Posted on August, 21 2002

Gland, Switzerland - A few days before the opening of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), in Johannesburg, South Africa, WWF has launched a new publication that shows how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) could play a positive role in achieving sustainable development. The WWF report, Sustainability at the Speed of Light, underlines how ICT — which can be defined as any product or system that communicates, stores, and process information — may have a positive impact on human activities if properly managed. For example, it can be used to save energy through remote energy management of commercial and residential buildings. Similarly, ICT can curb the rapid growth of transportation and business travel through commerce over the Internet and wider use of video conferences. The study also demonstrates that ICT can help conservation work, by more efficient monitoring of land use, or satellite tracking of illegal logging, among other things. In order to focus and get actual concrete results, the WWF report further presents seven strategic areas — including ICT products, transport of goods, and changes in production and consumption patterns — where progress is needed. "ICT will play a crucial role in tomorrow's society. It will give us totally new opportunities to both preserve the best elements of our societies, and develop new and better solutions," said Dennis Pamlin, Policy Advisor at WWF-Sweden, and Editor of the report. "But it also faces important challenges, such as bringing together all parts of the world to reach a situation in which everyone can meet their basic needs." According to the report, the biggest danger on the global level is if ICT is only used to make the existing economy more efficient, with influential groups trying to exploit it to reap short term benefits. The study calls for the development of strong policies to prevent the creation of wrong incentives that could worsen the current negative ecological, social, and economic trends. Sustainability at the Speed of Light consists of nine papers from leading experts within different fields of relevance to the ICT discussion. Its aim is to bridge the gap between ICT specialists and policy makers in politics and business, as well as other stakeholders in society. WWF believes that such a dialogue is highly needed to create a sustainable framework for ICT-development. In particular because its recent Living Planet Report 2002 shows that new and more efficient technologies could contribute to both reduce the human ecological footprint and increase the human welfare in the coming decades. "ICT will contribute to sustainable development only if a sufficient number of individuals that can influence the development of this new technology dare to go beyond their current roles and to take innovative initiatives," added Dennis Pamlin. For further information: Dennis Pamlin WWF-Sweden Tel.: +46 70 78 78 178 (mobile) E-mail: pamlin@telia.com or dennis.pamlin@wwf.se Olivier van Bogaert WWF International Tel.: +41 22 364 95 54 E-mail: ovanbogaert@wwfint.org