Editorial
Are we together?
The stake of the 21st century is that of the ‘other’. Even more so because of the accelerating size of the population, which is accompanied by climate problems in regions where the population is rising the most rapidly, and where people are having problems getting access to water, healthcare and education. Environmental, chemical and electromagnetic, the sources of pollution are multiplying .
Sustainable development must now enter a phase of collaboration, one where everyone is involved.
This is what sustainable development 2.0 is tackling. It’s time to hand over to the next generation. We are not at a stage where we should be trying to be exemplary, or finding good and reassuring practices; we need to act together. The agenda for 2009 is particularly busy. The world will be meeting in Copenhagen in December of this year to define a global political climate plan, to conceive of a post-Kyoto plan, this time with the inclusion of America, under a new President, Obama.
In 2008, we became an urban planet (reaching the 50% mark of people living in urbanised areas) and one that is interconnected, with more than 4 billion mobile phones, a large number of which are also adapted to use the internet. Communication is no longer a field reserved for experts, it’s accessible to all.
This society, more sustainable, global and connected than ever before faces fundamental choices. The next few years will be decisive. These choices regard all living things…including men and their physical presence.
We have to act together in a society centred on communication. The most complicated part is to make these choices together, to organise real governance over physical – and virtual – territories. It will become a priority in education to learn and practice governance from nursey.
In 2009, ACIDD will totally commit itself to its missions that will catalyse collective thinking and facilitate collaboration through important projects.
➢ Creation of the Observatory for responsible marketing and communications with the AAVV, SYNTEC and UDA, continuing the work of the 2008 Summer School for communications and sustainable development.
➢ Development of the Cluster ‘Green and Connected cities’ to write future proposals with big businesses, international organisations and a network of experts and to test them on 21 towns in Europe and the Mediterranean.
➢ Implementation of the network “ICT for Energy Efficiency”, a collaborative organisation with more that 20 participating organisations from 12 different countries, accompanied by the European Commission (CIP).
➢ Sharing projects and information during regular meetings, small conferences, the publishing of newsletters, facilitating on-line information and exposés.
In this, the beginning of a new year, the publishing company Aube is printing a book that I have been writing during these last three years of organising ICT21 forums and meetings. It is entitled: “Sustainable development 2.0, will the Internet save the planet”? (Développement durable 2.0, l'Internet sauvera-t-il la planète?) Its tone is resolutely optimistic and will serve as the foundation for an ambitious international meeting in Strasbourg, France in Autumn.
This will be an occasion for us, and for you, I hope, to converse, share, cooperate and collaborate…It will not involve confirming expertises or roles but on the contrary, it is about sharing our ideas and our projects with the largest circle of people. Everyone has a role to play: businesses, local government, charities, research centres, organisations…in discussing themes that are as varied as they are complementary: energy efficiency, responsible communication, a new economy, responsible mobility, sustainable towns, governance of territories, digital solidarity…Our plan is to create a modernised, more collective, more collaborative approach for sustainable development. Different communities will be present, others will be created.
Being in the first month of a new year, 2009, we have no objective reason to believe that it will be better than previous years, unless we were to see the appointment of a sustainable development expert at the Society of Information! Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet has just been appointed as the Secretary of State, in charge of the forecasting and development of the digital economy. Are we, at last, going to see the link between information technology and sustainable development being made? What role will the Internet have off the market? At the start of this new year, we have the choice to make it symbolic and to consider this appointment as good news.
I wish you a happy new year,
Gilles Berhault
President of ACIDD
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