In developed nations, information systems are now an indispensable part of most people’s lives. In developing nations, information systems are a means of enabling communication and exchange where no such infrastructure existed before, and that in turn creates many new opportunities from education to economic development. But the development of the global communications network, and the equipment attached to it, has come at a cost.
This paper considers the extent to which climate change has become a strategic priority for information and communications technology for development (ICT4D) organisations. Through a survey of 30 ICT4D organisations primarily from developing countries, as well as an overview of the thematic interests of authors participating in a recent publication on ICTs and environmental sustainability, it shows that there is a predominant interest in adaptation strategies in developing contexts.
Climate change presents two types of disaster threat in developing countries. One is the potentially devastating impact on vulnerable communities of more frequent and more intense extreme weather events. This contributes to the second threat, the compounding of what are already complex development problems leading to a potential downward development spiral for the world’s poor. Effective disaster response demands rapid access to reliable and accurate data and the capacity to assess, analyse and integrate information from varied sources. ICTs can contribute to improve this.
