EngageMedia contributed a chapter to the annual review, Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) 2010, focusing on Australia’s contribution to environmentally benign technologies, from recycling to manufacture.

clear to me that the Australian government was lagging behind NGOs and the commercial sector in terms of a response to dealing with technology waste.

Australian’s have been chucking out e-waste for decades, but it wasn’t until the early 1990’s that any serious attempts at recycling were implemented. But it’ll take until 2011 before we will have a national response to this problem regulating what can and can’t be thrown into land-fill, for instance, by our government.

Read the full GISWatch 2010 Australia Country Report.

GISWatch 2010 argues that for technology to really benefit us, consumption patterns have to change.

It’s a rallying cry to electronics producers and consumers, policy-makers and development organisations promoting ICTs to pay urgent attention to the sustainability of the environment. Many of the report’s authors argue that business plans, roll-out agendas and developmental strategies will have to adapt for a sustainable future.

GISWatch 2010 spells out the impact the production and disposal of computers, mobile phones and other technology is having on the earth’s natural resources, and the massive global carbon footprint produced by their use.

The potential of ICTs to mitigate and adapt to climate change is also discussed, as are the roles of international institutions, the global research agenda on ICTs and climate change and “sustainability” as an evolving concept.

GISWatch 2010 covers some 53 countries and six regions including Latin America and the Middle East, with the key issues of ICTs and environmental sustainability explored in ten thematic reports.

The report is produced by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), the world’s oldest online social justice network and the Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos), the Dutch development agency.

For more on GISWatch go to http://www.giswatch.org/