An estimated 5,000 participants,
including high-level government officials, civil society leaders and internet
policy experts, gather both in-person and online for a three-day 10th annual
meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in João Pessoa, Brazil, reports
ITRealms.
The tenth IGF comes at a critical
time with the recent adoption of the new sustainable development agenda that
underscores the importance of ICTs and the internet in development activities.
The new agenda sets an ambitious goal to “significantly increase access to
information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and
affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020”.
Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) and the Internet promote development by enabling access to
information and educational resources, health care and improving food
production and distribution.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
noted in his address that less than two months ago, the world leaders adopted
the visionary 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, thus placing the
challenge now is to implement this blueprint for a better future. Information
and communication technologies and the Internet can empower this global
undertaking.
According to the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU), there are more than 7 billion mobile
subscriptions worldwide, compared to only 738 million in 2000. However, while
there has been some progress in bridging the digital divide, four billion
people in the developing world remain unconnected.
The Internet Governance Forum, held
annually, provides an impartial and independent platform for all stakeholders,
including developed and developing countries to discuss public policy issues
relating to the Internet. While there is no negotiated outcome, engagement at
the Forum feed into discussions in the national and regional IGFs.
“Evolution of Internet Governance: Empowering
Sustainable Development” is the overarching theme of this year’s Forum. With
the adoption of the sustainable development agenda, the 10th IGF presents an
opportunity to foster discussions on internet governance and identify means to
increase internet connectivity for all stakeholders.
“Information and Communications
Technologies, as a powerful enabler of sustainable development, can make great
contributions to the implementation of the goals and targets of the 2030
Agenda,” noted Mr. Wu Hongbo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and
Social Affairs.
The sub-themes of the Forum which
will be addressed in the main sessions of the Forum are: Cybersecurity and
Trust; Internet Economy; Inclusiveness and Diversity; Openness; Enhancing
Multi-stakeholder Cooperation; Internet and Human Rights; Critical Internet
Resources and Emerging Issues.
“The IGF Platform has contributed
towards efforts at national, regional and international levels to build a
cyberspace that promotes peace and security, enables development and ensure
human rights,” stated Mr. Lenni Montiel, UN Assistant Secretary-General for
Economic Development.
This week, the IGF’s Best Practices
Forums, the Dynamic Coalitions and this year’s Policy Options on Connecting the
Next Billion present opportunities to discuss matters related to the future of
the internet.
Policy Options for Connecting the Next Billion
The community-led ‘Policy Options for Connecting the Next Billion’
process strives to help identify obstacles, solutions and strategies to improve
and increase connectivity and access for the 4 billion people who are
offline. Collaboration between
governmental and non-governmental actors is key to addressing this issue.
IGF Best Practice Forums
The outputs from IGF Best Practice
Forums (BPFs) are intended to become robust resources, to serve as inputs
into other pertinent forums, and to evolve and grow over time on the subjects
of: Regulation and Mitigation of Unwanted Communications; Establishing and
Supporting Computer Security Incident Response Teams (CSIRTs); Developing
Meaningful Multistakeholder Participation Mechanisms; Practices to Countering
Abuse Against Women Online; Creating an Enabling Environment for IPv6 Adoption
and Enabling Environments to Establish Successful IXPs.
IGF Dynamic Coalitions
This year, some of the IGF
Dynamic Coalitions (DCs) will be presenting their work to the broader IGF
community in a dedicated main session. Many of the DCs have undertaken and
achieved significant work in their respective fields. Broad community feedback at the IGF will help
increase and strengthen IGF outputs for use of other relevant IG fora and
bodies.
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