WSIS Forum 2023: Reimagining the Interface between Digital Tech and the Physical Environment

DESC/UNESCO Chair in ICT4D, Royal Holloway, University of London
ICTs and Environment
Thematic Workshop
This session will be convened by DESC (the Digital Environment System Coalition – Secretariat provided by the UNESCO Chair in ICT4D at Royal Holloway, University of London), in association with INIT (the Inter-Islamic Network on IT), the WWRF (Wireless World Research Forum), ICT4D.AT, and RC-DISC (the Research Cluster for Digital Inequality and Social Change at the University of Canberra). It has three main aims:

to share an updated overview of DESC’s emerging model that challenges much existing work being undertaken on digital tech and climate change;
to provide an update on its ongoing activities since WSIS 2022; and
to do this in a lively and interactive way.
It will also provide an introduction to the framework it is crafting for the ITU’s Partner2Connect (P2C) initiative that enables partners better to understand the environmental effects of their interventions.

This session is being preceded by a DESC Walk (Session 403) on Thursday 16th from 16.00-18.30 (departing main entrance of CICG in Geneva) where we will be discussing aspects of the interface between difgital tech and the environment, taking in key points of significance for the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere (probably including the Parc Mon Repos, Poste Filiale, Pont des Bergues and Ile Rousseau, and the Auditoire de Calvin). The outcomes of these discussions will also be presented during this session on 17th March.