Sustainable Development Networking Programme in Pakistan

Today there are 15 SDNP in the developing countries, where they are considered as a medium for individuals, organizations and governments to communicate ideas, share information resources, and exchange experiences among each other and globally to learn the appropriate ways to solve our ecological problems. Besides this, these networks are also expected to facilitate introduction of appropriate technologies and provide specialized information on almost every subject to all stakeholders of sustainable development.

UNDP with the collaboration of IUCN, The World Conservation Union, started the pilot phase of SDNP in Pakistan, in January 1993. One of the reasons for starting SDNP in Pakistan was the presence of the National Conservation Strategy (NCS). The NCS, jointly developed by Government Of Pakistan (GOP) and IUCN is a comprehensive plan aimed at promoting conservation of natural resources, sustainable development, and improving efficiency in the use and management of resources in Pakistan. The establishment of the SDNP in Pakistan can play a major role in supporting the proper implementation of the NCS.

Since January '93, SDNP in Pakistan has made an effort to demonstrate the benefits of electronic communications in the country. Prime examples of the SDNP's services are:

1. the information provided for disposing off the toxic material dumped in the Lyari river in Karachi which saved many lives;
2. assistance provided to the National Tariff Commission in getting toxicity and environmental impact information about two chemicals used in the manufacture of Sulphonic Acid;
3. Provided to the Secretary, Ministry of Science & Technology, crucial information about the transporting water in asbestos cement pipes;
4. Information about incinerator technology for disposing off solid waste. A staff member wrote a long review article on this subject for a national newspaper using material obtained from Internet sources;
5. Expert advice on the effect of dumping hydrochloric acid in the sea around Karachi;
6. A large mass of information about the effects of electromagnetic radiation from power plants--this has been used in a Supreme Court case;
7. Information about new solar energy technologies for UNDP;
8. When the Min of Environment and Urban Affair wanted to learn from other counties' experience of moving to unleaded petrol, and when it wanted information on technologies for substituting for non-degradable plastic bags, it asked SDNP to get this for them;
9. Greenpeace the international environmental organization warned SDNP of exports of toxic material from Sweden to this country. This was highlighted on SDNP's network and in the national newspapers by SDNP's staff.
10. Green Press, an enthusiastic group of journalists working for a better environment, post regular information on the network. Their international access is subsidized by SDNP. SDNP has also provided free consultancy services and public domain software to various organizations in setting up databases and electronic mail facility. These includes most commercial provider of email in the country. It has also helped create a conducive environment for the exchange of mail between the email provider nationally.

    SDNP's current node in Islamabad has regular electronic mail linkup with its headquarters in New York. Over the next few months nodal points will be set up in 3 other cities (Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar) providing email facility through a local telephone call to the SDNP node. Electronic bulletin boards set up at these nodes will provide users a range of information services. Electronic mail and queries sent to these nodes destined for international networks will be sent to SDNP headquarters in New York frequently, and onwards to the recipients on the global network. This efficient linkage to the international data communications networks will be priced to encourage usage by the developmental community in Pakistan. SDNP will particularly encourage usage of its facilities by young people and by educational establishments.

    EDUNET & SDNP

    In Lahore and elsewhere, SDNP will work closely with EDUNET, is a project of the Education Support Trust, which too has received support from UNDP. Almost twenty years of experience running the famous Alif Laila Project has given the founders of EDUNET a clear insight into the weakness of the educational delivery system at the school level. To overcome the severe shortage of resource material at this level, they have used their extensive library of books, journals and CD-ROMs to extract material relevant for the curriculum and extra-curricular activities and put it into a large database. Schools, teachers and students with email facility can access this resource at reasonable cost. EDUNET will provide online access to CD-ROMs of general interest and to standard encyclopedias that would normally be inaccessible to most educators and students.

    EDUNET has given a great deal of thought to cataloging their information and this should facilitate access to relevant material. To date all the material is in English, but there are plans to translate most of this into Urdu.

    Educational material is being produced at a phenomenal rate globally and it is almost impossible for a country such as ours to take advantage of these developments without access to CD-ROM resources and the Internet. Apart from down-loading free material Internet connectivity allows students and teachers to communicate globally with their peers. It is here that SDNP experience will help in connecting EDUNET's users to national and global information services as well as to people.

    EDUNET and SDNP will soon be operating jointly in Lahore and shortly thereafter in Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar. They will hold free weekly workshops in these cities to popularize networking for education and other needs.

    Lessons from SDNP's Experience

    SDNP's experience in Pakistan has demonstrated the benefits of electronic communications. Networks can however flood the recipient with information and advice which may not always be relevant and can sometimes be conflicting. Data and raw information is often not sufficient; access to national experts who can convert this material into useful knowledge is vitally important. A directory of experts and institutions who can and are willing to analyze such data will therefore need to be developed. SDN is helping the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) to compile such a directory, which can then be expanded to include experts from other organizations.

    Based on SDNP Pakistan's achievements, it is among the growing family of national networking programmes which UNDP supports. Additional support from Canada's International Development and Research Center (IDRC)--specially to SDNP Pakistan--and the administrative supervision and guidance (programmatic support) provided by IUCN (The World Conservation Union), Pakistan, will ensure that it provides a range of facilities to those sectors of the country working towards sustainable development. A goal of the SDNP Pakistan is to reduce its reliance on support from donor agencies. With time it should become largely self-sustaining through income generating activities.

    SDNP has lobbied the government and the private sectors to encourage networking in the country, and it welcomes the recent moves to allow private sector entry into the data communications sector. With time as digital data communication becomes as commonplace as today's fax machines, there will develop a demand for value added services which can be provided by information vendors. This will offer an opportunity for the private sector as well as the government to "sell" data, information and advice through the network. Whether SDNP can become a vendor for information related to sustainable development will to a large extent determine if it can survive without donor support.

    If networks are to help in the process of sustainable development in Pakistan, and for that matter in other countries, sole reliance on market forces will lead to a neglect of such issues. It is then imperative that the UNDP and the government take a pro-active role in developing and directing new networks towards helping the largest number of people from all sectors of the society.

    An important objective of SDNP in Pakistan is to encourage full Internet connectivity for the widest range of users. This linkage would be an important milestone allowing people to benefit from the membership of the global village. SDNP's own near-term plans are to show how mere dial-up connectivity can provide useful information nationally and internationally. While encouraging the development of indigenous data bases, SDNP recognizes that much information will need to flow from the mature databanks of the North, hence the need for Internet connectivity. This would also allow people to access computer conferences and pose queries to experts globally. SDNP and the UNDP will continue to lobby the decision makers in the government to move quickly towards the goal of providing an affordable national data network which has affordable connections to the global networks.

    The Rio Conference of 1992 placed great emphasis on the free flow of information for development, and requires UNDP to develop guidelines and mechanisms for continuous transfer of data- collection and information technologies to developing countries. UNDP is also mandated to urge the government to make necessary institutional changes to begin to integrate environment and development information. For this to become a reality, and for networks to help in sustainable development through information provision in the developmental sector, nationally and globally, UNDP will need to strongly advocate these ideas at the highest levels of the Pakistan government. Such efforts will strengthen the role of SDNP in providing the information services that will become increasingly necessary if we are to move towards achieving sustainable development.

    Conclusion

    SDNP's Karachi node will be located in the offices of IUCN at 1 Bath Island Road, Karachi. Here, IUCN's excellent library on the Environment, and in-house expertise, will supplement and "add value" to the information that networks. IUCN's Education Unit will, in particular, collaborate with EDUNET.

    SDNP is now well poised to offer its services to the widest range of users. In a fast moving field of information technology it difficult to predict accurately where SDNP will find its niche once large data networking companies start providing affordable national and international connectivity. It may join hand with one of the providers or may specialize in the area of information provision, the demand for which is expected to grow. SDNP is geared to meet the challenge and intends to be an pro-active player in these areas.

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    Dr. Q. Isa Daudpota
    Coordinator
    SDNP
    POB 3099
    Islamabad 44000
    Pakistan
    

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