ArabDev has been contributing to the Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) since 2007. GISWatch 2010 covers 53 countries and six regions including Latin America and the Middle East, with the key issues of ICTs and environmental sustainability explored in ten expert thematic reports. This new report will be launched at the start of the UN Climate Change conference. It questions the assumption that information and communications technologies (ICTs) will automatically be a panacea for climate change. The report spells out the impact the production and disposal of computers, mobile phones and other technology is having on the earth’s natural resources, and the massive global carbon footprint produced by their use.

GISWatch has three interrelated goals:

1. Surveying the state of the field of information and communications technology (ICT) policy at the local and global levels; 2. Encouraging critical debate; and 3. Strengthening networking and advocacy for a just, inclusive information society.

GISWatch is a joint initiative of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and the Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos).