Workshop on Sustainability & Environment

On October 8, 2023 from 9h00 to 10h30 (Kyoto Time, JST / UTC+9), in the framework of the “18^TH Internet Governance Forum: The Internet We Want – Empowering All People”, the workshop on Sustainability & Environment will be held. It is co-organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC).  Please check you local time here

Bringing together different AI stakeholders of industries, academia, public sectors, international organizations, emerging generations, and wider audiences from the ecosystem of sustainable development, the workshop encourages grounded, contextualized, and innovative solutions on AI policies that can be effective to accommodate different countries, regions, and communities on better positioning AI as an eco-friendly contribution to the society. While AI is generally being used as an example of emerging technologies, the workshop extends its discussions to other forms of emerging technologies, wherever the contexts fit.

Contributing to the discussion, a kick-off presentation reflecting the Report on “AI, emerging Technologies, and Environmental Efficiency: A Baseline Study among International digital Policymakers” is arranged to share findings from the study that includes scoping exercises of different regions around the world, represented by 20+ countries, to further understand multiple national policy debates around broader technology sectors, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability as well as to provide policy analysis to act on designing a system to support eco-friendly AI.

Following the presentation, the multistakeholder discussion aims to address AI and Environment Policy with multi-dimensional factors, including discursive, relativistic, contextual, and interdependent dimensions from communal to global levels, sharing the differences among the Global North and the Global South. To further promote solidarity and support consensus-making to reach Agenda 2030, young leaders, representing current and future generations, play a key role in chairing the session and concluding the workshop with collective call-to-actions on creating eco-friendly AI policy system from youths around the world.

On-site Conference Center, Kyoto, Japan

Virtual: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_neRpVwpKR3GAteNvv6QeWw

Language: English

Event Chair: Doris Mwikali, RCRC Climate Center Youth Advisory Group; National Youth Climate Action Program Lead; Youth Leader to High Level Steering Committee, UNESCO (Africa)

Keynote Speaker: Francesc Pedro, Director of UNESCO IESALC.

Invited Presenters and Expert Respondents:

• Ingrid Volkmer, Director of International Digital Policy Lab; Professor of Digital Communication and Globalization, University of Melbourne.
• Bosen Lily Liu, Expert Group Leader of Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Efficiency Project, ITU; Head of Partnership and UN Liaison, UNESCO IESALC.
• Yongjing Wang, Associate Professor, University of Birmingham; Expert at AI4EE Working Group 3, ITU.
• Abby Asekun, Director and Leader of Future Perspectives
• Olawunmi Asekun, Co-Founder and Management Consultant Hebron Consulting.