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3) Foster greater multistakeholder engagement and cooperation at the local, national, regional and international levels among all stakeholders through capacity building, research and knowledge sharing for development of the ICT sector
4) Adopt policies and frameworks through multistakeholder consultation for the development of relevant, timely and accurate data and for the effective collection, application and open exchange of the same; ensuring respect for human rights and privacy. Moreover, the design of international frameworks to implement global best practices for the exchange of data would be an effective tool to achieve data interoperability
5) Promote the availability of affordable access to ICT as a key to the success of the all stakeholders’ efforts to establish an information society and bridge existing and emerging inequalities in digital economy
6) Ensure that the services resulting from policies and frameworks can be accessed by citizens in the community, through affordable and public access to ICTs and training and encourage a feedback process as well as a monitoring and evaluation mechanism.
7) Development of national ICT policies, legal and regulatory frameworks by each state with involvement of stakeholders through an inclusive process
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3. Recommendations
Based on the current status of Action Line C2, the following topics for the future are suggested:
a) To enhance the coverage, quality, and affordability of broadband networks, infrastructure development utilizing converged services, enhanced spectrum management, and both wired and wireless technologies are essential.
b) Develop a well-planned, well-maintained, economic and efficient broadband backbone to ensure the delivery of Internet services.
c) Increase research and development, and deployment of new technologies, to provide reliable and affordable ICT infrastructure.
d) Utilize policy and financing mechanisms such as Universal Service Funds and Public Private Partnerships, to connect and cover rural and remote areas with affordable ICT infrastructure.
e) To attract private investment, competition policies, financing, and new business models need to be studied and deployed.
f) Policies and technologies need to be considered to ensure minorities, disadvantaged and disabled people are connected to ICT networks.
g) Proper data collection, and planning and actions based on such reliable data are essential to avoid duplication of efforts.
h) To develop affordable equipment and services with economy of scale, conformity and interoperability with international standards are fundamental.
i) Emergency telecommunication services should be secured through deploying ICT for disaster relief.
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- Assessing the progress of actions initiated after the first and second WSIS to the digital inclusion of persons with disabilities and providing policy recommendations which were published in the document WSIS+10 Review and Strategic Directions for Building Inclusive Knowledge Societies for Persons with Disabilities;
- Supplying UNESCO’s Member States with Model Policy on Inclusive ICTs in Education for Persons with Disabilities that serves as a resource for developing the contents of new national policy documents.
2. Challenges
Large disparities with regards to access to information and knowledge persist and in addition to the geographical, socio-economic, gender, age, rural-urban divides the importance of understanding local customs, traditions and perceptions is increasingly recognized. With the wider definition and understanding of access issues, the difficulty of measuring access and progress made becomes more difficult too. Developing national, regional and international data systems and indicators that are comprehensive, policy relevant and reliable for the proper understanding, monitoring and development of access to information and more difficult, knowledge, remains an important and potentially resource intensive challenge.
3. Recommendations
Access to information and knowledge is at the heart of UNESCO’s work to promote inclusive Knowledge Societies. The ten years since WSIS have seen a shift in emphasis from access to infrastructure towards access to skills and content. This will continue. The next five years will see rapid continued growth in the number of people having Internet access, and so gaining much greater access to information than was previously available to them. The continued deployment of broadband networks will also improve the ease of access to information, particularly for businesses, educational institutions and those with access to networked computers and/or smartphones.
This growth in access to communications facilities must be accompanied by greater access to the resources that people, businesses and communities require in order to transform information into knowledge which can enhance their lives and livelihoods. UNESCO and other stakeholders in this Action Line will continue to emphasize the importance of developing and enabling open access to content, stimulating local content, and enabling access for all through multilingualism, facilities and outreach to currently under-represented groups. Open data will be a particular area of importance for all stakeholders. It will also be important to develop more effective indicators for inclusion, diversity and empowerment.
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Over the past 10 years, ITU has trained on average 25000 participants from more than 100 countries through online and face-to-face events. Delivery of training is done through various channels such as the Centre of Excellences (CoEs), partner institutions, and Internet Training Centres (ITCs). On average 160 courses are run annually with approximately 60 per cent being distance learning and 40 per cent face to face. Local and regional experts were trained in order to conduct distance learning courses.
Knowledge sharing and knowledge exchange through organization of regional and global capacity building events and fora.
The Global ICT Forum on Human Capacity Development is organized biennially in order to share ideas and exchange experiences on human and institutional capacity building issues. These Global Forums have been complement by regional and sub-regional workshops dealing with topical I ICT issues and their impact on human capacity development.
Promotion of international and regional cooperation in the field of capacity building and design and implementation of regional cooperation activities
During the past 10 years more than 20 partner agreements were signed and different activities with public and private sector representatives as well as international organizations were implemented.
Empower local communities
CoEs and ITCs networks of approximately more than 60 Centres and 80 ITCs were created to fulfil this goal. This network allows accessing ICT training and benefiting from it in all regions.
Capacity building projects
A number of projects were implemented within this period in all regions. One of them is the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Information and Communication Training Institute (ICTI) in Kabul, Afghanistan.
At the same time, during WTDC-10, a Group on Capacity Building Initiatives that composes of experts from all regions was established in order to assist with the implementation of capacity building activities and programmes.
2. Challenges
Despite all efforts channelled on strengthening human and institutional capacity in order to adapt to the constantly changing ICT environment within the past 10 years, there are still challenges to be overcome:
A number of countries are making efforts in order to develop human and institutional capacity of their citizens. However, these best practices are not always shared with other stakeholders in order for everyone to benefit from these achievements.
In order to promote e-learning and establish it as an important source of capacity building, efforts should be made in order to make mobile devices as well as necessary mobile services more accessible and affordable, especially in developing and least developing countries.
The lack of standards in human capacity building leads to different quality of capacity building solutions.
Often development of ICT infrastructure is moving faster than skills and knowledge are obtained.
Wrong understanding of capacity building which is often equate with training
ICTs are still not fully integrated in education at national level
Local experts and resources are still not fully used for capacity building activities
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Challenge #8: Many governments and organisations have developed best practices that could reduce vulnerabilities and could help better manage cybersecurity incidents. Unfortunately these best practices are not always shared and are underused.
Challenge #9: Standards could help both governments and the private sector increase their security, identify better solutions and also make international cooperation easier. There are different types of standards such as technical, functional, mandatory, optional and sector-specific. Each of these is the result of knowledge and wisdom acquired on specific cybersecurity aspects that, when shared, can enhance the capabilities of all users.
Challenge #10: Few measures/metrics are available for cybersecurity. In technology, what cannot be measured cannot be protected and this is also valid for cybersecurity. There is a need for better metrics and performance indicators to be developed and shared.
Challenge #11: Cloud computing is a big opportunity and will continue to play a major role in the ICT environment. At the same time, cloud computing presents cybersecurity issues at different levels - technical, organizational, procedural and legal – that have to be addressed.
Challenge #12: Protecting children and teenagers in cyber space is a growing concern. The number of digital platforms from which they can access the Internet is constantly increasing. Understanding the dangers and the motivations behind threat actors, as well as the effects of new technologies on children can help determine suitable solutions.
Challenge #13: Despite many countries having launched their National CERTs, several CERTs worldwide do not yet have the capability to address the increasing complexity of cyber-related threats. This is in large part because most countries do not have a comprehensive National Cyber Security Strategy. Unfortunately, cybersecurity is not yet at the core of many national and industrial technology strategies.
3. Recommendations
4.1 Continue to strengthen international cooperation mechanisms, including through:
- Country to country relations through discussion forums and information sharing.
- Public-private partnerships
4.2 Support the development of national capabilities by nation states, such as the assessments for national CIRTs/CERTs / CSIRTs and the elaboration of national cybersecurity strategies.
4.3 Enable better understanding of cybersecurity demands and requirements by working on indices and metrics for measuring cybersecurity development and implementation levels.
4.4 Underpin cooperation and support efforts for the elaboration of cybersecurity standards and other technical specifications
4.5 Support cybersecurity development as applied to different sectors and technologies: critical infrastructure, mobile, cloud services, etc.
4.6 Understand and further cooperate for the protection of vulnerable groups: children, newly connected people, etc.
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4.7 Provide a repository and database for multi-national efforts, information sharing, standardization work, events, best practices, guidelines, legal practices of bodies working on cybersecurity development and cybercrime prevention.
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resolving outstanding issues relating to further liberalizing the ICT sector;
Internet governance;
determining the right balance between security and privacy;
enhancing delivery of government services and transparency of public administration processes.
3. Recommendations
To overcome the current challenges in a highly dynamic and rapidly changing digital economy, governments, policy makers and other stakeholders need to develop a multi-pronged approach and may consider the following recommendations:
Design and enforce open, effective and forward looking policy, legal and regulatory frameworks based on inclusive and wide-ranging public consultation.
Reexamine and redefine regulatory frameworks to promote digital inclusion ensuring that all communities as well as targeted population groups such as youth, women, persons with disabilities and indigenous peoples can access and use ICTs for their social and economic empowerment.
Adopt a holistic approach to governing the ICT sector and move towards cross-sector regulation in view of fueling synergies among government agencies, private sector and the society as a whole.
Enact a consistent and overarching ICT and/or broadband policy to foster broadband development across all sectors and drive digital inclusion of all.
Lift all barriers to entry in broadband markets, enable open access to essential facilities and increase competition at all network layers, moving towards lighter and simplified regulation while promoting innovation and entrepreneurship.
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into the best ways of integrating ICTs in education, in order to maximise learning outcomes and enhance educational management and information systems. The field of e-learning is increasing in scope and depth, and a critical challenge will be ensuring that ICTs in education reduce rather than increase relative disadvantage. Many governments have major problems funding education, and new ICT resources represent considerable investment costs, particularly in view of the fact that hardware presents in average only 1/3 of the total cost of well-designed initiatives, which include from the outset dimensions such as capacity and content development.
3. Recommendations
Particular attention will be paid to the creation of an enabling environment, which includes educational policies with clear priorities, capacity development of key institutions and actors, including teachers, with content and curriculum developments and the systematic evaluation of all efforts. Of increasing interest today are distance and online education, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS), learning anytime anywhere through mobile technologies and innovations such as learning analytics to name but a few. It will be a key objective to ensure that all learners, regardless of geographic, physical or social boundaries, can make use of ICTs to access and benefit from quality teaching and learning activities. The Broadband Commission’s 2013 report on broadband and education also provides important background for the next stage of development in this context.
UNESCO and other stakeholders within the Action Line will need to build on the work which has already been done, particularly in innovative areas such as mobile learning, OER and the ICT Competency Framework for Teachers, by offering capacity-building in policy development, curriculum design and teacher training. New opportunities will arise from further developments in technology and from the spread of experience that students have with ICTs.
IV. E-health
1. Achievements and challenges
Information and communication are essential to the delivery of health services, building health systems, and ensuring effective public health action. Every field mission, country office, health ministry, partnership and program depends on reliable and timely information to do their work. As a basis for health action and advocacy the world over, information gathering, analysis, reporting and exchange is fundamental. The WSIS called for participation of all stakeholders. In the health sector, this includes: governments; multilateral agencies; development partners; health care organizations and businesses; academic, research and public health institutions; standards development organizations; health workers and professional associations; information and communication technology (ICT) entities; nongovernmental organizations; and individuals, families and communities.
The action line aligns with World Health Assembly (WHA) resolutions in 2005 and 2013, which urged countries to develop long-term strategic plans for eHealth to guide policy development, plan for implementation, and address security, privacy, interoperability, cultural and linguistic issues, workforce development, infrastructure, financing and evaluation. In addition to WHA resolutions, other global initiatives have encouraged countries to integrate the use of ICTs in health.
WHO's Global Observatory for eHealth monitors country progress, trends and developments in eHealth. Since 2005 there has been continued progress in building the foundations for eHealth. There is significant experimentation, even as countries build the information infrastructure and policy environment to support broader eHealth adoption. ICTs have become central to health security, services delivery, and the
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information related to ecosystems, natural resources, land use, climate and weather as well as sustainable development.
Overall, these projects have shown how ICTs can be utilized for the advancement of long-term decision making by improving knowledge and assessment of impacts on the environment and natural resources: (1) collecting real-time data to make informed decisions on a sound scientific and technical basis; and (2) educating and improving access to information by centralizing and disseminating information to governments, citizens and institutions. Projects that employ ICTs for real-time data collection were also applied to a diverse set of ecosystems, such as deserts, forests and fisheries. These projects include mapping, monitoring changes in weather, climate and development as well as identifying vulnerabilities of sensitive areas to promote sound management practices and decision-making. Web Information Portals, databases and information systems were also established to enhance access to information, educate the public and promote public-participation and sound policy decision-making.
ITU has worked extensively on this domain, in particular through the publication of over 20 new reports and the organization of over 40 high level symposia, workshops and seminars on this topic, covering sub- areas such as climate change adaptation, mitigation and monitoring, e-waste or energy efficiency, to name a few. A key deliverable achieved since the adoption of the WSIS outcomes is the approval of new ITU-T recommendations, such as the L.1400 series, which provide standardized methodologies for assessing the environmental impact of ICTs, the allocation of spectrum for climate monitoring and meteorological applications and the provision of direct support governments to build further capacity on the use of ICTs to adapt to the effects of climate change, in particular to implement early warning systems for natural disasters.
Objective 2: Sustainable consumption, production and safe disposal of ICTs
As ICT devices become more ubiquitous and applications and services based on ICTs continue to grow, managing the associated environmental impacts of ICT policy and projects is a necessity. The ICT sector is responsible for 2% of global carbon emissions and, even if efficient technology developments are implemented, this figure is expected to grow by 6% each year until 2020. Additionally, sharp increases in electronic waste (e-waste) are expected, especially in developing countries that do not have the infrastructure and capacity to manage the toxic materials used to manufacture goods. The increase in emissions and improper management of e-waste are contributing to climate change and are negatively impacting environmental systems and human health.
Projects submitted to the WSIS stocktaking database under this objective are targeted toward environmentally safe management and the minimization of e-waste. These projects seek to build capacity of local communities through education, training and sharing of best practices, specifically by promoting international cooperation and agreement on transboundary hazardous waste, by implementing concrete projects for sound waste collection and end-of-life solutions and by promoting the adoption of green ICTs.
As co-lead of this action line, the UNEP Secretariat of the Basel Convention has implemented a range of programmes and projects that support the sustainable consumption, production and safe disposal of ICTs. This was reflected in the theme for the eighth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, held from 27 November to 1 December 2006, “Creating Innovative Solutions through the Basel Convention for the Environmentally Sound Management of Electronic Waste”. The event contributed to the adoption at the conference of the Nairobi Declaration on the Environmentally Sound Management of Electrical and Electronic Waste and decision VIII/2.
Recognizing the urgent need of developing countries and countries with economies in transition, a Partnership Programme has been established under the Basel Convention that, to date, has included two initiatives in its framework: the Mobile Phone Partnership Initiative (MPPI) and the Partnership for Action
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transition, face new challenges in managing used and end-of-life computing equipment and other electronic products.
Sooner or later, all these electronics and personal computers (PCs) must be discarded and, quite often, this takes place sooner rather than later as PCs are usually taken out of use well before they cease to operate, which is particularly the case in many industrialized countries. When such computing equipment reaches the end of its life, products either become available for refurbishment and reuse or become e-waste. According to UNEP, 20 to 50 million metric tonnes of e-waste are generated worldwide every year, comprising more than 5% of all municipal solid waste.
In recent years, international transboundary movement has evolved so that PCs and associated hardware, used electronic equipment and used cellular telephones are now being transported across borders to allow for the removal of usable parts, for refurbishment and reuse and for processing the recovery of raw materials. Transboundary movement of these goods is forecasted to increase significantly as more and more countries produce electrical and electronic equipment, so it becomes necessary to tighten control over acceptable disposal methods, adopt processes to recover valuable constituents and use safe practices to deal with the hazardous constituents in e-wastes (e.g. cadmium, lead, beryllium, CFCs, brominated flame retardants, mercury, nickel and certain organic compounds). Otherwise, these hazardous substances can have a negative impact on our environment.
While offering some economic benefits, massive import of e-wastes, coupled with the generation of the same wastes locally, is creating a heavy health and environmental burden, in particular for developing countries. Huge amounts of wastes, both hazardous and solid, are burned or dumped, for example in rice fields, irrigation canals and along waterways. The open burning and toxic dumping activities pollute the land, air and water, thus exposing men, women and children to poisonous emissions and effluents. The health and economic costs of this trade are neither borne by the developed countries nor by the waste brokers who benefit from the transaction.
Numerous obstacles have been identified by developing countries in regard to their ability to manage e- wastes in an environmentally sound way. These include: lack of easily accessible information (on flows, quantities, available technology, legislative/trade requirements of countries importing new products and requiring increasingly strict standards for minimization and re-use, recycling and recovery); lack of trained personnel; inadequate policy and regulatory frameworks (including legal definitions and informal sector coverage) and enforcement; inadequate infrastructure for collection, recycling and recovery of ICT-waste in line with best available technologies and best environmental practices; lack of public awareness; poor health and labour conditions of those involved in the informal recycling practices; and lack of economic alternatives to activities carried out by the informal sector and small family repair shops. Inter-agency cooperation on environmentally sound management of ICT-waste as well as the implementation of the relevant existing legislation is another challenge faced at the national level.
A sustainable e-waste management system will require an adequate financing scheme, a level playing field and appropriate market incentives. It is thought that, similar to policies in OECD countries, e-waste recycling systems in developing countries may be developed under the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), in that producers and importers could be given the responsibility to manage the waste generated from their products. While the regulatory framework needs to be clear and precise in defining the obligations for the main actors, it should give producers and importers some flexibility in choosing their preferred approach to implementing a sustainable system.
Designing EPR policies in developing countries, where the producer is not represented, requires a definition of the actors who should bear the cost of e-waste management. In doing so, it is important to consider the socio-economic impacts of the informal e-waste recycling sector. Establishing recycling facilities in a developing country which operates in accordance with international standards and practices and which could partner with producers would be vital when developing EPR systems.