IGF 2020 WS #231 Youth&Sustainability: Creating change through collaboration

Information

Session

Thematic Track:

Topic(s):

ICTs Impact on the Environment
Responsible Consumption
Technology Development for Climate Action

Organizer 1: Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Civil Society, Asia-Pacific Group
Organizer 3: Civil Society, Eastern European Group

Speaker 1: Josaphat Tjiho, Civil Society, African Group
Speaker 2: Edmon Chung, Technical Community, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Katarzyna Jagiello, Intergovernmental Organization, Eastern European Group

Format:

Birds of a Feather - Classroom - 60 Min

Description:

In this workshop, the organizers, speakers, and participants shall co-create a prototype on how the practices of youth advocacy for climate justice can be transformed in order to fit the specific thematic framework of Internet governance. Self-organized movements like Fridays for Future have generated a lively discourse on climate policy, and work in a decentralized fashion. The Internet governance sphere has - through national, regional, and sub-regional youth IGFs and diverse youth initiatives - an active network of young people worldwide. The possibilities, challenges and shared objectives in the context of environmental sustainability shall be explored in an interactive manner. After short key-notes by the speakers to set the scene about regional activities, the participants shall split in working groups moderated by the co-organizers and speakers to explore at least some of the following questions (according to their own interest): What are successful strategies of environmental advocacy? How can they be adapted to the context of Internet governance? How can we best use the resources and networks in place to further the discussion? Where are we as a community in need of information or further input to base our action in factfullness? How can we act in an inclusive manner, especially in regards to geographical differences? Is the current advocacy Euro/Western-centric, if so, what are different needs we should adapt our action plan to? After the group work, the outcomes of the discussions shall be discussed in the plenary. The group shall have the opportunity to together create a prototype for an action plan, containing possible next steps, and focus areas for further activities.

Issues:

6. What are the issues, challenges and/or opportunities you intend to address? * The challenge we intend to address revolves around the relative newness of the topic in the Internet governance sphere, and the status of young people, who have been the drivers of advocacy against climate change, but who are traditionally underrepresented in official decision-making fora. Therein lies the opportunity for proactive advocacy exchange that takes these challenges into account, but moves the narrative beyond the current state of affairs, to a lively co-creation of action items. We see a great opportunity in gathering experts from all stakeholder groups, geographic backgrounds and ages in the unique context of the Internet Governance Forum to exchange on solution-oriented policy development for positive climate action. The benefits of the Internet (decentralized, cross-border collaboration, democratization of information) have immense potential to address negative environmental effects in an inclusive fashion, rather than working on singular solutions. However, through the involvement of different regions, we want to explore how policy development can effectively be adapted to specific circumstances.

Policy Question(s):

Environment sustainability has become a widely discussed topic - how can we (the Internet governance community at large, and young people, specifically) support the discourse, while adapting it to Internet governance specific frameworks and fora? What role can young people take, as they are at the same time the drivers of sustainability advocacy, while being traditionally underrepresented in official decision-making fora? What specific needs and challenges can we address in a global, inclusive, multi-stakeholder context just as the IGF, that lacks in other contexts? What can be the unique input of the Internet governance community regarding ICT for sustainability, the role of the Internet in climate change, and positive action for environmental justice? How can we best identify tools, frameworks and solutions in order to mitigate negative environmental effects of the Internet, and to further positive action on and through the Internet?

Expected Outcomes:

The outcomes of the workshop shall be at least three-fold, with only the first part being based on frontal expert input. The majority of the workshop, as well as the outcomes, shall be co-created with the participants. Participants shall be continuously encouraged to share their expertise, perspectives, and contribute to the outcomes. - Input on the state of advocacy for sustainability and environment - Prototype for action plan - Mapping of initiatives in different regions and contexts These outputs shall be compiled in a paper, and then be published after the IGF workshop. This shall also be part of a project outcome of Youth4DigitalSustainability, a project facilitated by the German Informatics Society with a global scope. The prototype character of the action plan allows us to contribute to ongoing processes, thereby this workshop shall not act as a stand-alone event, but rather an exploration of possible synergies on the topic of environment and Internet governance.

Relevance to Internet Governance: This exchange shall allow Internet governance stakeholders to get a clearer understanding of how already existing advocacy processes for sustainability and climate justice can effectively be adapted to their respective fields of action. There is potential to learn from actors who are drivers of the discourse (civil society, youth) and to find points of policy transferability to regulators and other public actors, as well as the private sector. The topic of environmental sustainability is represented in the IGF for the first time, so the co-organizers see this year as a starting point to make more explicit how the physical Internet, its use, and its tools impact the environment, and if we can find proactive regulatory, technical, and business solutions that preserve the beneficial effects of the Internet, while being intentional about its evolution by continuously taking into account environmental effects. Our premise is that we do not need to develop new frameworks entirely, but rather create synergies between different stakeholder do work on the most appropriate solutions, rooted in the multi-stakeholder system of the IGF.

Relevance to Theme: The aim of the thematic track to gain a clearer understanding of the role of Internet governance in the reduction of carbon emissions and other negative environmental effects of Internet and ICT deployment will be at the centre of this collaborative exchange. We want to explore what positive stimulus can the Internet Governance Forum create, in its unique capacity as a global, multi-stakeholder effort focusing on ICT and the Internet. We also want to explore what effective approaches, both in terms of policy advocacy and technological solutions, are already in place, and how we can effectively adapt them to our context(s). Lastly, the age dimension of positive action for climate change shall be made explicit, as young people are in many places at the center of climate justice movements, while also being the most affected by the cost of inaction.

Discussion Facilitation:

For the onsite participants, the session shall be mostly based on collaborative working groups, with only small portions of the session being lectures. The working groups shall be guided through their process with methodologies of design-thinking and moderated by the co-organizers and speakers. The online participants shall constitute a working group on their own. With the help of the online moderator, they shall be empowered to also collaborate on and present action points while the working groups are active.

Online Participation:

Usage of IGF Official Tool. Additional Tools proposed: We intent to use a service like Mentimeter to have onsite and online participants partake in polls, the outcomes of which can be presented in real-time.

SDGs:

GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequalities
GOAL 13: Climate Action
GOAL 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Reference Document