BROADBAND INTERNET ACCESS CRITICAL CATALYST TO ASIA-PACIFIC DEVELOPMENT – UN FORUM

The importance of speedy Internet access to stimulate economic growth across Asia and the Pacific was underlined by participants of a regional United Nations information and communications technology (ICT) gathering that wrapped up in Indonesia today.

Policy-makers, regulators, academics and the private sector representatives attending the UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) forum stressed the importance of broadband internet access in leveling the economic playing field for the region, as well as the necessity of global collaboration to ensure the widest possible availability of future services to all users.

"This Asia-Pacific Regional Development Forum underlines the role of broadband as a catalyst for bridging the digital divide and for turning the challenges of today's economic crisis into new opportunities," said Sami Al-Basheer, Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT).

"Broadband access, through both fixed and wireless infrastructures, will clearly be one of the key focus areas for ICT development in this fast-moving region," Mr. Al-Basheer told the three-day meeting in Yogyakarta.

ITU Regional Development Forum (RDF) heard that although Japan and the Republic of Korea have broadband penetration rates of 32 per cent and 23 per cent respectively, less developed nations within the region are still struggling to provide basic telephone and Internet access, with less than 1 per cent of the population in Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar using the Internet.

ITU organized the Asia-Pacific RDF, which attracted 105 participants from 17 countries, in close collaboration with the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology and the Special Province Area of Yogyakarta.
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EVERYONE MUST HELP ELIMINATE CYBER HATRED, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said that parents, the Internet industry and policy makers all have a role to play in eliminating hate speech from cyberspace.

"Some of the newest technologies are being used to peddle some of the oldest fears," Mr. Ban said at a seminar in New York entitled "Cyberhate" – the latest in an ongoing series on combating intolerance, organized by the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).

"We have seen it time and again," he said, "targeting innocents because of their faith, their race, their ethnicity, their sexual orientation."

The Secretary-General said everyone has a role to play in eliminating cyber hate.

Parents have a responsibility to teach their children to safely surf the net, he said. The Internet industry can help ensure that hate speech does not proliferate online, and policy makers must "take a hard look at this problem and work to safeguard people while balancing basic freedoms and human rights."

Among the other speakers scheduled for the full-day gathering were Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information; Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer, News Corporation and MySpace; and Marta Santos Pais, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children.

The UN began the "Unlearning Intolerance" series in 2004 with discussions of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and has continued the programme with lectures and seminars since then.
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UN DRIVE TURNS TO INTERNET TO REACH GOAL OF 7 BILLION NEW TREES

UN DRIVE TURNS TO INTERNET TO REACH GOAL OF 7 BILLION NEW TREES
New York, May 12 2009 2:00PM
Ahead of World Environment Day, celebrated globally on 5 June, the United Nations today announced an ambitious tree-planting target in a bid to push governments into reaching agreement on a climate change pact in Copenhagen this December.

The UN Environment Programme (<"http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=585&ArticleID=6161&l=en">UNEP) has appealed to the world to help its effort to plant seven billion trees by the end of the year, coinciding with the UN Climate Change Conference which aims to draw up a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

To date, some 3.1 billion trees have been planted in 166 countries, and "whether you choose to plant one tree or thousands," UNEP would like you to register your tree planting pledge on its Billion Tree Campaign <"http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/">website, it said a news release.

In addition, the agency has pledged to plant a tree for each person who joins its campaign on the internet-based social networking site "Twitter" between now and 5 June. UNEP hopes to <"http://twitter.com/UNEPandYou">attract 100,000 people on Twitter by <"http://www.unep.org/wed/2009/english/">World Environment Day and in turn plant the same number of trees for its Billion Tree Campaign.

"If we are to reach the goal of seven billion trees planted by the crucial UN climate convention meeting in December, UNEP needs your support from schools and associations to governments, businesses and individual citizens," said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

If half the world planted just one sapling between now and World Environment Day, it would send "a powerful statement too to world leaders and the need to seal the climate deal in less than 200 days time," added Mr. Steiner

The World Environment Day global tree-planting drive is the first in a series of mass participation events planned as part of the UN-led "Seal the Deal!" campaign in the lead-up the UN climate change meeting in Copenhagen.
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