IGF 2021 Town Hall #63 Tackling the menace of E-Waste through greener ways

Time
Wednesday, 8th December, 2021 (12:45 UTC) - Wednesday, 8th December, 2021 (13:45 UTC)
Room
Ballroom B
Issue(s)

Measuring impact: How can we improve the assessment, measurement and monitoring of the environmental impact of digitalisation and the Internet?
Reducing impact: How can we achieve a net zero impact on climate change of the further expansions of the Internet and its infrastructure? How can Internet standards, governance and policy choices, and standards for device design, development and manufacture, contribute to reducing the carbon footprint of the Internet (e.g. through the adoption of green computing, energy efficient servers and machines/processes, and by policy contributions)? How can we further use digital technologies to better predict and manage the impacts of climate change?

Round Table - Circle - 60 Min

Description

The revenue of Electronics Market is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2021-2025) of 4.03%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$487,191m by 2025. (Statista Report). As such there is an urgent need to observe the quantity of e-waste generation and find meaningful sustainable ways to tackle it. Our esteemed panel comprised of Young professionals and academicians will discuss on the E-Waste problems, challenges and their solutions in their regions and also shed light for the audience on how E-Waste management transition could be achieved through innovation with relevant case studies to share. The impact assessment of E Waste and targets of achieving net zero impact on Climate change through effective E Waste management approaches would be explored further. This session will also aim at increasing awareness and proactiveness among policymakers and developers through suggestions on material approaches, greener ways and policy oriented solutions to E waste management and it will also encourage the young audience through exploring innovation in e waste management sector, catering to newer avenues for Environmental Education. It is pivotally important for the internet technology intermediaries as well, so that digitization of flows through materials of electronic waste can be handled better.

This Session would be conducted in a Hybrid format with the cooperation of Youth IGF Poland, Youth Coalition of Internet Governance and Youth Special Interest Group of Internet Society. is burned The more E-waste is produced, the more unsustainable materials circularity is. The moderator will start the session on site by introducing the agenda and the background of the speakers on the panel. Similarly the online panel would be moderated and it will be live hosted on Youth IGF Poland page on Facebook to attract young participants from across the globe 4 speakers are invited to address the issue and discuss the topic affecting their stakeholders at the individual, organisational and regional levels by sharing their viewpoints and a brief on one sustainable initiative pertaining to E Waste Management in their region. In the intended round table discussion, the speakers will be able to respond to each other’s presentations. Attendees can ask a few quick questions that might be critical in forming the focal point of the discussion in the second half of the roundtable, for an open floor discussion. Also it would more mutually engaging as the participants can directly relate their experiences pertaining to E Waste and also get guidance from erudite speakers upon the implementation of new methods to tackle E-Waste. The online moderator will enable the discussions between online participants and onsite speaker and vice versa as per the narrative and build up of the Session deliverables. The complimentary tools included will be live streaming on Youth IGF Poland page of Facebook, and posters of the Session across groups for the amplification of the Session and to make it more lively and engaging.

Organizers

Youth Coalition on Internet Governance (YCIG)
Mohammad Atif Aleem, Youth Coalition on Internet Governance (YCIG), Private Sector Marta Musidlowska, Youth IGF Poland, Technical Sector, Lily Botsoye, Youth Special Interest Group Internet Society, Civil Society Innocent Adriko, Independent Director, Youth Initiative Nigeria, Technical Society Nicholas, Internet Society, Private Sector

Speakers

1)Marta Musidlowska, Youth IGF Poland, University of Warsaw, Technical Society 2) Robert J.Turyakira, Deputy Executive Director, The Environment Shield, Uganda, Private Sector 3) Monmi Barua, Manager, Education for Sustainable Development Division, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India Civil Society Sector 4) Daniel Dasig, Associate Professor, De La Salle University Dasmarinas, Philippines, Technical Society

Onsite Moderator

Marta Musidlowska, Youth IGF Poland

Online Moderator

Mohammad Atif Aleem, YCIG

Rapporteur

Nicholas, Internet Society

SDGs

3. Good Health and Well-Being
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
12. Responsible Production and Consumption
13. Climate Action
17. Partnerships for the Goals

Targets: The E Waste Management and approaches would explore avenues of Responsible production and consumption of materials, along with with catering to other challenges very critical to the SDG's mentioned below: 1)E-waste has unfavourable ecological and health implications (SDG 3) 2) E-waste disposal contributes to climate change (SDG 13) due to the chemicals released when it is burned 3) The more E-waste is produced, the more unsustainable materials circularity is. Avenues for responsible production and consumption (SDG 12) 4) Innovation in Approaches to tackle E Waste, Industry perspectives (SDG 9) 5) Synergy between Institutions and organizations to combat E Waste (Covering parts of SDG 17)

Presentation
Key Takeaways (* deadline 2 hours after session)

Exploring innovation in e-waste management sector and catering to newer avenues for environmental education

Making green lifestyle trendy and adopting behavioral changes for reducing e-waste

Call to Action (* deadline 2 hours after session)

Advocating for public private partnerships and replicating the best successful policies for reducing e-waste through collaboration with all stakeholders

Encouraging youth for contributing to circular economy and finding solutions to menace of e-waste through innovation

Session Report (* deadline 26 October) - click on the ? symbol for instructions

The United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 2021 Town Hall Session #63 “Tackling the menace of E-Waste through greener ways” covered wide points and approaches on greener ways and policy oriented solutions to e-waste challenge and it encouraged the young audience through exploring innovation in e-waste management sector, catering to newer avenues for environmental education as well. The moderator (Mr Mohammad Atif) set the context of the session by quoting the statistics of e-waste generated globally and in a roundtable format engaged with the speakers on different aspects of addressing and tackling the menace of e-waste. Monmi Barua representing the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) – Youth from India covered pointers on Youth initiatives and flagship programs of her organization on environment and e-waste management along with stressing on some innovative ways for imparting sustainable development education through the youth. Marta Musidlowska from the core committee of Project Youth Summit by IGF Poland covered different aspects of Environmental conservation and e-waste management approaches from the European region critical to the core issue of tackling e-waste. She also cited example for recycling of electronic goods as a policy level plan and encouraged the youth audience to make the green lifestyle a key behavioural attribute or more trendy in current times. Robert J.Turyakira from The Environment Shield organization, Uganda stressed upon the means of digitalization and stakeholder involvement for solving the challenges of E-waste giving various examples of successful initiatives and policy measures which can help reduce the burden of e-waste. Daniel Dasig from De La Salle  University Dasmarinas, Philippines was able to correlate quality education as a necessary tool for reducing the impact of Climate change through e-waste. He cited cross industry collaboration and shared initiatives from diverse stakeholders as key enablers for measuring and tackling the impact of e-waste.

The speakers in their discussion also cited the pivotally important role of internet technology intermediaries in the digitization of flows through materials of electronic waste and how responsible production and consumption of the materials and technologies both can have a positive impact in tackling e-waste.

Lastly they committed to the goals of UN IGF and Sustainable Development and encouraged the young audience to amplify their voices in the field of Environment and Internet Governance.