Summary of Working Group II: Information Technology (IT)This working group reviewed recent developments in utilizing Information Technology(IT) for sustainable development in broad areas and sectors, including industrial process
and products, transport, management, environment monitoring and information,
environmental education and assistance to developing countries for environmental
protection.
The working group shared the view that rapid progress of IT has generated huge potential
for our society to advance toward a sustainable future, and it is critical to establish anetwork of government agencies, international organizations, NGOs, academicinstitutions and the IT industry.
It was also stressed that human resource development is the key to economic andsustainable development for both developing and developed countries and that it is vitalto address the issue of the ‘digital divide’.
Participants also recognized the great potential of IT to provide a highly effective tool forenvironmental education, especially for the education of youth who will shoulder therealization of a future sustainable society, and discussed intensively how IT could be best
utilized as a ‘tool’ to realize sustainable development.
The working group stressed the importance of concrete IT projects related to sustainable
development education and recognized an example of a successful initiative by NTT and
GEA of donating PCs to be installed in schools in south east Asia to instruct teachers andstudent to use them, and to train local people to install and maintain them.
On the basis of its deliberations, the working group put forward seven recommendations
which are relevant to policy makers and other stakeholders and which fall within both theframework of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and the on-goingnegotiation concerning the World Summit on the Information Society.
Recommendations(i)

Ubiquitous access to environmental information
For the future sustainable society, it is critical to develop a social system in which thepublic can easily access, whenever and wherever, reliable environmental information
regarding goods, services, business management, the local environment, the globalecosystem, etc., express their opinions, and participate in decision-making processes. It isextremely important to develop collaboratively high-quality contents and promote
content sharing in local languages, to demonstrate causal effects of actions, andsustainable alternatives.
(ii)

Addressing the digital divide and sustainable development

Digital divide affects developed and developing countries alike, although it takes
different forms. It is vital to improve the capacity to access IT and environmental
information. Real needs of local stakeholders should be grasped and information should
be provided in local languages. Universities and other training resource centers should
focus providing training for SME (Small and Medium Enterprises), microenterprises,
government officials, and communities to improve the institutional capacity of local
society. It is also important to focus on hands-on, useful information that leads toconcrete action. Funding may be most accessible by linking into existing and emerging
programmes. By linking specific content development activities to these programmes, it
may be possible to build synergies and increase the effectiveness of ODA-related
investments.
(iii)

IT as an effective tool for environmental education
Recent advancement of IT, such as the Internet and multi-media, should be fully
utilized for the environmental education of various consortiums, groups and stakeholders,
particularly the youth, who will play an important role for the realization of sustainablefuture. Environmental education outside the formal education system is also highlyimportant. It should be recognized that IT is a means/tool, not an end, and IT should
contribute to much broader goals, such as sustainability. IT should be integrated withfieldwork, experimentation and other educational tools to be more effective. The local
communities should be better connected to the global community by using IT networks,
linking local thinking to global action, and global thinking to local action.
(iv)

Improvement of eco-efficiency and resource productivity through IT (ecodesign)
IT has great potential to improve eco-efficiency and resource productivity bychanging production processes, products, transportation, business practices, and humanbehavior. Significant improvement of efficiency should be realized via an innovative
approach by various stakeholders including business and governments, fully utilizing
market mechanisms. It is also recommended that IT should be used to assess and manage
natural resources.
(v)

Application of IT for the better understanding of the environment
It is critical to utilize up-to-date IT, such as GIS and satellite imaging, and computing
power to monitor and analyze the environment and to predict future environmental
change to better understand the natural environment and the socio-economic condition ofsociety. It is expected that such technology would significantly improve the quality andcoverage of environmental data and the availability of tools to assess the environment.
It is also important to share this information with various stakeholders, including
academic institutions.
(vi)

Minimizing negative effects of IT
It is important to minimize negative environmental effects of IT by developing
environmentally-conscious IT devices, ensuring reusing, recycling and zero-emission,and utilizing natural energy. It is also necessary to pay attention to possible social andpsychological impacts of IT and to promote media and information literacy of all
stakeholders, especially young people.
(vii) Immediate steps
To tackle the great challenge of realizing a sustainable future with the help of IT, it isimportant to initiate prototype projects (action-oriented) to clearly show the potential ofIT, with a broad partnership among sponsors, technology providers and government
officials to act as facilitators in order to promote sustained capacity enhancement incommunities. It is also recommended to create mechanisms to promote the sharing ofexperience of an extensive range of existing IT projects related to sustainable
development education.