1st Edition
Global Environmental Governance in the Information Age Civil Society Organizations and Digital Media
This book examines the impact of current and emerging digital technologies on global environmental governance, and in particular on environmental civil society organizations.
Technological innovations are constantly emerging: internet and social media platforms, blockchains, big data, and artificial intelligence are some of the most common or promising digital technologies of our times. Through case studies and the analysis of concrete applications of digital technologies, this book shows how these digital technologies can be deployed to support global environmental governance, and in particular a multi-stakeholder approach to the protection of the environment. It provides an overview of the diverse uses of these digital technologies by civil society organizations (CSOs) in global environmental governance. In this fast-changing context, the capacity of environmental CSOs to manage and benefit from digital technologies, and to produce and distribute information, can strengthen their participation in global environmental governance. Their key roles, including advocacy, monitoring, knowledge production, fundraising, nudging individual behaviors, and project implementation, greatly benefit from the use of these technologies. By examining some of the most-utilized current digital technologies and presenting some of the most prominent emerging ones, this book aims to illustrate how active civil society organizations operate, and how ICTs support some of their roles, and therefore their participation in global environmental governance.
This book will appeal to scholars and students of environmental studies and politics, global governance, political sociology, geography and communication studies along with policy makers and communication specialists from the environmental community.
Introduction
Chapter 1: ICTs and the emergence of environmental civil society organizations
- Introduction
- Emergence of new forms of authority
- Civil society and technology in sustainable development
- Global civil society
- New forms of authority
- Informational society
- New patterns of interaction
- Net generation
- Activism 2.0
- Concluding remarks
Chapter 2: Websites and the advocacy role of civil society
- Introduction
- Methodology
- Providing access to Information
- Consultation with their audience
- Mobilizing their audience
- Website usability
- Website maturity
- Results per organization
- Web Traffic
- Concluding remarks
Chapter 3: Social media platforms and the advocacy role of civil society
- Introduction
- Social media platforms
- Social media and advocacy
- Methodology
- Social media presence
- Social media content analysis
- Concluding remarks
Chapter 4: Participation and the digitalization of a multi-stakeholder process
- Introduction
- Participation in the motions process
- Progressive use of ICTs to submit a motion
- Online discussion platform
- Online vote on motions
- Concluding remarks
Chapter 5: Blockchain and environmental civil society organization
- Introduction
- Blockchain in few words
- Financing environmental projects
- Effective monitoring
- Nudging citizens
- Concluding remarks
Chapter 6: Big data and environmental civil society organization
- Introduction
- Big data explained
- Citizen Crowdsourcing
- Partnerships with the private sector
- Scientific community
- Concluding remarks
Chapter 7: Artificial intelligence and environmental civil society organization
- Introduction
- Artificial intelligence explained
- Implementing field projects
- Producing knowledge
- Concluding remarks
Concluding remarks
Biography
Jérôme Duberry is Post-Doc Researcher and Lecturer at the Centre de Compétences Dusan Sidjanski en Etudes Européennes, Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva, and Lecturer and Research Associate at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. His research activities revolve around the contemporary transformations of society and international institutions in a process of adaptation to the emergence of new technologies. He is particularly interested in innovative public and private governance systems, and examines how information and communication technologies (ICTs) influence global multi-stakeholder decision-making processes. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona.
"This book combines three contemporary concerns: the environment, digital technologies, and the role of civil society. It offers an articulate and highly readable synthesis of how civil society organizations can use digital technologies to take part in environmental governance today. This should be recommended reading for policy-makers, researchers and students interested in the present and future of environmental governance." - Professor Dusan Sidjanski, Professor Emeritus, University of Geneva and Honorary Chairman of the European Cultural Centre.
"Environmental governance and the politics of the ICTs revolution rank among the most relevant challenges of international relations in the near future. Jérôme Duberry's book offers a deep understanding of both opportunities and risks of digital technologies for political participation in global environmental governance. A brilliant contribution to put the digital revolution at the service of human needs." - Josep Ibáñez, Associate professor of international public law and International relations, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.
