Policy Network on Environment (PNE)

Given that the IGF 2020 thematic track on environment has received much attention and in order to ‎support the IGF's mandate, its objectives set in the project document, ‎recommendations of the ‎Secretary-General's Roadmap for Digital Cooperation and the Sustainable Development Goals, the IGF ‎‎2021 will ‎feature an intersessional workstream focused on intersections between environment and ‎‎digitalisation processes, called the Policy Network on Environment (PNE).‎

Policy Network on Environment (PNE) 
The PNE would focus on an in-depth expert look on environment matters of ‎relevance for the digital public policy. The prime objective of the PNE would be to strengthen ‎and enhance the ‘’intersessional policy development work’’, as proposed by the Secretary-‎General’s Roadmap, through building on the success of the so far implemented IGF’s ‎intersessional work including its best practice forums (BPFs) and Dynamic Coalitions (DCs). ‎The PNE would also help shed more light on the interplay between environment and ‎digitalisation processes and place this topic higher on the Internet governance global agenda, ‎thus contributing to the overall goal of protecting the environment and planetary health, as the ‎Roadmap recommends. Additionally, the PNE would help to strengthen the IGF processes by ‎engaging stakeholders not traditionally engaged in Internet governance discussions. It will ‎further contribute to better understanding local specificities when it comes to environmental ‎matters; assessing good practices and creating frameworks for long-term cooperation.‎

Implementation Process 
The PNE will be a gathering point for all those interested to contribute to the matter with their ‎expertise and experience. With advice from dedicated co-facilitators of the IGF ‎Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG), it will also work closely with the existing networks ‎of the IGF, such as the Dynamic Coalitions, Best Practice Forums, National Regional, Sub-‎Regional and Youth IGF initiatives, as well as all other stakeholders, including the session ‎organisers and IGF annual meeting participants. Stakeholders that are not traditionally involved ‎in the IGF process and have an interest in this topic are particularly encouraged to actively ‎participate. ‎The PNE will have close linkages with the IGF 2021 high-level and parliamentary tracks.
The PNE's work would be facilitated by a dedicated multistakeholder working group of experts that gather ‎and assess best practices and provides recommendations. Its membership would include leading ‎intergovernmental and international organisations, UN member  states, parliaments, research academic institutions, leading private sector companies and ‎representatives of technical communities, national, regional and youth IGFs (NRIs) and other ‎stakeholders whose work is relevant for the PNE. Careful research will be carried out to ‎globally map the  stakeholders that could be members of the working group. It will aim to map the stakeholders ‎on regional and international scene that deal with the intersections between environment and ‎digital technologies, in collaboration with relevant helpdesks and observatories. A contact ‎database will be built. Among these contacts, those having the strongest work focus and ‎achieved impact and results would be invited to be members of the above-described working ‎group, while all others would be informed about the work and invited to contribute to the ‎consultation processes and other mechanisms established by the working group (e.g. including ‎providing feedback to the draft output document produced by the working group).‎

Open Mailing List
All interested stakeholders are invited to subscribe to a dedicated mailing list ([email protected]), through which all relevant information will be communicated.

The process for gathering inputs would be bottom-up, open and continuous throughout the IGF 2021 preparatory process. Inputs would be gathered through the resources of the working group in addition to a community’s input. All working group meetings would be open to the community for a broader discussion. The community will be able to communicate inputs through different outreach forms, ranging from surveys, monthly webinars and online meetings, bilateral meetings etc.