Session
Organizer 1: Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 1: Sylvia Cadena, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Shawna Finnegan, Civil Society, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Ben Wallis, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Round Table - 90 Min
- How is investing in Internet development tackling environmental concerns and sustainability?
- What lessons can be learned from various funding programs/agencies and the initiatives supported about the Internet's impact in the environment?
- What are the main challenges organizations working in the intersection of Internet and the environment face to advance policy recommendations and achieve positive change?
What will participants gain from attending this session? - Understanding of funding mechanisms supporting research and development around Internet and the environment
- Insights from donors in this space about what trends they have being able to identify.
- Examples of concrete initiatives addressing these issues will also be shared.
Description:
In this round table, representatives from different stakeholder groups that are currently investing in the development of the Internet and its intersection with environmental issues/concerns, will be sharing about their experiences crafting their funding opportunities, discuss the trends they identify across their application processes and funding requests as well as examples of initiatives they are supporting for a more sustainable development of the Internet.
Speakers will share examples from organizations/initiatives that have received their support across their investment portfolios to illustrate the different approaches to their funding interventions from addressing sustainable power solutions for Internet infrastructure; to the design and deployment of hardware and software related to services and applications that track environmental data as well as the use of the Internet to nurture policy discussions related to environmental issues, among others.
Speakers will also address the challenges they -and their implementing partners- face to advance policy recommendations and positive change in their local contexts, and what can be done to better coordinate investment so that the Internet can continue to grow and develop in a sustainable way.
The session will include speakers from the Association of Progressive Communications (civil society), the APNIC Foundation (technical community), the Japanese International Cooperation Agency - JICA (government) and Microsoft (private sector).
The session will start with a short tribute and a minute of silence to honour the legacy of Ian Peter, one of the pioneers of the Internet in APAC. He was a mentor and an inspiration for many people and organizations working on issues related to technology and the environment. The session will be held in honour of his legacy and in the spirit of his enduring commitment to the Internet and the good it can do. To learn more about Ian, visit https://isif.asia/ian-peter/.
The session report will be made available to the community after the IGF, as well as the information shared from speakers around their own programming and opportunities. The APNIC Foundation as main organizer of the session will prepare a blog article with the session takeaways and complementary information about the examples shared.
Hybrid Format: Prior to the session, the organizers will request people to share using a designated hashtag images that illustrates their main concerns about Internet and the environment. During the session, 3 online polls will gather input live from those on the audience as well as those connecting remotely around their understanding of environmental challenges for Internet development, as well as questions looking at identifying shared concerns. Questions from the audience will be shared with the speakers, at at least 3 intervals during the session, to stimulate reflection and help guide the discussion.