Sustainability and The Role of Information and Communication Technologies
Abstract
We live in a world divided between rich and poor, healthy and sick, literacy and ignorant, democratic and authoritarian, and strong and private. All the technologies we have developed in recent centuries and all the policies we have adopted to improve human development have not eliminated these glaring disparities. As the 21st-century approaches, we are faced with two conflicting scenarios for the future of the human species. On the one hand, there are possibilities of a bright future with press button life, space shuttles, information technology, genetic engineering, and other advances in science and technology. On the other hand, a dark scenario emerges with a population in full expansion, deprived of resources and suffocated by pollution. Faced with such a critical situation where we are at a crossroads to choose between environment and development, we feel the need for "Sustainable development".
Citizens and governments are increasingly aware that policy innovations and social change are essential for technology to work for the common good. It is being realized that a large fraction of the global population is stuck in poverty, undernourishment and ICT can help eliminate such glaring disparities. ICT can indeed be shaped to become an important tool. This paper tries to outline the contours of sustainable development and the role of Information and Communication Technology in sustainable development.
