of these phones are replacements for an existing device resulting in approximately 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers. In February 2009, the GSMA and 17 leading mobile operators and manufacturers announced a commitment to implement a cross-industry standard for a universal charger for new mobile phones that will be widely available by 20127. This universal charger will make life much simpler for the consumer, who will be able to use the same charger for future handsets, as well as being able to charge their mobile phone anywhere from any available charger. The chargers will also have to meet an energy efficiency rating that is up to three times more efficient than an unrated charger. With potentially 50% less chargers being manufactured each year, the industry can expect to reduce greenhouse gases in manufacturing and transporting replacement chargers by 13.6 to 21.8 million tonnes a year. There may eventually come a time when the charger is no longer bundled with the handset and is provided to the customer only when needed.
Used and end-of-life mobile phones New phones are becoming more energy efficient, for example, power cells currently in use require fewer resources during manufacture, and avoid the use of toxic metals, such as lead and cadmium. Nevertheless, a phone should never be thrown away with unsorted household waste. The mobile industry supports handset, battery and accessory take-back in more than 85 countries. When the returned phones are in good condition or economic repair is possible, the phones may find a second or even third happy user. More than 20% of mobile subscribers live in the developing world and there are concerns over the potential for inappropriate disposal of mobile phones where the necessary recycling infrastructure for end-of-life electronic equipment is lacking. In these countries the informal repair sector is significant, so successful collection requires engagement with this informal sector but research to date indicates that there is little awareness of the problems of electronic waste. About 16% (by weight) of a typical mobile phone is considered ‘high value’ materials, for example, gold, platinum, palladium and silver. About 80% of a phone can be recycled or the energy recovered. The remainder can be used in inert construction aggregates.8 However, high value metals can only be safely recovered in sophisticated facilities that cannot be duplicated in every country. Therefore, end-of-life phones will need to be
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exported, under appropriate authorisations, to the few suitable plants. The GSMA welcomes efforts by authorities to tackle illegal export of end-of-life electronic equipment to countries that lack the necessary infrastructure. However, the introduction of unnecessary barriers for companies demonstrating good practices should be avoided.
Environmental opportunities There are significant environmental opportunities associated with telecommunications. An Australian report estimated carbon reduction opportunities at 4.9% of Australia’s total national emissions9. The GeSI report calculated that the ICT sector’s ability to monitor and maximise energy efficiency both within and outside its own sector could cut CO2 emissions by up to five times ICT’s own footprint, a potential saving of 7.8 giga-tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) by 2020. For an individual mobile phone user, pilot projects have shown the use of mobile phones to monitor air pollution in Ghana or track animal movements in South Africa. They are also likely to form the basis of weather warning systems in order to mitigate the impact of changing climate conditions. Applications that run are mobile phones are now available that allow the user to calculate the carbon impact of choosing among different modes or transport or to track their own energy usage. Widespread deployment of smart meters for electricity could also be coupled with remote power control by mobile phone. In developing countries, expensive, time consuming and polluting travel is being avoided by fishermen or farmers using text messaging to check market prices.
Conclusions Climate change is a significant issue for the wireless industry. The industry needs to reduce the costs associated with use of carbon intensive fuels and the impacts of national carbon reduction targets. In this context, how operational impacts are measured and the weight to be given to offset benefits in other sectors are still to be determined. The GSMA initiatives to harmonise mobile phone chargers to the benefit of consumers and to facilitate the development of green power for off-grid and unreliable grid base stations are concrete contributions to reducing industry environmental impacts. References: 1 http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2009/07.html 2 Waverman, Meschi and Fuss (2005) ‘The Impact of Telecoms on Economic Growth in Developing Countries, Africa: The Impact of Mobile Phones’, Vodafone Policy Paper Series 2. 3 The Climate Group on behalf of the Global eSustainability Initiative (GeSI) (2008) ‘SMART 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age.’ 4 Forum for the Future (2006) ‘Earth Calling…The Environmental Impacts of the Mobile Telecommunications Industry.’ 5 GSMA Development Fund (2008) ‘Green Power for Mobile: Top Ten Findings’. 6 http://www.gsmworld.com/our-work/development-fund/energy/index.htm 7 http://www.gsmworld.com/our-work/programmes-and-initiatives/universalcharging-solution/index.htm 8 GSM Association (2006) ‘Mobile Phone Lifecycles’ at http://www.gsmworld. com/lifecycle. 9 Climate Risk for Telstra (2007) ‘Towards a High-Bandwidth, Low-Carbon Future: Telecommunications-based Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.’ i4d | March 2009
INTERVIEW: AKHILESH GUPTA, ADVISER, UNION MINISTER FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES
National Action Plan on Climate Change
www.imd.gov.in
Dr Akhilesh Gupta, akhilesh.g@nic.in Adviser to the Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Government of India What was the rationale behind India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change? The National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) is in response to India’s current vulnerability to climate change and strong commitment to sustainable development through energy-efficiency and conservation of natural resources guided and driven by science and technology advancement. The fact that India is home to 16% of the global population, more than 1/3 of population needs adequate shelter, 20% of its GDP comes from agriculture and 500 million livelihoods depend on natural March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
Akhilesh Gupta, with a Doctorate in Atmospheric Sciences from IIT, Delhi joined the India Meteorological Department in 1985 and is currently an Advisor to the Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences. He is the brain behind the soon to be launched Weather Channel. He was also part of the Co-ordination Team which drafted India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change. Here, he speaks to i4d about the Action Plan as also about the India Meteorological Department’s modernisation plan apart from the impact of climate change on the Indian sub-continent.
resources, 15% live in coastal areas and about 40 million ha of India’s land (nearly 12%) is prone to flooding, 16% afflicted by drought (60% of net sown area), 3% under landslide hazard and a long coastline of over 7500 km, represents high vulnerability to climate-related disasters. Thus, both our economy and our lifestyles are inextricably linked to climate and its variability make climate change an issue of immense importance to our country. India’s development agenda focuses on the need for rapid economic growth as an essential precondition to poverty eradication and improved standards of living. Meeting this agenda,
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Coastal communities are at the risk of being submerged due to sea level rise.
which will also reduce climate-related vulnerability, requires large-scale investment of resources in infrastructure, technology and access to energy. India also lacks the necessary financial and technological resources needed to meet threats from climate changes. Only rapid and sustained development can generate the required financial, technological and human resources. In charting out a developmental pathway which is ecologically sustainable, India has a wider spectrum of choices precisely because it is at an early stage of development. The National Action Plan focuses on directional change in our development path that would ultimately lead to avoided emissions. India’s heritage of environmental friendly lifestyles and recognition of its international responsibility as a developing country form the basis for action. These actions will enable us to engage constructively and productively in global efforts to preserve and protect the environment through pragmatic, practical solutions which are for the benefit of entire humankind. India’s international policies shall align with its national strategy to deal with climate change. How are we planning to implement the National Action Plan on Climate Change? The NAPCC has come up with 8 National Missions. These are: 1. National Solar Mission 2. National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency 3. National Mission on Sustainable Habitat 4. National Water Mission 5. National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system 6. National Mission for a Green India 7. National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture 8. National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change As per the implementation mechanism outlined in the NAPCC,
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these National Missions will be institutionalised by respective ministries and supported by creating an inter-Ministerial group representing other sectoral Ministries concerned along with Ministry of Finance and the Planning Commission and non-Government representatives, including representatives of Industry, Civil Society and the academic and scientific communities. Each Mission will be tasked with evolving specific objectives spanning the remaining years of the 11th Plan and the 12th Plan period 2012-13 to 2016-17. Wherein the resource requirements of the Mission call for an enhancement of the allocation in the 11th Plan, this will be suitably considered, keeping in mind the overall resources position and the scope for re-prioritisation. The detailed Mission objectives and the timelines laid down for their fulfillment will be submitted to the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change which will also periodically review the progress. Does the IMD monitor incidences of climate change in India? If yes, how does it do this? India Meteorological Department has over 100 years of meteorological data on temperature, rainfall, winds, etc. Today, IMD maintains over 500 manual and over hundreds of automatic surface weather stations; over 700 hydrometeorological stations; and over 200 agro-meteorological observatories. It also receives data from over 3000 non-departmental observatories in the country. As an active and responsible member of World Meteorological Organization (WMO), IMD shares real time data with each WMO member country in the world on a daily basis. IMD also monitors and reports every extreme weather event that occurs in its area of responsibility. The inferences drawn by IPCC on global warming and climate change over the Indian region are largely based on archived data of IMD. IMD has a massive modernisation plan to expand this network to make it much denser and accurate. There will be additional 550 automatic surface weather stations and 1350 automatic raingauge stations by next year itself. The Ministry of Earth Sciences has an ambitious plan to set up a network of observatories for atmospheric flux measurements. This would help in measuring levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in the Indian region more accurately. Is there a link between climate change and the increasing severity and frequency of tropical cyclones? i4d | March 2009
Tropical cyclones form over warm sea when sea surface temperature (SST) exceeds 26.5° C. Due to global warming, sea surface temperature has been rising over the last few decades in several ocean basins. Since sea surface provides the necessary energy for intensification, it is expected that a warmer sea would help cyclones in attaining higher intensity. However, besides SST there are several other factors which influence cyclone formation and intensification. Recent studies on possible impact of climate change on tropical cyclone formation and intensification have shown that the Atlantic Ocean is one basin which witnessed a marked increase in number of severe cyclones in past few decades. Other basins including the Indian seas do not show any significant trend in terms of frequency or severity of tropical cyclones. But, it is believed that as global warming intensifies in future, there could be greater impact on these counts in the time to come. Considering IMD’s recent modernisation drive, where does the climate change mechanism fit into the scheme of things? The World Meteorological organisation (WMO) in its recent report has stated that, globally, there has been nearly a three-fold increase in extreme weather events like storms, floods, droughts, heat waves, etc during the past five decades. While, there could be some elements of natural variability, there appears to be a definite role of recent trend of global warming in such increase in the
2014. The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) is setting up a Centre for Climate Change Research in Pune, Maharashtra, to carry out detailed study on climate change that has taken place so far and also generate more reliable projections for future changes. This would help the Government prepare appropriate strategies to deal with climate change issues. Why do we need a 24-hour Weather Channel? Will the channel also be used to spread awareness about the impact of climate change and how to adapt to them? Public awareness is one of the major requirements to deal with climate change issues, both mitigation and adaptation. There are four major sources of greenhouse gas emission – Industry, Transport, Agriculture and domestic activities. While people belonging to these sectors have some basic knowledge and awareness, a large population remains unaware of their role, responsibility and benefit of avoiding emissions. Similarly, people need to be forewarned against impending extreme weather events and provided with geo-spatial based information for disaster management purposes. The 24x7 Weather Channel can serve this purpose. This channel could greatly help in providing information on weather, climate, climate change, other environmental and man-made hazards, etc. to the people of this country. We have developed a unique concept for the proposed Weather Channel.
What will be the impact of Himalayan glacial melting and how will that affect islands in the Indian Ocean? Glaciers respond to slight but prolonged changes in climate. There is a “natural regulation” of runoff from glacial areas as glaciers wax and wane through which they gain or loose mass. This storage or release of water affects global sea level; at least one third of the observed sea level rise in the last 100 years has come from the melting of glaciers exclusive of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets. One of the most serious consequences of global warming is rising sea The 24x7 Weather Channel is likely to caution people against natural disasters like the recent floods in the level. Major causes for global sea Indian state of Bihar. level rise due to global warming are: thermal expansion of ocean frequency of hydrometeorological disasters. This poses a greater water and melting glaciers, ice caps and ice sheets. Other causes challenge to the meteorological community to set up an advanced may be important locally but are not significant on a global and dense network of observatories for improving detection of basis. extreme weather events and also put in place an advanced weather Global average sea level rose at an average rate of 1.8 mm per prediction system to forewarn people against such disasters. This year over 1961 to 2003. The rate was faster over 1993 to 2003, precisely is the objective of IMD’s modernisation programme. about 3.1 mm per year. Tide-gauge records at five coastal locations The Government of India has allocated INR 9.20 billion for the of Mumbai, Cochin, Kolkata, Kandla, and Sagar Island, have first phase of the programme for this purpose. We are aiming to shown an increase in sea level. The trend appears to be higher on transform IMD into the world’s best meteorological agency by the eastern coast compared to the western coast. The average sea March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
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level rise for India has been reported as 2.5 mm/year since the 1950s. As per IPCC report, the projected global sea level rise by the end of this century is likely to be 0.18 to 0.59 metres. Due to large uncertainties in the projected scenario for sea level rise, studies have mainly focused on the potential impact of threshold levels of sea level rise. For example, a scenario with one metre rise in sea level along Indian coast provides an idea about the land which could be inundated and the population that would be affected. Results show that coastal areas in Kutch region of Gujarat, Mumbai and south Kerala, deltas of rivers Ganges (West Bengal), Cauvery (Tamil Nadu), Krishna and Godawari (Andhra Pradesh), Mahanadi (Orissa) and also the islands of Lakshadweep Archipelago could be most vulnerable to sea level rise. The countries which could be worst affected by sea level rise in the Indian region are: Maldives and Bangladesh, which have large number of islands and low-lying coastal areas.
Public awareness is one of the major requirements to deal with climate change issues, both mitigation and adaptation. The 24x7 Weather Channel could greatly help in providing information on weather, climate, climate change, other environmental and man-made hazards, etc. to the people of this country.
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How does the government intend to integrate the threats of climate change into the existing National Disaster Management Plan? Natural hazards are purely natural but climate change may exacerbate it. Anthropogenic interventions convert hazards into disasters. Climate change and natural disasters should be dealt with mutually and not in isolation. Disaster mitigation and preparedness are necessary for the sustainable growth of any society. It has also been observed that the numbers of people killed due to disaster are more in the places where human development is low. Hydrometeorological disasters cause more damage than those which are geophysical in nature. Climate change is one of the most important global environmental challenges faced by humanity. Disaster and climate change are increasingly being considered as development constraints; hence, mainstreaming them into the development policy is all the more pertinent in the current context. Researchers and policy makers across the world understood the importance of this. Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) should become a normal practice and become a basic development agenda for our country. Shifting of focus from hazards to risk management could make our life safer. A need was felt to have a paradigm shift in disaster management especially under changing climate. With the establishment of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in 2005, the Government of India has brought in a paradigm shift in the approach - from the relief/rescue-centric to preparedness/ mitigation-based disaster management. The NDMA has brought out guidelines to be followed for all major disasters like Cyclones, Earthquakes, Floods, Droughts, etc. There is also a greater emphasis on disaster risk reduction as a part of integrated disaster management system. Initiatives such as adaptation to changes, disaster auditing, cross-sectoral risk analysis, regulatory authority (legal framework), knowledge management (community awareness), training and capacity building, training of media personnel, coastal zone management, private–public partnership (PPP), research and development, and last but not the least, establishing rewards or incentives for good management could go a long way in building a disaster resilient India in the time to come. „ i4d | March 2009
IMPROVING MICRO-LEVEL DROUGHT PREPAREDNESS USING GIS
Case study of Addakal Mandal, AP This case study describes the use of GIS-derived tools for water budgeting and participatory approaches to rural learning in improving drought awareness in a cluster of 21 villages
G Sreedhar1,2
V Ramnaresh Kumar1
R Nagarajan2
V Balaji1
1
Knowledge Management and Sharing Group International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics Patancheru – 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India. V Balaji: Email: v.balaji@cgiar.org Phone: +91 40 30713205, Fax: +91 40 30713074 2 Centre of Studies in Resources Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, 400076, India.
March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
Introduction Drought is more than a physical phenomenon or natural event. Drought occurs in virtually all climatic zones, and its characteristics vary significantly among regions. It is related to a deficiency of precipitation over an extended period of time, usually for a season or more. This deficiency results in water shortage for some activity, group or environmental sector, and it is often exacerbated by human activities. Drought is a critical phenomenon of climate change whose occurrence, duration, intensity, spatial variation and context is difficult to quantify. The prediction of drought is difficult as its development is very slow. International experience, especially that deriving from work in the sub-Saharan Africa, considers that preparedness is often more effective than relief. Information is the backbone of drought preparedness. While there is a need to foster drought preparedness at various scales, its effectiveness is particularly enhanced if there is preparedness at the level of vulnerable communities. A number of OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries such as the USA, Australia, Spain and France, have well-established systems and procedures to prepare whole regions and States to face drought and to mitigate its impact. India has for over three decades managed some well-structured action such as the Drought-Prone Areas Programme. Over the last two decades, the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of India has built a large programme to monitor the vegetation index to develop forecasts for drought onset over large regions. However, in most of the developing world, there is no established practice to foster drought-preparedness at the level of vulnerable rural areas. Realising this, the Science and Technology Commission
of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has recommended the adoption of a communication system that combines top-down approaches and community mobilisation, to enhance preparedness (UNSO, 2000). In this case study, we present an approach to micro-level drought vulnerability assessment and its dissemination among the potentially vulnerable families using village information centres, and briefly discuss the results related to its utility. We constructed GIS-derived drought vulnerability maps at a micro-level (less than 20000 ha) as a tool to improve drought awareness and preparedness. This study was conducted in partnership with the Adarsha Mahila Samaikhya, a rural micro-credit federation in Addakal Mandal 1 of Mahabubnagar district in Andhra Pradesh.
Adarsha Mahila Samaikhya (AMS) Adarsha Mahila Samaikhya is a federation of all-women self-help groups with a membership of 6300 from 21 villages in Addakal Mandal, Mahbubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The AMS has been active as a community-based organization since 1994 and has developed a campus of its own. ICRISAT’s Virtual Academy for Semi-Arid Tropics (VASAT) project is involved in knowledge creation and also imparting non-formal education to rural families. ICRISAT with the help of the Government of Andhra Pradesh and ISRONRSC has setup an Internet connected hub with two way video conferencing facility in the AMS premises and has worked with the AMS to strengthen the capacity of the AMS volunteers in info-mediation (http:// www.icrisat.org/vasat/pilothub/index.html). ICRISAT and AMS have set up Village
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Information Centres with PCs and Internet access. Recently, the partners have extended their activities to reach all the 21 villages of Addakal Mandal.
female: 34 %) (Census of India, 2001). The main occupation of the people in this region is agriculture, dairy farming and allied activities. The chief crops grown in the region are castor, groundnut, maize, chickpea, sorghum, pearl millet, paddy and orchard crops. This region is prone to frequent droughts and exodus has been noticed and reported in the last 10 years. The water resources in this region are dwindling and groundwaters being semi-critical in availability (Rafiuddin et al., 2007), the farmers depend mainly
Figure1: Study Area: Addakal Mandal, Andhra Pradesh, South Central India
Study area Addakal Mandal (Figure 1) covers an area of 196 km2 and consists of 21 revenue villages with 13 hamlets. It is situated within the latitudes 16o 28’ 28.3” to 16o 41’ 1.98” N and longitudes from 77o 2’ 47.34” to 78o 2’ 46” E with an elevation ranging from 380 – 647 m above Mean Sea Level (MSL). Annual precipitation in this Mandal ranges from 391.0 to 542.6 mm and is categorized under the Southern Telangana agro-climatic zone. Around 15% of this area is under irrigation, 60% is rain-fed and remaining 25% is considered as waste land. The population of this region is 46,380 (male: 50.57% and female: 49.43%) and the literacy rate is 35 %( male: 66 % and
Figure2b: Drought vulnerable villages at 450mm rainfall
on rainfall or rainfall runoff that is stored in surface water tanks for irrigation. These tanks act as insulators when drought or flood events occur. A field survey was undertaken with the help of Global Positioning System (GPS) in May 2008 to assess the status of water tanks in this Mandal. It was observed that many of these tanks were dry, accumulated with 1.82 to 3.0 meters of silt and also were infested with weed.
Drought vulnerability estimation and generation of colour-coded maps
Figure 2a: Drought vulnerable villages at 400mm rainfall
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A GIS-based framework developed by Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (http://www.csre.iitb.ac.in) which is based on water budget calculations was adopted in developing the Micro-level drought vulnerability maps. This had been earlier tested on a pilot basis in parts of Addakal Mandal and the results were in agreement with actual conditions (Dileep Kumar, 2007). i4d | March 2009
Meteorological Department on 30th June 2008 stated that “the long range forecast for the 2008 South-west monsoon was that the rainfall for the country as a whole was likely to be near normal and 99% of the long period average with a model error of +5%. The long period average rainfall over the country as a whole for the period 1941-1990 is 890mm and South Peninsula is 725mm (http://www.imdpune.gov.in/QuickLinks/pressrelease_ 30_jun08.pdf)�. Addakal Mandal receives a normal rainfall of 550mm and a seasonal rainfall of 440 mm. The maps were prepared for various seasonal rainfall scenarios ranging from 300-600 mm and the ones for 400-550 mm were selected for wider sharing with the communities resident in Addakal Mandal (figures 2a to 2d). The maps were made available before the start of the cropping season along with the rainfall predictions. ICRISAT employed the videoconferencing facility to train the AMS volunteers on a map literacy module. This map literacy helped the volunteers in understanding the maps and what each colour indicates. They were then able to use the network of AMS Village Information Centres to conduct awareness sessions specifically for each village.
Validation of micro-level drought vulnerability assessment To validate the micro-level drought vulnerability maps developed, ICRISAT has established five rain gauges in this study area at a distance of 10 km to each other. The AMS volunteers were
Figure2c: Drought vulnerable villages at 500mm rainfall
This method involves calculation of water requirement and water available for each village from different rainfall scenarios. Initially, the water required for each village was estimated by considering the water used for human and livestock consumption, and irrigation needs of different crops. The water availability in the surface water tanks was then estimated for each village for different rainfall scenarios. Finally, the water deficit or surplus was estimated for all the 21 villages from the water requirement and availability information. Cadastral maps2 were obtained from Central Survey Office, Hyderabad; Topographic maps were obtained from Survey of India, Hyderabad; and information about population, livestock, crops grown and the numbers of acres were obtained from the Addakal Mandal Office, Addakal. The cadastral and topographic maps were geo-referenced and digitised to create a layer showing the boundaries of 21 villages of Addakal Mandal. The estimated water deficit and surplus information was input into the GIS database using ArcGIS software for generating choropleth maps3 of drought vulnerability. The maps generated show the different levels of water deficit. The red colour indicates high water deficit whereas green indicates sufficient water for meeting basic needs of the villages. The other colours such as orange and yellow indicate varying levels of water deficit between red and green. The factor that adds value to such water budget studies and maps is the rainfall prediction. A press release issued by India March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
Figure2d: Drought vulnerable villages at 550mm rainfall
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Figure3: Rural women measuring rainfall and the wiki website with rainfall data (http://vasatwiki.icrisat.org/index.php/Rainfall_data_for_2008)
trained in maintaining the rain gauges, measuring techniques and uploading data onto the website. The rainfall data measured is uploaded onto the Wiki-based website (http://vasatwiki.icrisat. org/index.php/Rainfall_data_for_2008) everyday (Figure 3).
References: •
Initial results and observations From the pilot experiment in 2007 that covered 12 villages, we observed that the maps were indeed found useful for the rural families in drought-related decision making (Dileep Kumar, 2007). In the pilot study, the outcome mapping method was used to assess the usefulness or otherwise of this information support. In 2008, the study covered all the 21 villages of Addakal Mandal. A field survey conducted in September-October 2008 for evaluating the usefulness of the maps. Our assessment was that 18 out of 21 villages faced vulnerability in terms of significant surface water shortages. As of November 2008, it emerged that all the 18 villages did indeed face serious scarcity of water for agricultural production and livestock requirement. In villages marked red, crop yield losses to an extent of 60% was reported while the depletion of groundwater forced most pumps there to go dry. Specific advisories to shift to cultivation of dryland crops such as castor or pigeonpea or chickpea were not heeded generally because of the low prices such crops would fetch in the market. However, in one village, farmers cultivated only 60% of the cropping area, keeping in view the advisory and were able to avoid serious yield losses. It is clear that in combination with a rural learning program, simple techniques can be useful in improving community-level drought vulnerability assessment. It is important to give the community a stake in monitoring critical data such as daily rainfall and their ability to manage this process greatly adds to value of the overall project for vulnerability assessment and preparedness. There is also a strong need to foster capacity of local agencies and institutions to convert such vulnerability predictions into production and marketing-related advisory. The village information centres organised in a hub-and-spokes pattern do make a contribution to improving micro-level drought preparedness.
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•
•
•
•
•
Dileep Kumar, G., R. Nagarajan, A.V.R. Kesava Rao, and V. Balaji. 2007. Village Knowledge Centres and the Use of GIS-derived Products, Second International Conference on ICT in Development, jointly organized by IEEE and ACM, Bangalore, India14-15 December 2007. http://research.microsoft.com/workshops/ictd2007/ICTD2007_ Proceedings_CD.pdf. Rafiuddin, M.K., Sudhakar, P., Anjaneyulu, D.V., and Sarath, B. 2007. Ground Water Information Mahabubnagar District, Andhra Pradesh. Central Ground Water Board, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India. http://cgwb.gov.in/documents/SR/Mahbubnagar.pdf Glantz, M.H., 1977. The Value of a Long-Range Weather forecast for the West African Sahel. Bulletin American Meteorological Society, Vol. 58, No. 2, 150- 158. Palmer, W.C., 1965. Meteorological Drought. Research Paper No. 45, US Weather Bureau, Washington, DC. http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/drought/palmer.pdf. India Meteorological Department. Long range forecast update for the 2008 Southwest monsoon rainfall. Press release, New Delhi, 30 June 2008. http://www.imdpune.gov.in/QuickLinks/pressrelease_30_jun08.pdf. UNSO, 2000. Report on the status of drought preparedness and mitigation in Sub Saharan Africa. http://www.undp.org/seed/unso/concepts&progams/pub-htm/dpm-1.pdf.
Footnotes: 1 Mandal is an administrative division in some countries of South Asia. 2 Cadastral map is a comprehensive register of the metes-and-bounds real property of a country. A cadastre commonly includes details of the ownership, the tenure, the precise location (some include GPS coordinates), the dimensions (and area), the cultivations if rural and the value of individual parcels of land. 3 A Choropleth map is a thematic map in which areas are shaded or patterned in proportion to the measurement of the statistical variable being displayed on the map, such as population density or per-capita income. It provides an easy way to visualize how a measurement varies across a geographic area or it shows the level of variable within a region.
i4d | March 2009
CURTAIN RAISER: INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON ‘CLIMATE CHANGE AND FOOD SECURITY’, 10-17 APRIL 2009, CAIRO, EGYPT
Climate change and food security Introduction The global disparity of our response to climate change is one of the major concerns in the world today. In a recent usage, ‘Climate change’ usually refers to global warming. According to wikipedia, global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s nearsurface air and the oceans is defined as global warming. Climatic variations are the frequent alterations in the weather condition, air pressure, rainfall density, etc. at a particular region over a particular time-period. Wikipedia defines the ‘Global climate change’ as an integrated system of several atmospheric phenomena and their products. Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18°C during the 100 years ending in 2005. In 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that anthropogenic greenhouse gases are responsible for most of the observed temperature increase. IPCC also reported that glacier retreat, ice shelf disruption, sea level rise, changes in rainfall patterns and increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather events are causes of global warming. Other expected effects due to global warming are water scarcity and increased precipitation in some regions, changes in mountain snow pack and adverse health effects from warmer temperatures. Being a complex issue, climate change is becoming unavoidable for the policymakers. To raise awareness about the causes of climate change, its potential environmental and socioeconomic consequences and the adaptation and mitigation of climate change issues, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established the March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. The findings of the first Assessment Report, published by IPCC (www.ipcc.ch/about/index.htm) in 1990, played a vital role in establishing the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was opened for signature in the Rio de Janeiro Summit in 1992 and came into force in 1994. IPCC has also provided the overall policy framework to address climate change. In its Article 1, UNFCC defines ‘Climate Change’ as “a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.” This change in climate also affects agriculture, including temperature, precipitation and glacial run-off. Rise in the levels of carbon dioxide also has an effect on crop yields. Assessment of the effects of global climate changes on agriculture might help to properly anticipate and adapt farming to maximise agricultural production. The effect of climate on
agriculture is related to variability in local climates rather than in global climate patterns. The international aspect of trade and security in terms of food implies the need to also consider the effects of climate change on a global scale. It is predicted that the impacts of climate change will intensify the temperature and reduce crop yield in the developing countries of Afro-Asian region, whose economies are closely tied to climatesensitive sectors like agriculture, and which are already facing multiple stresses due to population growth, urbanisation, industrialisation, and globalisation. These impacts include desertification, sealevel rise, unavailability of freshwater in some region, cyclones, coastal erosion, deforestation, loss of forest quality, woodland degradation, coral bleaching, the spread of diseases and impacts on food security. The international community has agreed on four building blocks which include adaptation, mitigation, technology and finance. The governments of suffering countries, and international and regional organisations
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came together to address the problems and to overcome the challenges thrown up by climate change its impact on food security. With this in mind, the Afro-Asian Rural Development Organisation (AARDO) will organise an international workshop ‘Climate Change and Food Security’ between 10-17 April, 2009 in Cairo, Egypt. AARDO is organising the workshop at the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture (EICA) and Desert Research Centre (DRC), Cairo, Egypt. AARDO is organising the workshop in association with the Ministry of Social Solidarity and the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt to be represented by the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture (EICA) and the Desert Research Centre (DRC), Cairo. The workshop aims to bring policymakers, implementers, academicians and the representatives from various organisations to share their experiences related to climate change and come out with appropriate recommendations.
Objectives To provide a forum to share the information on climate change, its attributes, challenges, and anthropogenic responses To discuss the impacts of climate change on food • security and review the initiatives taken by the Afro-Asian countries To deliberate on mitigation and adaptation measures • and formulate policies and action plans. In order to meet with the above mentioned objectives, the eight-day workshop will focus on five sub-themes. Each sub-theme will cover following topics that are given below: •
1. • • • • • • 2. • • • • • •
Anthropogenic drivers, impacts and responses Role of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) The relationship between sustainable development and climate change Dealing with risks and uncertainty in decision-making Decision support tools The ‘public good’ character of climate change Mainstreaming climate change into development choices Observed changes in climate, effects and causes Observations of climate change Changes in physical and biological systems Surface temperature changes Risk of catastrophic, abrupt or irreversible changes Anthropogenic GHG emissions Regional distribution of GHG emissions by population and by GDP
3. Projected effects of climate change in the near and long term • Emission scenarios • Long term outlook • Lower emissions (not necessarily associated with a reduction in the future economic growth) • Impacts on systems and sectors (agriculture, energy, food, health)
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AARDO calls for paper/abstract Afro-Asian Rural Development Organisation (AARDO) seeks abstracts/ paper(s) from eminent professionals/resource persons from Africa and Asia to present their expert papers highlighting the experiences of their respective regions on the subject. The participants from the member countries will present country papers highlighting the climate changes, its impact on food security in their respective countries and the endeavours of their national governments to overcome the emerging challenges. Participants are required to prepare a country paper in light of the sub themes of the workshop highlighting the steps being taken in their respective countries to overcome the challenges of climate change and food security. The participants are required to forward the soft copy of their paper along with the Abstract through email to AARDO Secretariat and bring five (5) hard copies of the same with them for circulation in the workshop. The paper should include abstract (150 words), references, etc. At least, a total of 5,000 words are required for a full text of the country paper. Audio-visual aide for the presentation of the paper in powerpoint will be available at the workshop. Last date to submit papers along with abstract: 20 March 2009 Send papers to: aardohq@nde.vsnl.net.in or smovais2001@yahoo.co.in For more information: http://www.aardo.org/new.htm
4. Climate change and impact on water (rainfall, run off and sea levels) • Projected global average surface warming and sea level rise • Projected patterns of rainfall and run off change • Regions most affected by the change 5. Mitigation and adaptation measures • Climate change impacts on productivity of dry lands • Improved management practices of dry lands to enhance food production • Land degradation processes and the loss of food productivity in MENA Region (Middle East and North Africa) • Population and food security • Desertification and food security • How desert and new lands participate in the reduction of food gap in Egypt • Adaptation to the impacts of sea level rise in Egypt • Impacts of climate change on food security Participants in the workshop will deliberate on climate change, its causes and impacts on land and water resources and their effects on food security in the Afro-Asian region. Panelists will also discuss the adaptation and mitigation measures in order to overcome the challenges of food security. The workshop will be attended by senior government officials from AARDO member countries, representatives and resource persons from other international/ regional organisations. About 25 international participants and resource persons will attend the workshop. i4d | March 2009
CLIMATE CHANGE ACT 2008, UNITED KINGDOM
Sharing global e-sustainability solutions
www.gesi.org
The Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) is an international non-profit organisation dedicated to communicating how the ICT industry can address and provide solutions for environmental issues
Background and activities GeSI has been active since 2001, as an initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Originally, the initiative was a way for the ICT industry to respond to the United Nations Millennium Goals. When it became clear there were an increasing number of issues for the ICT sector to address and that a greater impact could be made as a group, rather than individually, GeSI gained more momentum. In June 2008, GeSI became an independent legal entity and established an office in Brussels. GeSI is active on several fronts, communicating as a unified voice for the ICT industry. GeSI’s members are active in working groups, policy forums and consortiums, with most of the emphasis on how GeSI’s efforts directly impact sustainability issues globally. While GeSI is keenly aware of the need for regulatory development and appropriate policy measures enabling ICT companies to realise their potential contributions towards sustainability, the organisation priority is not positioned to lobby issues. Rather, the emphasis is how GeSI’s actions translate into solutions for a more sustainable society.
London on 17-18 June 2008, GeSI launched this report in Europe, Asia and in the US. The SMART 2020 Report was a joint project between GeSI and The Climate Group, independently analysed by McKinsey and recognised as “the world’s first comprehensive report on ICT sustainability”. The SMART 2020 Report shows that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the ICT sector are estimated to rise significantly, from 0.53 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2002, to 1.43 billion tonnes in 2020, if we remain on a path of business as usual. But the report also demonstrates how ICT can offer solutions and even lower the carbon footprint of all other sectors, by implementing energy efficiency enabling solutions. The SMART 2020 report introduces a new way of thinking – for a smart future. The findings of the report, which discuss how ICT can
The SMART 2020 report Luis Neves Chairman, Global e-Sustainability Initiative Brussels, Belgium
March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
Following the introduction of its SMART 2020 Report to participants at the ITU’s second international symposium on ICT and Climate Change, held in
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© sharply_done/Fotolia.com
offer solutions for reducing the carbon footprint by 15 per cent findings relating to the ICT sector’s enormous potential to address by the year 2020, have been widely circulated and discussed and realise sustainability, at public policy forums, such as the EU around the world. Ad-Hoc Advisory Group for Energy Efficiency. In this forum, GeSI The SMART 2020 report identifies four main areas where there has worked alongside other electronic associations, non-profit are opportunities for the ICT industry to make the most relevant associations, regional and city groups as well as leading academics. contributions: motor systems, logistics, buildings and grids. The The group recently presented its findings and recommendations report demonstrates with supporting economic analysis, why ICT to EU Commissioners at the Directorate General of Information driven intelligence imbedded into the systems of each of these Society and Media (INFOSOC). The Advisory Group reported areas can yield tangible results. The starting point is to prioritise how the ICT industry can make significant contributions energy consumption needs and to recognise potential strains and and at the same time, identified the obstacles that need to be emissions of each of these areas. resolved. Since GeSI participates as Luis Neves, Chair of GeSI, a unified voice of ICT companies, stated in his foreword of the together with other stakeholders “The SMART 2020 report report, “It is our responsibility to such as The Carbon Disclosure introduces a new way of thinking estimate GHG emissions from Project, World Wildlife Fund the ICT industries and to develop and the World Business Council – for a smart future.” opportunities for ICT to contribute for Sustainable Development, it to a more efficient economy.” Luis can go beyond company level or Neves calls for the ICT sector to association level advocacy, making note how specific opportunities identified in the report can reduce a unique contribution in sustainability communications. emissions by five times the sector’s own footprint. “This report has GeSI also participates as a working group leader in the EU identified many opportunities for the ICT sector to replace goods Commission’s Competitiveness and Innovation Framework and services with virtual equivalents and to provide technology to (CIF) Programme’s Information Communication Technologies enable energy efficiency,” and stated that GeSI was “committed Policy Support Programme (ICTPSP), a research programme to continue to work across the industry as a force for change.” In on supporting energy efficiency in smartGENeration grids addition, Forrester, a consultancy, stated in their briefing on the (SEESGEN) through ICT. In this consortium, GeSI is aligning report in August 2008 that the SMART 2020 report “will raise with 24 other stakeholders, which include research institutes environmental stakes for strategy professionals and IT suppliers” and energy companies located in Europe. The working groups and that “IT vendors looking for environmental leadership must in this consortium cover smart grid management, monitoring, add this dimension to their slate of activities.” integration, business modeling, environment related issues and A unique contribution in sustainability communications,GeSI the testing of facilities. If intelligent systems are to be imbedded has raised the profile of the SMART 2020 report by presenting its into infrastructure, the ICT industry must collaborate with energy
Emissions from the ICT sector are estimated to rise to 1.43 billion tonnes CO2 equivalent in 2020.
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i4d | March 2009
The ICT sector can make great contributions to emissions reduction in logistics and buildings.
providers and academics in this arena as well. GeSI is reaching out, leading the discussion for the ICT industry and experiencing first hand the actions taken at national policy level for consideration in EU level policy-making. Another arena GeSI is involved with is an EU Commission consortium, the ICT21EE project, formed to report on how ICT contributes to energy efficiency in transport and infrastructure. This consortium is composed of 17 participants in public and private sectors and will work together in 2009.
A tactical approach – The supply chain At the same time, GeSI’s member companies collaborate with each other and other ICT stakeholders to deliver on a more immediate and tactical level. Solutions driven, GeSI’s largest and most active working group is the Supply Chain Working Group. This working group is composed of 29 members, representing 16 companies, and meets fortnightly to discuss results on a wide range of issues. The group covers a wide range of topics, ranging from labour, environmental and health and safety issues through to deeper issues in the supply chain, for example the type of minerals used in ICT equipment and the impact of its use on the environment. Recently, the focus of the group has been on communicating with suppliers to encourage their participation in a self-assessment questionnaire on their supply chain practices, which will later be validated through audits; a win-win situation for companies assessing their suppliers as well as minimising the audit cost and process for suppliers. An important part of this assessment is the learning and capability strategy that GeSI supports; aimed at helping to educate suppliers through the process, including awareness and resolution of ‘red flag’ or problem areas. GeSI, together with its March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
partner the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), have jointly developed a web-based tool and standard for this assessment, the E-TASC (Electronics: tool for accountable supply chains).
GeSI’s goals GeSI aims to position ICT firms as enablers for reducing carbon output across all sectors. GeSI views the ICT sector as the key to resolve our current dilemma – how to reduce carbon output, while meeting the increasing global consumer demand for higher powered ICT products and services. GeSI’s members have a sense of the world watching its achievements – especially after receiving so much attention with the worldwide launch of the SMART2020 report. The objective of the report was a call to action; to motivate all sectors into action so as to avoid the ‘business-as-usual’ scenario. Now that GeSI has clearly illustrated what can happen and what can be done, GeSI members are motivated to keep up the momentum and continue GeSI’s record of achievements, especially in the area of solutions. Each GeSI member is strongly encouraged to join a working group, report on their achievements and to utilise the resources developed by the membership. GeSI’s approach is very inclusive – especially when external experts, regional associations or institutions share the vision on how ICT can provide solutions by virtue of more intelligent systems. GeSI has long spoken as a unified voice, beginning as a UNEP/ ITU initiative. Now as an independent legal entity, with more and more visibility and a greater mandate, GeSI has raised the bar for more achievements and, as was envisioned, for an even greater impact in creating a more sustainable future for all. Note: This article was first published in Climate Action 2008 (www.climateactionprogramme.org).
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UNESCO’S COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CSCS AND CMCS IN INDIA
Experiences from the state of Madhya Pradesh Introduction The government of India on May 2006 approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) which envisages setting up of 100,000 Common Services Centres as front-end delivery points of government, private and social sector services to rural populace of India in an integrated manner. The vision of the National e-Government Plan is to “Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man.” 1 The prime objective of the plan is to develop a platform that can enable government, private and social sector organisations to align their social and commercial goals for the benefit of the rural population in the
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remotest corners of the country through a combination of IT-based as well as nonIT-based services. The CSCs (Common Service Centres) are being seen as a major government intervention for enhancing efficiency, bringing in transparency and accountability, and reducing operating costs.2 The Scheme has been approved at a total cost of INR 57.42 billion over 4 years, of which the government of India is estimated to contribute INR 8.56 billion and the State governments INR 7.93 billion. The balance resources would be mobilised from the private sector. The Common Services Centres were designed as ICT-enabled kiosks having a PC along with basic support equipment like Printer, scanner, UPS, with wireless connectivity as the backbone and additional equipment for edutainment, telemedicine, projection systems, etc., as the case may be.3 The
Scheme is to be implemented through a Public Private Partnership model. The CSCs are one of the three pillars of the core and support infrastructure of the National e-Governance Plan for enabling anytime anywhere delivery of government services, the other two being (a) the State Wide Area Network (for Connectivity) which has already been approved by the Government for INR 33.34 billion and b) the State Data Centre Scheme (for secure hosting of data and applications) for which the draft guidelines are under preparation. DIT has appointed a National Level Service Agency (NLSA) with defined Terms of Reference to coordinate the entire activity. The CSC Scheme has a 3-tier implementation framework: at the first (CSC) level would be the local Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE- loosely analogous to a franchisee), to service the rural consumer in a cluster of 5-6 villages. At the second/middle level would be an entity termed the Service Centre Agency (SCA loosely analogous to a franchiser) to operate, manage and build the VLE network and business. An SCA would be identified for one or more districts (one district would cover 100-200 CSCs). At the third level would be the agency designated by the state-the State Designated Agency (SDA) - to facilitate implementation of the Scheme within the state and to provide requisite policy, content and other support to the SCAs. The CSC project, since its inception, has evoked much expectation and hope among the many who have been associated with the project as well as the common citizen disillusioned by the prevalent redtapism in the administration while looking to avail the services. e-Government services promise to remove these loopholes of administration. The NeGP, and the CSC programme in particular, has promised to be an answer to this. i4d | March 2009
The CMC programme, on the other hand, offers a global strategy for addressing the digital divide in the poorest communities of the developing world and also among countries in transition. The CMC opens a gateway to active membership of the global knowledge society by making information and communication the basic tools of the poor in improving their own lives. A CMC combines community radio by local people in local languages with community telecentre facilities (computers with Internet and e-mail, phone, fax and photocopying services). The radio - which is low-cost and easy to operate - not only informs, educates and entertains, but it also empowers the community by giving a strong public voice to the voiceless, and thus encouraging greater accountability in public affairs. Implicit in the concept of the Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) is the notion that connectivity for development is far from being only a question of infrastructure and technology, of hardware and software. The human dimension of plans for the introduction of ICTs is especially crucial for their success in the poorest rural and urban areas of developing countries. Also implicit in the concept is the notion that ICTs need not remain the preserve of the educated and the literate: by reaching out also to the uneducated and the illiterate, the Community Multimedia Centre becomes an inclusive, ‘info-rich’ force for development that not only meets identified learning and information needs, but also creates a new demand for learning, information and knowledge. With both the models offering the rural populace the opportunity to access information and communication technologies (ICTs), and with both the models having the potential to address the issues related to ‘digital divide’, especially in the developing countries, though with differing orientations, there is a need to study both the models in the light of its goals, objectives and potentials. With the objective of comparing CSCs and CMCs and looking at ways in which CSC programme of government of India and the CMC project of UNESCO serve as lessons to the other, a field research project, commissioned by UNESCO, was undertaken by Centre for Science, Development, and Media Studies.
Research Methodology The methodology followed in the research was random sample survey research undertaken using a questionnaire prepared for the purpose. The questionnaire had three sections: one for the project authority, one for the telecentre (CSC/CMC) operator, and one for the community member. The objective of the questionnaire was to derive as much information as possible on geographic, social, cultural, economic, technological and political state of the site visited. The questionnaire for the project authority included, besides general information on the project authority, project description, physical infrastructure and labour, technology infrastructure, and services provided. The questionnaire for the CSC operator, on the other hand, was a comprehensive one having a wide array of questions on respondents profile and other demographic information like geographic location, historical background, population, natural resources, climatic condition, social condition, economic conditions, availability of health, educational, and transport facilities; availability of other infrastructures; effectiveness of March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
Panchayati Raj institutions; presence of self-help groups; current usage of ICT, etc. This questionnaire also had questions specifically on the project such as name of the founder, date of initiation, location of the project site, major partners and roles, key focus areas, business model, major milestones and achievements, lessons learnt, number of villages covered by the telecentre, presence of other ICT service providers in the area, stakeholders involved in the project, hardware used in the telecentre, connectivity infrastructure used in the telecentre, other physical facilities of the telecentre like space used, power supply, air conditioning, number of employees, access to manuals, etc. Questions on the operator’s training and the information needs of the community were also incorporated in the questionnaire along with a question on the consultation methodology with the community. The next set of questions were on the ICT services and information offered in the telecentre and the relevance of the respective service for the community. The services categorised under this heading were agriculture related information, animal husbandry, weather, employment, education, news, entertainment. Tho other set of questions were on fulfillment services like communication services, consumer goods services, commercial goods services, financial services, marketing services, their availability and relevance for the community. As the CSCs are primarily envisioned, among others, as front-end delivery points for government-services, the questionnaire also had questions on availability and relevance of government services like form downloads, grievance redressal, land records, ration cards, birth and death certificates, caste certificates, licenses and permits. In addition, there were also questions on the work schedule of the CSC, content providers, content translation, and on the devices used by the community to access information. Keeping in view the fact that telecentre operators have to face a lot of challenges in providing services, responses were also sought from the operators with questions on the challenges and were asked to rate these challenges, connectivity, power supply, availability of content, content customization, hardware inadequacy and maintenance, lack of skills and awareness on the part of the users, cooperation in the back-end – government and private, social constraints, and economic constraints. Questions were also devoted towards judging the popularity of the telecentre among the community members with questions on the number of visitors and return visitors. The questionnaire also tried to look at the per month operational cost of the telecentre, and the recovery mechanism of those costs as it is an important aspect of judging the sustainability of the telecentre. Adoption of an impact assessment mechanism was also discussed in the questionnaire. The third part of the questionnaire was for community members and dealt primarily with the expectations of the community members with regard to the CSCs and CMCs. The questions mainly revolved around the profile of the community person, his literacy level, primary occupation, social background, family income level, ICT awareness, problems faced in terms of information needs, awareness about the telecentre, etc. It also sought his/her opinion on whether the telecentre can address the information needs, accessibility of the telecentre services, problems faced in accessing the telecentre services, attitude of the telecentre
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operator/manager in terms of paying heed to the needs of the community, impacts of the telecentre in meeting the information needs of the community. They were also asked to put weightage on the problems faced while accessing the services and were asked to rank these on the basis of the severity of the problem. To sum up, the questionnaire tried to take stock of the current status of the project, the interest on the part of the community as well as the operator and the project authority, the potential for making the telecentre sustainable, the challenges faced by the operators in running the telecentre and the community in getting the desired services. The questionnaire was also designed to take stock of the issues in implementation for both the CSCs and CMCs. It also was envisioned that the questionnaire was to serve the purpose of reviewing the programmes, identifying challenges and bottlenecks, extent of community participation, etc.
The project The first phase of the study was carried out in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The CSC samples were taken out of almost 500 CSCs operated by Network of Information and Computer Technology (NICT), Indore, Madhya Pradesh in the Malwa plateau. Six CSCs were randomly selected as samples. The CSCs selected were Bicholi Mardana, Kampel, Attaheda, Gautampura, Labaria, and Barmandal. Four of the CSC’s are in the district of Indore while two others are located in the district of Dhar. NICT is to set up 2,158 CSCs in the region and 500 of them have already been set up. Most of the CSCs run by NICT are strategically located within the vicinity of the Gram Panchayat and are equipped with VSAT technology. It is planned that the each CSC will have one to three computers, few printers apart from other devices like modem, scanner, and a UPS. The CSC is also equipped with a photo printer and a digital camera to provide an alternate revenue stream to the VLE. NICT provides training to the operators on entrepreneurship, sales, basic computing, accounting, service delivery functionalities and inter-personal skills. In order to further build the capacities of the VLE, NICT also has decided to depute one computer operator at each kiosk for at least one year. Though providing both G2C and B2C services are within the framework of CSC programme, G2C are taking time to roll out and NICT, realising the need on the part of the communities, has identified need based G2C services of Gram Panchayat and automated Panchayat services like issuing birth and death certificates, Panchayat accounting and many other Panchayat based services. NICT also has tied up with Madhya Pradesh government to provide online electricity bill payment services. Besides, NICT has tied up with State Bank of India (SBI) and Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) to provide financial services as Business Facilitator and Business Correspondents. In the insurance sector, NICT has tied up with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and National Insurance Company Limited for processing and selling micro and other insurance products. In telecommunication NICT CSCs will provide telecommunication services like mobile recharge, etc. NICT CSCs also offer various agricultural services like agro-clinic, bio-fertilizers, bio-fuel, etc.
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some of the NICT CSCs also have opened play-schools within their vicinity to supplement the revenue. As per NICT official, e-Saksharta in partnership with Microsoft and e-Tution are two other major services offered by NICT. Services like registration renewal, license renewal, and commercial permits are also available in NICT centres. In partnership with government of Madhya Pradesh, NICT provides services like entrance examination forms of PET, PMT and others. NICT has also tied up with prestigious Hukumchand Charitable Hospital, Indore and Smile Foundation for setting up mobile hospitals. The next site for the study was the Community Multimedia Centre, located in Chanderi, in the Ashok Nagar district of Madhya Pradesh. Chanderi is a sleepy town of about 30000 people, one third of whom are engaged in weaving. Community Multimedia Centre is established with the support of UNESCO, OneWorld South Asia and BASIX. The centre is engaged in training girls from the weaver communities and runs several commercial services such as railway ticket booking, Internet browsing and typing / print outs. A basic course was also undertaken in computer design in collaboration with the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi. The CMC is housed in the premises of the Bunkar Vikas Sanstha and is adjacent to Apna Kosh, a unit of the BVS, which provides microfinace facilities to the poor people at low interest rates. This CMC has also initiated capacity building on radio production as Bunkar Vikas Sanstha (BVS), the cooperative run by women from the weaving community, intends to apply for the community radio license and establish its own radio station. The community radio station would cater to the need of the community and help in creating livelihood opportunities for the people. In the meantime, training the communities in radio programming, narrowcasting and content creation through digital story telling are ongoing. With basic computer training and use of computer applications like Internet, these young girls/boys are able to book railway tickets, add value to their weaved Chanderi sarees using Coral draw, train other students on computer applications, etc.
Key Research Findings The CSC programme Face to face interviews were conducted with the telecentre operators, managers, proprietors, community members, as well as i4d | March 2009
representatives from the project implementing authority (NICT in this case). The questionnaire was filled up by the researchers on the basis of the responses from the respondents. In addition, the interviews were also recorded electronically for further clarifications. Initial research findings from the surveys conducted demonstrate that still a lot needs to be done to make the CSC programme a success in the Indore region of Madhya Pradesh. Concerns are many and varied and revolve around issues of connectivity, power supply, services, capacity, awareness, and sustainability. The foremost concern from the point of view of the telecentre operator was unavailability of the G2C services which according to them hold much promise considering the requirement of the rural communities. Besides, power supply and poor connectivity also hampered the prospect of business. The rural communities are very much enthusiastic about the CSCs coming up in their villages and are optimistic that the CSCs will resolve a lot of their problems as rather than having to go to the town to get much of their work done, the CSCs, as they were designed as front-end delivery points of government, business and social services, would solve a lot of their woes. However, due to slow roll out of the programme as well as the services, nothing much on the ground is seen. When asked about the severity of the problems, out of the six respondents (telecentre operators), all termed content as the most severe. Power supply, available for three hours per day, was identified by all the respondents as the next problem hampering the operation of the CSC. Connectivity, for a majority of them, was the next biggest roadblock. Hardware inadequacy and maintenance was a considerably significant problem for one respondent while cooperation in the back end was a significant problem for one respondent. When asked about the relevance of various ICT related services, majority responded by saying that employment related services, agriculture related services, educational services, weather related services were relevant to the community whereas only a few – agricultural, educational, and entertainment – were provided. Talking about government services, majority of the respondents felt that all government services, including form downloads, land records, ration cards, birth and death certificates, caste certificates, licenses and permits, are relevant to the community. However, only electricity bill payment services are available at the moment. Asked about the relevance of the fulfillment services, most of the respondents replied that the rural communities would find communication services, consumer goods and services, commercial goods and services, financial services relevant and most of the services are available to the rural populace. From the response, it was found that most of the respondents are not confident about a business model in the immediate future but acknowledged the fact that subject to availability of content and services, adequate power supply, good connectivity, proper capacity building exercises, the CSC could become a sustainable business model.
The CMC The respondents for the questionnaire were chosen from among the youth working in the CMC as well as from the general March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
community members. When asked about the involvement of the community in the affairs of the CMC, it was responded by majority of that the parents are now willing to let their girl child venture out of their homes and engage in the activities of the CMC. In fact majority of the parents are optimistic about the effect that the CMC could have upon the community in terms of generating awareness about various issues facing their lives, generating new livelihood opportunities in the form of the trained students getting absorbed in the radio industry as well as being exposed to the outer world which they think is full of opportunities. They have, in the last one year, have build a repository of programmes which range from hygiene and sanitation, HIV/AIDS, tobacco addiction, promotion of girl child to beauty tips for women, agriculture, heritage and history of Chanderi, etc. They are involved in the production of the audio programme right from the stage of conceptualisation, script-writing, enacting, to anchoring. They also have produced some video programmes on the history and heritage of Chanderi. When asked whether they are aware about the National e-Governance Plan, majority of them replied in the affirmative. Few of them were also aware about the Common Service Centre programme. When asked about the requirement and the need of having a CSC clubbed together with their CMC, majority of the respondents agreed to the need for having such a centre, which for them would be extremely beneficial to the socioeconomic development of the community. When asked about the relevance of some of the services intended to be provided by the CSCs, like download of forms, caste certificates, birth and death certificates, agricultural information services, educational services, electricity billing, etc, the majority replied that these services are quite relevant for the community. It was observed after the interviews that the people of Chanderi have a lot expectations out of the CMC and would also like to add to it the services offered by the CSC. All of them are looking forward to availing all the e-Government services through the government of India’s National e-Governance Plan and would definitely complement the opportunities provided by the CMC.
Conclusion It can be observed from the initial findings of the study that both CSC and CMC, besides having the potential to bridge the didgital divide, can also be potent tools for the empowerment of the rural communities and socio-economic development. The issue, however, is of proper implementation and operationalisation and making them self-sustainable with some initial capacity building, meeting the infrastructural needs and bridging the demand supply gap of content and services. Sabyasachi Kashyap sabyasachi@telecentremagazine.net
References: 1. 2. 3.
http://www.mit.gov.in/default.aspx?id=837 http://www.i4donline.net/articles/current-article.asp?articleid=1382&typ= Features http://www.mit.gov.in/default.aspx?id=825
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RENDEZVOUS SEMINAR BY SHOBHAKAR DHAKAL ON GLOBAL CARBON BUDGET, 2 MARCH, 2009, ICIMOD, KATHMANDU, NEPAL
Sharing the research findings Shobhakar Dhakal, Director of the Global Carbon Project, Tokyo, Japan, leads a flagship activity on urban and regional carbon management and is involved in synthesis activities on various aspects of the carbon cycle. He is also Visiting Associate Professor of the Graduate School of Environmental Studies of the Nagoya University, Japan. The seminar began with a background of the Global Carbon Project, its partners, the flagship research it undertook recently, and the 4 major areas it is active in: viz., water, food, carbon, and human health. The presentation highlighted the role of carbon, main emission sources, contribution from the Land Use, LandUse Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) sector, contribution of natural sinks, the global carbon budget and the challenges that lay ahead for both developed and developing countries. Climate change has now become a fact and will increase in the years ahead
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according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s WR1 of 2007. Increase in anthropogenic carbon emissions is demonstrated by the increase in ppm (parts per million) since preindustrial revolution. In the year 1750 emission was 280 ppm and in 2002 it reached 382.7 ppm. Though this increase comes from different sources, the majority is attributed to increasing fossil fuel usage. While the growth rate of ppm between 2000 to 2007 was 2.2 ppm/yr, emission from fossil fuels increased 4 times. The IPCC predicted several scenarios, with the worst case being that of intensive fossil fuel usage. Unfortunately, despite most countries agreeing to the Kyoto Protocol, the scenario shows that we are not doing enough across the world. The global share of pollution from developing countries is increasing. This puts tremendous pressure on developing countries to also cut emissions. However, among the developing countries, majority
of the pollution is emitted from Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). China became the largest emitter in 2006 overtaking the USA, and India is going to overtake Russia soon to become the third highest emitter. But the argument developing countries are putting forward is that historically, their cumulative emission is still very low when compared to the developed countries. However, looking at the annual emission increment, China almost has a 60% increase in GHG emission. Developing countries have also implemented further policies to reduce emission. For instance, Japan announced 70% reduction in emissions to be achieved in the forthcoming years. Drivers of emissions are best understood by correlating emission with economic growth, applying technology, and population growth. While much of the developed countries have lowered or reduced the carbon intensity, China and India are continuing emission with little adoption of cleaner technology that reduces carbon intensity. Compared to China, India hasn’t made much progress on reducing carbon intensity. Sector wise, carbon emission from LULUCF is much less than from the energy sector. But, whatever emission is occurring, is occurring mainly from Asian countries with tropical forests as they have higher levels of biomass per ha (high carbon density per ha). Asia is now contributing more than Latin America to the i4d | March 2009
overall emission in the form of emission from deforestation. Of the world’s total emissions, 46% remains in atmosphere, 29% is captured and stored in land and terrestrial ecosystems, and 26% in oceans. This raises the importance of understanding the natural sinks because 55% of emission is reduced from natural sinks without abatement cost. Using the ETS (Emission Trading System ) rate for emission reduction, this is worth 0.5 trillion US$. The catch here is that, we have to make extra efforts to be able to maintain the natural sinks as data has shown that the capacity of natural sinks has decreased by 5%. This is called weakening of the sinks and is mainly caused by ozone layer depletion and climate change. Climate Change will happen anyhow but we can only reduce its effects by selecting different targets. The IPCC has come up with different mechanisms for reduction of emissions. The bottom line is, any delay will increase the cost of abatement as well as damage. This is also in line with the Stern Review 2006. Right now most discussions are around limiting the temperature increase to 2-3 degree C. Even this effort at reducing the temperature increase will require continuous support for adaptation strategies, especially in developing countries, which cannot be relaxed. Developing countries need to know when and by how much they have to adapt to the scenario. For reducing emission, the developed as well as the developing countries (OECD) must work together for cutting emissions
and for mitigating the adverse impacts of emissions. This is also in line with the Stern Review. The global simulation model on climate change developed by the GCP shows the Himalaya region as a hotspot. The intensity with which Himalaya region is affected is the same as the Arctic region. The model, however, showed slower impact for Europe. The challenge lies in mitigating emission through deep cuts, based on scientific data. Kyoto Protocol was based on politics and the reductions were not scientifically based; it is expected that the post Kyoto scenario will be more scientifically based. It seems the current discourse is more scientific than the previous one. Also, it is expected
that now there is technology to allow for deeper cuts, and as emphasised earlier, we need to strengthen natural sinks (relevant to Himalaya region). In conclusion, the global emission has not slowed down since 2000; it is following the IPCC worse case scenario. Developing countries are emitting more. While the capacity of natural sinks is decreasing. Therefore there is an urgent need to act now. i4d team is grateful to Bhaskar, Tek Jung Mahat and Dan Boom of Asia Pacific Mountain Network at ICIMOD who took notes, reviewed the copy of this extensive presentation, and summarised it for the readers of i4d. For more details of the seminar presentation, please visit http:// www.icimod.org/?page=331
Call for News/Articles/ Press Releases Readers/authors/development enthusiasts are invited to send briefings of news/press releases on e-Agriculture, social entrepreneurship, climate change, e-Panchayat, telecommunications, international development, etc. Articles/News should be of contenporary relevance and must relate to the use and applications of ICTs. An ideal article/press release should be neatly typed in 'Times New Roman', 12 font size at double spaqce between 1250-1500 words based the above mentioned topics.
Please send your news piece/article at info@i4donline.net
March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
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Bytes for All... Some RS 500 ‘COMPUTER’ India plans ‘10 dollar’ laptop to promote computer skills http://tinyurl.com/d7vsp4
INR 500 laptop story in Indian Express http://tinyurl.com/dk6qkn
The world’s cheapest laptop http://tinyurl.com/cdt9zr
$10 laptop a damp squib http://tinyurl.com/badmpr
Govt’s much-awaited $10 laptop turns out be a joke http://tinyurl.com/cwfyyf
Photo credit: flickr.com/curiouslee
Online activism gathers speed Alisha Coelho writes: [Nisha] Susan [of the pink underwear or chaddis fame] isn’t the only one nor was she the first. Online activism, a trend gaining currency on popular networking sites, has been around for some time and is only growing with increased Internet coverage and use. Take the example of Anuraddha Tandon, Thakur College of Engineering lecturer who started a website, www.helpgaurav.com, in December to help raise funds for her husband’s illness. Speed is the greatest advantage of this form of sloganeering. “Even a low cost dharna takes time to organise,” said blogger Dina Mehta who’s been part of online activism circles since she began blogging in 2003. Mehta has been part of ‘blogathons’ and helped mobilise information around help for tsunami victims in 2005 “Cyber activism has always been around but it’s been concentrated to a niche audience. Nisha’s chaddi campaign is probably one of the first that was able to generate such a strong offline response,” said Mehta who is also on the advisory board of Global Voices Online, a nonprofit organisation of bloggers and journalists who keep track of interesting things happening in the global blogosphere. Online activism comes with its problems though, the chief being doubt over authenticity. Another challenge is how to keep interest alive. In 2006, some volunteers set up an AIDS awareness site www.aidsawarenesskolkata.org that even resulted in an offline offshoot NGO called Swapno. However over the past year, the duo weren’t able to maintain the site because of the response that slowed down.
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MoHRD and the “INR 500 computer”, comment by Vickram Crishna http://tinyurl.com/a9leqs
What happened to the $20 laptop? http://tinyurl.com/csrxer
Laptops not the answer: Availability of tech alone cannot compensate for absence of enabling institutions. http://tinyurl.com/bxyrs9
Balderdash. Hokum. Humbug!! American Enterprise Institute comment on the $10 computing device... a response. http://tinyurl.com/afy4jr
Computers are not the capital goods of the industrial manufacturing age, but tools of production of the info age. http://tinyurl.com/afy4jr
USEFUL PROJECTS Chennai Bus Routes - Community Project http://tinyurl.com/clgyag
Giving relief that edge, via maps and GIS Sandra Sudhoff http://tinyurl.com/bdd5gz
Convergys funds computer lab for rural women in Maharashtra http://tinyurl.com/ageovd
Simple navigation and access platform http://tinyurl.com/bholu5
VoiceList: User-generated audio content for socio-economic development http://tinyurl.com/broog6
Nithya Sambasivan, researcher, ICT for social and economic Development, from a Human-centred standpoint http://www.ics.uci.edu/~nsambasi/
Have you seen the OLPC India project? http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_India
Building a social entrepreneurial garage startup in India http://tinyurl.com/cqrbwx
INFOACTIVISM This is an exciting time for people working with video – Sam Gregory (Witness) http://www.informationactivism.org/node/45
Training communities in video is exciting - Namita Singh http://www.informationactivism.org/node/49
Info-activism is of special relevance to take exiles’ message through Phuntsok Dorjee http://tinyurl.com/dzj7ro
Australia has done some great work in info-activism – Andrew ‘And’ Lowenthal http://www.informationactivism.org/node/57 Alternative media is alive and well all over Latin America - Marie Trigona (Argentina) http://tinyurl.com/cp5hqn
Free Software brings freedom in choosing tools to access software, and more - Saifullo Hikmatov (Tj) http://tinyurl.com/bbsawg
PUBLICATIONS, e-PUBLICATIONS, SEMINARS DContent news http://tinyurl.com/ajov7h
Smoking Apples (and the Mac), a free
i4d | March 2009
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Bytes for All... Open Source in India Today
useful links edited-in-Goa online magazine http://tinyurl.com/ckrrnv
ANALYSIS Open Source in India today (Alolita Sharma) http://tinyurl.com/bybcoh
Reflections from the IGF: Thanks APC for making the IGF happen to me (Anupama Saxena) http://tinyurl.com/bah3kf
US Congressional records are set free! http://tinyurl.com/cg3ub4
International Conference on Development Communication in the Era of Globalisation http://www.gcra-chennai.net/
Ekushey Boimela 2009 Website (Book Fair of Bangladesh) http://tinyurl.com/bavnyw
ALTERNATIVES A Consortium of Pub-going, Loose and Forward Women (Protesting via Facebook)
Amnesty International Bangla Online Community
http://tinyurl.com/ambvax/group. php?gid=49641698651
Women and technology in Africa (a Facebook group)
Alternative news and features India Infochange on Twitter
http://tinyurl.com/ar8kdu
http://twitter.com/infochange
http://tinyurl.com/bpzncj
Global Voices: Advocacy 2.0 guide http://tinyurl.com/6qs4tq
Social networking, the new pressure group in India http://tinyurl.com/czj2an
Social networking, the new pressure group in India http://tinyurl.com/d328a8
Online activism gathers speed (by Alisha Coelho) http://tinyurl.com/c84w4g
HUMAN RIGHTS HURIDOCS: Human Rights Information and Documentation System http://www.huridocs.org/
MISCELLANEOUS Spectacular presentation of virtual products at SOFTEXPO http://tinyurl.com/dc5feh
MP’s idea4cm ... via Narendra Sisodiya http://tinyurl.com/d2t36n
No Charge Licensed Software RFI posted on MERX http://tinyurl.com/dlj5jv
March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
http://bangla.amnesty.org, http://www. amnesty.org/en/join
Alolita Sharma writes: Over the past decade open source software has become popular with technology users in India. The benefits of open source - affordability, availability of source code and freedom of choice - have made open source a preferred platform for many innovative Indian organizations and individuals who want to harness the power of high quality software which can be freely adapted to their own requirements. A quote: “Government organizations, at the national and state levels, have been using open source software to produce internal applications. Recently, e-government procurements have begun to allow open source software to be part of vendor provided solutions. This in turn has fueled multinationals, such as IBM, HP, Novell and Red Hat, to bid open source software on large e-government projects in order to meet requirements for affordability, localisation and freedom from vendor lock-in.” https://fossbazaar.org/content/open-source-india-today
India fights patents with huge prior art database
OFID (The OPEC Fund for International Development) scholarships
One of the many problems with the patent offices around the world is that they are often unaware of prior art, granting patents for so-called inventions that are, in fact, common knowledge. In the computer world, there have been a number of efforts to provide prior art to patent offices, either after a patent is granted, in order to have it rescinded, or - even better - as part of the examination process. That’s fine for a community with easy access to online source materials, but what about other fields, where prior art exists in other forms like books, or perhaps orally? To combat this problem, and to prevent its huge traditional knowledge basis being exploited in this way, India has created the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) database, which was unveiled on 2 February, and is now available to the Patent Examiners at the European Patent Office for establishing prior art in case of patent applications based on Indian systems of medicine.
http://tinyurl.com/dj6dj6
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bytesforall_readers/message/13148
geoGreeting website 17-19 avril 2009 : 3eme conference internationale sur technologies http://tinyurl.com/bsehoe
Cuba launches Gentoo Linux distro http://tinyurl.com/bhyslu
Coromandel mishap: Poor database makes tracing kin a difficult task http://tinyurl.com/ctjhvw
Canadian government puts out a call for information on open source software http://tinyurl.com/cspzoy
Code Editor in the Cloud Mozilla Labs launches Bespin, a cloud-based, collaborative code editor http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7248
Dil Khol Ke Bol.Com is the first microblogging portal to be launched in India http://dilkholkebol.com/
Apple mag Milind in Goa is the young editor of this online magazine about the Apple Mac. Download your free copy: http://smokingapples.com/smoking-apples/smoking-apples-magazine-issue-3/
Bytes for All: www.bytesforall.org or www.bytesforall.net Bytes for All Readers Discussion: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ bytesforall_readers To subscribe: bytesforall_readers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Bytes for All Discussion summary compiled by: Frederick Noronha, India, fred@bytesforall.org
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BOOK RECEIVED
Demonstrating global leadership A Guide to communicating the role of technology in addressing Climate Change challenges Global Knowledge Partnership and OneWorld South Asia Publisher: Global Knowledge Partnership and OneWorld South Asia Pages: 12 Its time to take a closer look at the political and economic dimensions that shape the global debate on climate change as we get closer to 2011, a year before the Kyoto Protocol expires and is refreshed/replaced. • The developed world must be proactive in fixing the climate because the greenhouse gases (GHG) that have accumulated over the past two centuries and are today responsible for global warming have been produced by these rich countries. • The developing world continues to spew out greenhouse gases faster than ever and countries like the USA defer their cleaning up. In cognizance of these facts, the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) and OneWorld South Asia (OWSA) have teamed up to bring out an advocacy tool for ICT and climate change titled, ‘Fixing the Climate with ICTs.’ Sourced from the GKP online Forum on ICT and Climate Change held between 20 May - 9 June, 2008, this guide attempts to inform readers about the myriad solutions that ICT tools can provide to mitigate and adapt to he adverse impact of climate change. Acknowledging the fact that the ICT industry itself is also the source of greenhouse gases and that it needs to keep a watch on its carbon emissions, the guide says that the industry also needs to keep an eye on its own carbon emissions to contribute more towards the solution. ICTs can also be used to disseminate knowledge and to raise awareness among the practitioners and to the general population. The same tools and technologies will help build cross-sector alliances and bring people and organisations together to share information, knowledge and best practices and to work together for a carbon neutral future. To demonstrate this, the guide lists •
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some examples of ‘Climate Savers’, ICT-related initiatives by organisations around the world like: 1. Arid Lands Information Network’s (ALIN) Community Knowledge Center (CKC) in Kenya documents local knowledge on climate adaptation practices from the grassroots. 2. ICRISAT’s integrated climate risk assessment and management system uses remote sensing and GIS techniques to study rainfall patterns and accordingly prepare advisories for poor farmers in drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. 3. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) have collaborated to provide technical assistance to the Indian foundry industry to develop energy efficient and pollution control technologies. 4. The African Radio Drama Association in Nigeria informs small-hold farmers of climate change adaptation measures and strengthens their capacities to mitigate the impact upon their livelihoods. 5. UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and Department for Environment, along with other partners have developed a product ‘Climate Change in Our World’ on Google Earth, to show users how climate change could affect the planet and its people over the next century. 6. Development Alternatives has developed a Personal Carbon Emission calculator in the form of an interactive CD as part of its CLEAN-India program for distribution among the youth. 7. In Egypt, private sector companies are helping fund telecentres in rural areas to raise awareness on environmental issues and engage in pre-emptive action targeting the adverse impact of climate change. 8. Columbia University’s Earth Institute has developed a stateof-the-art online resource for farmers in Uruguay that helps them gauge climate risks and make decisions on where, when and how to grow crops. 9. ICT networking platform Rural Community Carbon Network (RCCN), developed by rural/net UK and Carnegie Rural Community Development Programme, helps in raising awareness, information exchange and collaborative action for reducing carbon emissions in the developing world. 10. Multi-stakeholder networks like the recently held CNN Future Summit: Saving Planet Earth facilitates speedy dissemination of information and knowledge. i4d | March 2009
What’s on
Singapore 16-19 June 2009 CommunicAsia 2009 Singapore Expo http://www.communicasia.com/
Africa 27-29 May 2009 eLearning Africa 2009 Dakar, Senegal
The 3rd International Symposium on the Environmental Physiology of Ectotherms and Plants Tsukuba
http://www.elearning-africa.com
http://www.nias.affrc.go.jp/anhydrobiosis/isepep3/ index.html
21-22 April 2009 Energy Efficiency World 2009 Johannesburg, South Africa
Jordan
http://www.terrapinn.com/2009/eeza/
Australia 15-18 November 2009 2009 Asia Pacific Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect Perth, Western Australia http://www.napcan.org.au
20-25 March 2010 World Congress of Internal Medicine Melbourne, VIC http://www.wcim2010.com.au/
Ecuador 8-10 July 2009 ICTs and Climate Change Ecuador www.itu.int/climate
Europe 31 August–4 September 2009 World Climate Conference-3 Geneva, Switzerland
30 March–3 April 2009 12th Annual Asia Power & Energy Congress Raffles City Convention Centre http://www.terrapinn.com/2009/asiapower/
Thailand
22-24 April 2009 Interactive Mobile and Computer Aided Learning, IMCL2009 Amman, Jordan
20-23 May 2009 World Renewable Energy Congress 2009 - Asia Region (WREC) Bankok
http://www.imcl-conference.org/
http://www.thai-exhibition.com/entech
Malaysia
United Arab Emirates
15-17 June 2009 First Global Business Summit Conference Kuala Lumpur
17-19 April 2009 3rd IEEE/ACM International Conference on ICTD2009 Doha, Qatar
http://gsbms.com
http://www.ictd2009.org
6-9 July 2009 6th International Conference on IT in Asia 2009 Kuching, Sarawak
United States
http://www.cita09.org
1-4 April 2009 The 34th Annual Community Radio Conference Portland, Oregon
Sri Lanka
http://www.nfcb.org/conference/ communityradioconference.jsp
7-10 April 2009 Forum on Next Generation Networks Standardisation Colombo http://www.events.cto.int/ngn09
28-30 October 2009 International Conference on Information Technology (ICIT 2009) Chicago
http://www.wmo.int/pages/world_climate_conference/ index_en.html
http://www.waset.org/wcset09/chicago/icit/
India
25-27 March 2009 Gender and Education Association International Conference London
25-26 May 2009 National Conference on Open Source Software (NCOSS) Mumbai, Maharashtra
United Kingdom
knowledge for change
http://www.ioe.ac.uk/fps/genderconference09
http://ncoss.cdacmumbai.in
13-18 July 2009 Media, Democracy and Governance: Emerging Paradigms in a Digital Age New Delhi http://www.amic.org.sg/new/news_n_updates/ conf2009cfp.htm
Japan 24-28 August 2009 March 2009 | www.i4donline.net
29-31 March 2009 Governance of New Technologies: The Transformation of Medicine, IT and IP University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
25 - 27 August 2009 Hyderabad, India www.eINDIA.net.in
www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/script-ed/conference.asp
29 April 2009-1 May 2009 SEB’09 International Conference on Sustainability in Energy and Buildings Brighton http://seb09.sustainedenergy.org
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IN-FACT
Global carbon footprint
46
i4d | March 2009
5th
India's Largest ICT Event 25 - 27 August 2009, Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India
www.eINDIA.net.in
Meet Global Experts on the ICT Movement Avail Exclusive Networking Opportunities
Important Dates
Call for Papers: Open now Submission of Abstracts: 15th April Notice of Selection: 15th May Submission of Final Paper: 30th June
Important Links
Event Website: www.eINDIA.net.in Abstract Submission: papers@eINDIA.net.in
Share a Unique Knowledge Platform of ICT Stakeholders Exhibit and Launch the Latest Developments in ICT Collaborate with National and International ICT Practitioners Get Recognition for Original Initiatives and Much More!!!
Organisers
knowledge for change
Co-organiser
For exhibition and sponsorship enquiries, contact: Siddharth Verma, Mobile: +91-9811561645 Email: siddharth@csdms.in For further information visit us at www.eindia.net.in or write to us at info@eindia.net.in
Department of Information Technology Ministry of Communications & IT Government of India
Supporting Partners
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