Nicolas Cauchy,

In the first day of the Plenary Session of the WSIS, President Mugabe of Zimbabwe expressed his views on the Digital Divide as unambiguously as he unabashedly did his anti-American sentiments. However shocking his wording, in a nation with rampant famine and AIDS, how realistic is it for a government to justify its preoccupation with the Internet to its people?

As the Summit continued, the Divide became increasingly evident in juxtaposing realistic issues on both sides. While representatives of developed countries talked of intellectual property rights, connectivity, open-source software, and other technical issues that are essential considerations embedded in every Internet session, the heads of developing nations pondered the prioritization of the availability of web-access, computers, and basic electricity amidst the list of critical living conditions faced by their people on a daily basis.

Phase 1 of the Summit aimed to develop a framework that would work towards the Millennium Development Goals by providing general guidelines for the global use of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) and, as a first event of its kind, the Declaration and Plan of Action endorsed were key achievements. By recognizing the right to access information and agreeing to facilitate that access to the world's most needy, the WSIS participants set a landmark for the development of specific actions that will harness technology for solving some of the world's most critical problems. The stage is thus set for Phase 2 in 2005, which defines a finite period for a more profound reflection leading to the formulation of specific projects.

The Third World Academy of Sciences aims to be a leader in its endeavour to bridge this Digital Divide without compromising the priorities of the needs in developing nations. For twenty years, from its Trieste, Italy headquarters, TWAS has been designing customized "South-based scientific projects" within and between developing nations. Within the WSIS Declaration and Plan of Action, TWAS was instrumental in securing the importance of Science, highlighting the direct link between science and development as well as the importance of ICTs in helping the Third World overcome its critical problems.

Science and technology are increasingly regarded as being crucial for sustainable development and TWAS has already published numerous volumes on critical issues in the Third World, all based on input from its network of scientists and institutions in the developing world. The WSIS Declaration and Plan of Action establish a clear objective of making computers, networks, and high-quality journals available to key scientific institutions of the South. Such dissemination tools will enable decision-makers to draw lessons from existing experiences, such as those of TWAS, that will help them increase the effectiveness of their own development initiatives. The Academy's network of centres of scientific excellence in the South is a good point from which to begin the effort of implementing these recommendations.

Another key endeavour for which the Academy was praised is for harnessing the power of the more advanced nations of the South to assist those most in need. Several of the leading developing countries (including Brazil, Mexico, India, and China) recognize the effectiveness of TWAS programs because they are unique in bringing together the scientific elite of the developing world. It appears only natural to these leaders to reinforce TWAS's efforts, especially towards nations with similar cultural and linguistic heritage, an area of direct relevance to the storage of web-based material. Meanwhile, the Academy is counting on support from some of its members to help it optimize its internal use of ITCs all the while heading the preparation of a preliminary event for Tunis 2005, similar to the RSIS (Role of Science in the Information Society) at CERN that was co-sponsored by TWAS, ICSU and UNESCO in the two days preceding the Geneva WSIS.

Drawing from the experience of the RSIS and WSIS, and making full use of the two-phase framework, the 2005 event (tentatively named Past Present and Future of Science and Engineering in the Information Society) will assemble selected key decision-makers (Ministers of Science and Finance, and eminent scientists from the developing world along with members of the development community) to define specific projects with tangible results for sustainable development. In the two years between both phases, case studies can be drawn from the evolution of existing projects and, as previously done by TWAS in critical issues of the South (drinking water; dryland biodiversity; medicinal plants; and others), common elements can be assembled and lead to developing a model for success and pitfalls to be avoided.

In conclusion, if the first phase of the WSIS fell short of the expectations of some who expected tangible projects among the outcomes, it successfully illustrated the Digital Divide in vivid and concrete terms. The very global problem of ICTs in sustainability is now better defined and the challenge for the ultimate success of the WSIS initiative as a whole rests with the ability of the participants to formulate concrete proposals that can be presented in Tunis.

Nicolas Cauchy,
Consultant to the Third World Academy of Sciences and MIT alum ('88 & '93)