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A workshop entitled "Greening Development through ICT and Civic Engagement", organized as part of the first global Internet Governance Forum, in Athens, Greece, on 31 October 2006, explored the contribution of information and communication technology to sustainable development. The workshop opened with the presentation of the UNECE Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) as a model instrument bridging the gap between sustainable development and ICT paradigms. The Aarhus Convention promotes access to information and the engagement of the public in environmental decision-making through electronic means.Some Forum attendees questioned whether the "Greening IT" workshop succeeded in connecting sustainable development with the internet’s own development. Although praised as a one-of-its-kind framework for making sure that citizens get a stronger say in governance processes around the environment, the Convention does not address head on the problems facing small island states like global warming, said one participant in the discussion that followed the panel. Expanding the internet six-fold to provide nearly universal access would require increasing energy consumption and would be unsustainable, offered another.Panelist Heather Creech, a director with the International Institute for Sustainable Development, defended the internet's contribution to sustainable development, pointing to the opening up of intergovernmental negotiation of environmental agreements by internet communication. Plenary sessions of the Internet Governance Forum included questions submitted electronically from viewers connected to the event over the internet.The event was sponsored jointly by the Association for Progressive Communications, Bluelink Information Network and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.For a report on the event, see the Association for Progressive Communications article, "Greening IT? Not really": http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5042942
