Abstract:
In 2003, the World Summit on the Information Society declared its challenge “to harness the potential of information and communication technology to promote the development goals of the Millennium Declaration” with a “commitment to the achievement of sustainable development.” Governance of the Internet understandably emerged as a key issue from this process given its increasing importance to the global economy. Sustainable development efforts cannot be conceived without global communications and knowledge exchange. Therefore, the outcomes of the Internet governance debate will affect our ability to manage the social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainable development. These two historically disparate policy communities will each gain if they can discover and leverage the overlap in their respective visions for the future. However, the pervasive, complex and intricate nature of the linkages between Internet governance and sustainable development makes this nexus difficult to define. Can a dialogue between these two communities contribute to mitigating degradation of natural and human environments in developed and developing countries; help avoid the economic marginalization of developing countries facing digital exclusion from global markets; and help maintain and promote cultural diversity and traditional knowledge? Internet Governance and Sustainable Development contemplates such questions, and stimulates further dialogue.
