Information and communication technologies (ICTs) and ... - ITU

disaster strikes the "wired" telecommunication infrastructure is significantly or completely destroyed and
only radiocommunication services can be employed for disaster relief operation (especially radio amateurs
and satellite systems).” 67
Box 12 reflects some of the actions that ITU is taking in this field, through a focus group on disaster relief
systems, network resilience and recovery (FG-DR&NRR).
Box 12: ITU focus group on disaster relief systems, network resilience and recovery (FG-DR&NRR)
ITU-T Focus Group on Disaster Relief Systems, Network Resilience and Recovery (FG-DR&NRR) was
established in January 2012. The objective of the Focus Group is to collect and document information
and concepts that would be helpful for the work on disaster relief systems/applications, network
resilience and recovery from a telecommunication perspective.
The Focus Group (FG) conducts the work on disaster relief systems/applications, network resilience and
recovery aiming at
• identifying requirements for disaster relief and network resilience and familiarize the ITU-T and
standardization communities with those requirements;
• identifying existing standards and existing work that are related to the requirements mentioned
above;
• identifying any additional standards that may need to be developed and identifying future work
items for specific ITU-T Study groups and related actions;
• encouraging collaboration among ITU-T Study Groups, in particular SG2, SG5, SG13, SG15, and
SG17, ITU-R, ITU-D and relevant organizations and communities, including the PCP/TDR;
The Focus Group will collaborate with worldwide relevant communities (e.g., research institutes, forums,
academia) including other SDOs and consortia.
Source: ITU (www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/drnrr/Pages/default.aspx)
Ghana’s ICT sector will need to ensure that it is also adapted to the challenges of climate change, and will
need to contribute actively to the development of a national climate change strategy in the country.
b) Indirect consequences of climate change for ICTs
Additional consequences of climate change impacts include increases in operators’ energy demands, as
higher temperatures will, under the current increasing temperatures, require more air conditioning in the
exchanges. Network damage will require trucks to be used for repairs, with implications for fuel use.
Operators are also likely to have to run more back-up generators in areas experiencing extreme weather
conditions.
Where sea levels are expected to rise materially, network operators would likely be required to have to
move or to replace a significant amount of network equipment. For example, equipment positioned in sites
at risk of flooding would need repositioning, and displaced populations would likely require new networks
to be built. In countries like Bangladesh, more than a fifth of the territory could be under water with a onemetre
rise in sea levels, highlighting the risk to telecommunication companies in such regions. In other
words, it is likely that the consequences of climate change will be very different for TSPs in different regions,
and that the requirements for adaptation will, as a consequence, also be different.
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