IGF 2018 WS #456
Natural Disaster Mitigation Strategies

Organizer 1: Shernon Osepa, Internet Society
Organizer 2: Yaw Ching Rhea, Covela Foundation

Speaker 1: Lee Stephen , Technical Community, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)
Speaker 2: Barrack Otieno, Technical Community, African Group
Speaker 3: Yaw Ching Rhea, Civil Society, Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC)

Moderator

ISOC

Online Moderator

OECS

Rapporteur

ISOC

Format

Debate - 90 Min

Interventions

Main objectives of the session
• To raise awareness of key stakeholders such as governments, private sector, technical community, civil society and academia regarding the important of natural disaster mitigation strategies;
• To discuss best practices/concrete working plans that are scalable;
• To promote collaboration between all relevant actors.

Diversity

The representative of the OECS will be a very knowledgeable woman who have been engaged in policy matters regarding telecoms infrastructures and policy development.

In their quest to get more people connected to the Internet, in order to achieve this noble objective, Governments, Policymakers, Operators and all kinds of public-private partnerships are being explored.
Access to the Internet has significant benefits, both for the individual user as well for economic and social development on national, regional and global levels.
While significant progress has been made, still 45 percent of the global community is not connected to the Internet.

The situation becomes even more worrying especially in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and other regions that are prone to natural disasters. Smart ways must be explored not only to get more people connected to the Internet, but also how to keep those who are already connected, connected beyond natural disasters.

In this session the challenges and opportunities related to this access threat, will be explored.

Main objectives of the session
• To raise awareness of key stakeholders such as governments, private sector, technical community, civil society and academia regarding the important of natural disaster mitigation strategies;
• To discuss best practices/concrete working plans that are scalable;
• To promote collaboration between all relevant actors.

The online moderator who has a lot of experience in this regard will trigger the relevant discussions.

How can SIDS and other areas prone to natural disasters to be prepared to enhance and promote connectivity beyond natural disasters.

Online Participation

There will be an online moderator that will be monitoring the online comments/discussions and will ask the onsite speakers to elaborate on concerns or questions of the online community.