Mobile a pp lic a tions for E nvironm e nta l S us ta ina b ility

Tony Vetter, Project Officer, Knowledge CommunicationsOctober 14, 2008

International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

• founded in 1990 in response to the Brundtland Commission report “Our Common Future”

• non-profit, non-governmental research institute demonstrating how human ingenuity can sustainably improve the development of our global environment, economy and society

• 150 people located in more than 30 countries, conducting research and providing expert knowledge and analysis

Sustainable Development and ICT

• “for sustainable development to be effective and efficient, it must harness the institutions and tools of the information society”

Source: ETNO & WWF, 2007, “Saving the Climate @ the Speed of Light”

ICT Effects

Implementation

Local

Glob

al

Observation

Global Environmental Observation• GIS systems

• Atmospheric• Vegetation / Ground Water• Surface / Water Temperature

• GHG Tracking• Consumption metering• Atmospheric measurements

• Reporting Systems• Mash-ups / SOA / Web 2.0

Global Action / Management Plans• Early Warning Systems

• Famine / Drought• Natural Disasters

• Environmental Mitigation• Carbon-trading• Conservation Planning

• International Agreements• Ratification• Implementation

Local Environmental Observation• Capacity building

• Awareness of threats• Identifying impact

• Data Entry• Web 2.0 / Wiki data logs

• Appropriate Technology• SMS / Mobile Phone usage• Cultural adaptation

Local Action / Management Plans• Resource Management

• Access / Allocation• Enforcement• Support and Funding

• Professional Development• Response Planning

• Early warning response• Conflict avoidance

DIRECT EFFECTS

Indirect and Systemic Effects

• Capacity to self-organize is a vital tool for people to challenge unsustainable practices– to demand their rightful place in developing alternatives

for sustainability– to change social and economic structures which

negatively affect their communities

• ICT has dramatically lowered the transaction costs associated with social organization

What is “Networked Governance”?

• IISD uses the term “networked governance” to refer to emerging patterns of ICT-enabled interaction that are transforming– Economic, social and government structures (the information

economy and society, wikinomics, etc.)– Communication among individuals, groups and communities

(social networking, web 2.0, etc.)– Interactions between natural and artificial environments (the

Internet of Things, ubiquitous networks, etc.)

• These are examples of the “indirect” and “systemic” effects of ICTs

7

Mobiles – “technically feasible to connect the world”

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/

Mobile applications for Environmental Sustainability

• Text Messaging• Wildlife tracking• Participatory Urbanism

Text Messaging• Environmental activism

– Greenpeace Argentina’s Forest Law campaign

• Product information for consumers– FishMS, Climate Counts, MomsRising

• Environmental alerts for citizens– airTEXT, Ergo

• Tracking environmental footprint– mobGAS

Wildlife tracking

• Save the Elephants - Pioneering Animal Tracking Project – Safaricom and Vodafone Foundations

• Sumatra’s Kerinci-Seblat National Park – Fauna and Flora International’s Tiger Protection

Units

Save the Elephants - Pioneering Animal Tracking Project

• Uses GSM to pinpoint animals– download an almost continuous stream of data– longer battery life than before

• reduction in the risk of human/wildlife conflict• detected unusual movements in the elephant

population during severe drought

Fauna and Flora International’s Tiger Protection Units

• mobile phone technology has contributed directly to the success on several occasions, and led to the arrest of poachers, brokers and corrupt politicians

• Camera phones have enabled compiling of rogues’ gallery of dealers, brokers and poachers without their knowledge.

Participatory Urbanism

• Cambridge Mobile Urban Sensing (CamMobSens)

• SensorPlanet - Nokia Research Center• Intel Research and UC Berkeley - Urban

Atmospheres• UCLA Center for Embedded Networked

Sensing (CENS) - Urban Sensing

Widespread use still impeded by a number of issues:

• Effective information and knowledge management systems for mobiles

• Effective outreach strategies• How to ensure privacy while still transmitting

useful information• Ensuring data accuracy • Preventing sensor tampering and system misuse

Presenters

• Hernán Pablo Nadal, Greenpeace Argentina– Greenpeace Argentina’s Forest Law campaign

• Barry Coetzee, FishMS– FishMS and influencing consumer choice

• Dr Nithya Ramanathan, UCLA's Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS)– Urban Sensing Applications

THANK YOU

Tony Vetter - Project Manager, Knowledge Communications Program

E-mail: tvetter@iisd.ca