Adaptation to climate change to be "new normal" in ICT sector: ITU

Adaptive practices for the information and communications technology (ICT) sector will become part of the "new normal" as climate change impacts increase, according to a new report launched by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Monday.

The report, entitled "Resilient pathways: the adaptation of the ICT sector to climate change," noted that the ICT sector stakeholders face the challenge of building greater awareness of, and resilience to climate change impacts, especially in the context of increasingly interconnected and interdependent business and supply chains.

It called for active engagement of stakeholders at all levels.

"Mainstreaming climate-resilient innovation in research and development needs to become a priority," Hamadoun Toure, ITU Secretary-General said in a statement.

In the face of climate change impact, he highlighted the need to foster a new, more flexible mindset and new learning processes to take into account robustness when designing these fundamental technologies.

The new report recommended a number of adaptive actions based on the principle of resilience, such as the improvements in telecommunication service coverage, particularly in locations vulnerable to climate change impacts.

In order to ensure intra-sector redundancy and continuity of services and operations during climatic disturbances, the ITU report also recommended the implementation of new approaches to improve systems' diversity and interoperability, including visualization, server networks and system backup.