Archive for June, 2009

Research on how China can dramatically mitigate the environmental impact of its expanding economy by developing sustainable global supply chains in the forestry, cotton and e-product sectors has just been published by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and other leading Chinese institutions, on their respective websites.

The research was undertaken by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and supported by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), in corporation with MOFCOM.

English-language versions of the reports were published late last year. At the launch in China, IISD president and CEO David Runnalls said: “There are real opportunities for China to dramatically mitigate negative impacts of economic growth, while substantially reducing the environmental pressures it incurs in some parts of the supply chains.”

The Chinese language versions are available at the following links, though not all can be accessed from outside China.

MOFCOM: http://chinawto.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/h/ag/200905/20090506237366.html

CAS: http://www.rcsd.org.cn/Website/index.php?WCHID=29 (not available outside of China)

TshingHua University: http://www.bcrc.cn/en/ewaste/susdevelopment.html

[IISD's views on the future of the Global Knowledge Partnership]

In considering the way forward, GKP should reflect on where ICT is seeing renewed interest and has been gaining traction globally differently from ten years ago. For example, in response to the economic crisis, governments attentive to the role ICT is playing in their economies have taken steps to ensure investments in broadband infrastructure feature prominently in their economic stimulus packages, in some cases as part of bold and ambitious ‘green’ recovery strategies. Issues of how to balance individual online rights such as privacy and identity, issues of access to information and knowledge, and corporate economic interests including the protection of intellectual property are also seeing increased engagement in the policy arena. Governments are pursuing a wide range of policies in response to all these issues, some of which could set precedents for better or worse with global implications. The impact of these decisions on efforts of developing countries to benefit from the global connectivity system and further their development objectives is often being overlooked. There is a lot more work that needs to be done and the GKP membership has an obvious stake in how such policy debates unfold. As such the GKP should consider how it could be served by adopting a stronger policy focus in the future. Many GKP members have been very engaged with these issues in the course of carrying out projects, and in other forums, and so represent a significant collective knowledge and experience that could provide extremely valuable insights to the unfolding policy discussions.