Adoption of ICT enabled Collaboration as an Approach for
Addressing Climate Change Challenges
Mosonik, J.K.(jmsonik@gmail.com).; Gichoya D.M.(dgichoya@yahoo.com);
Milgo,E.(medynac@gmail.com); Korir, S.J.(susansang04@gmail.com).
Abstract
Collaboration has the objective of bringing individuals or groups together in an atmosphere of support to
systematically solve a problem. Information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled collaboration
is increasingly becoming important because of its affordability and ability to draw from a wide and
diverse community. Community collaboration is fully reliant in people’s willingness to notice and
respond to needs of shared interests. Knowledge can be tapped and meaningfully used in such an
environment where there exists an appropriate open collaboration platform. On the strength of the recent
findings on the broad adoption and application of ICT in Kenya, there are reasons to believe that
implementation of ICT-enabled collaboration platform provides a great opportunity for the Kenyan youth
and other stakeholders in the environment sector to fully participate in the adaption and mitigation effort
of climate change through knowledge exchange. This paper explores how ICT can be innovatively used
as a collaborative tool in the effort of addressing the challenges of climate change. It specifically
considers the opportunities and challenges presented by the adoption of ICT as a collaborative tool and
the need for employing ICT to enhance collaboration and the potential impacts. The paper concludes by
looking at how the adoption and implementation of a Web-based ICT platform can be particularly useful
for Kenya in this all important task of tackling climate change challenges.
Keywords: Climate Change, ICT enabled, Collaboration, Mitigation, Adaptation, and Adoption.
1. INTRODUCTION
Information and communication technology (ICT) is a ubiquitous technology that is increasingly
finding use in stimulation and acceleration of new innovations. Digital media is making great
impact in information consumption especially in Kenya which is now being regarded as a
powerhouse in ICT innovation ((Nordling, 2012). The great success story of M-pesa, the cellphone based money transfer platform is serving to indicate that opportunities still exist where
ICT can be exploited to bring about fundamental change in global society.
Being a core driver for the achievements of Vision 2030, the Kenya government has already
invested a lot of resources in the development of ICT infrastructure in the country as well
development of healthy and supportive ICT regulatory and policy environment (Waema, Adeya
& Ndung'u, 2010). Significant in this effort is the government’s initiative to bring about high
speed broadband fiber connectivity through projects such as TEAMS (The East African Marine
System) and NOFBI (National Optic Fiber Backbone Infrastructure). The projects were primarily
meant to ensure that there is both access and availability of reliable and affordable high speed
broadband fiber connectivity within Kenya and to other countries. This is part of a broader plan
in the development of an information society and to have a population that is well informed,
educated and with good health and governance systems that are supported using ICT. Leveraging
on ICT will become more important in the new county dispensation that is soon to be fully
implemented in Kenya where it is expected that accurate and timely information will be of
essence.
Besides other challenges that Kenya may be facing as a country currently, climate change just
happens to be one of the biggest. Research indicates that climate related problems in Kenya will
have costly economic impacts with an equivalent cost of up to 3% of GDP every year by the year
2030. (Stockholm Evironmental Institute Project Report, 2009). The problem that predisposes a
country to a potentially such a big loss demands high priority and focused attention. Appropriate
use of ICT has great potential to be used to bring about effective mitigation and adaptation
strategies. It is important to note that ICT transformational impacts are touching every sector of
society through innovation and can be equally applied in environmental sector (World Economic
Forum, 2012).
2. CLIMATE CHANGE AND IMPACT IN
KENYA ECONOMY
Climate change can simply be referred to as the change in average weather patterns over a long
period of time. For most countries weather patterns play a fundamental role in their economy and
particularly those that are highly dependent on agriculture as their economic base. In this group
are many Sub-Saharan countries. Kenya with a population of about 40 million people has
agriculture accounting for 26% of the Gross domestic product (GDP). Of the total population
about 80% live in rural areas and depend mostly on agriculture for their economic well being and
livelihood. Additionally, most Kenyan industries are agro-based with tea, coffee and sugar cane
being the major cash crops (Wambugu, 2009; (Yatich et al, 2009)) and agriculture directly and
indirectly contributes to about 75% of total employment.
During the recent years Kenya has experienced change in its weather patterns with the “long
rains” which normally come between March and May extending while the “short rains” which
come in late October to December being depressed in intensity and duration (Ministry of
environment and mineral resources, 2011). A small change in climate will seriously impact the
economy and the people of Kenya because of poor performance in agricultural products. Most of
the agricultural activities are rain fed and if there is an extended season of drought, the impact
will affect the overall performance of the economy.
Source: IFPRI (2006)
Where climate change causes depressed rainfall, it will physically manifest itself in high energy
costs. Kenya heavily relies on hydro power for the energy needs and currently accounts for over
60% of the installed capacity (www.kpl.co.ke). Vision 2030 intends to put Kenya in the middle-
income country category and energy will be key in propelling the country to this level. With this
in mind, Kenya has come up with a strategy for responding to the challenges of climate change
named “National Climate change response strategy (NCCRS).
3.1 COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AS A FORM OF ADDRESSING CLIMATE
CHANGE.
The now visible rapid development of Information and telecommunication technologies (ICT)
has increasingly created substantial opportunities for people to develop innovative ICT enabled
solutions (Asgargahni, 2008). One being in collaborative working.
Collaboration is a way of pulling together people with a shared goal or problem to constructively
explore ways of dealing with a problem in a mutually beneficial cooperation. Collaboration
generates new ideas and new solutions that emerge from interplay of different perspectives,
experience and knowledge and involves getting the right information. Collaboration has the main
objective of bringing individuals or groups in an atmosphere of support to systematically solve a
problem where parties involved are committed to a common goal, comprehensive
communication and pooled resources. When enhanced using ICT, it draws from a broad and
diverse community.
Collaborative technologies have successfully been used in learning environment and as Resta
(2007) says the push for collaborative learning was the need for an all engaging approach to
learning. This will certainly apply where stakeholders from all sectors are engaged in a similar
ICT supported approach to work towards addressing the challenges of climate change in Kenya.
With increased popularity of social networking, collaboration comes almost naturally as
individuals will interact continuously.
Online social networks have a unique way of pulling and encouraging mutual interactions which
would not naturally occur. Even in the business world, business people are finding it easier and
cheaper to connect with their existing and potential clients using social networks. One feature
that is magnetic about social networks is its ability to enhance relationships whether professional,
business or just any other casual relationship. The other factor is the ease with which it can
expand the reach of target audience (Frazer & Dutta, 2009).
Deploying technology is only one part of addressing the issues of climate change, being able to
understand how to leverage on the same technology to address the challenges is vital. Networked
collaboration technologies has the full potential of radically improving the way people interact,
share information and address potential challenges of climate change. Every development within
technology arena has full potentials of bringing revolution. Similarly, ICT enabled collaboration
can bring a total revolution in the mitigation and adaptation efforts of climatic change in Kenya.
The diffusion of access to technology and great improvements in bandwidth capacity will
enormously facilitate the ability to use ICT for collaboration. .
3.2 VIRTUAL COMMUNITY AND COLLABORATION
Groups are a fundamental part of social life and the tendency for their formation is inherent in
the structure of society. They form whenever there is a visible problem or perhaps an existing or
foreseen crisis (Lars et al., n.d.; infed.org). The group becomes a community when the people
work together to create shared value (Heckscher and Charles, 2008). If people are enlightened on
the need to conserve the environment so as to mitigate the effects of climate change, they will
hold this as a common value which they will seek to protect. After the group is formed it is
imperative that a clear vision is crafted to assist the members in attaining the desired objective or
outcomes and to ensure the sustainability of future collaborative community. Community
collaboration is fully reliant in people’s willingness to notice and respond to needs of shared
interests. Members are expected to build reputation by the frequency and the quality of their
responses and contributions. The word "community” connotes geographical, for the case of
“virtual community” it indicates without geographical limitation or without a physical place as a
home (Handy, 1995). The term "virtual" means that the primary interaction is electronic or
enabled by electronic technology.
Collaborations that are based on the internet technologies provide a way for a wider access to
latent knowledge that is resident in people. Such tacit knowledge is hard to tap and codify.
However, it is only in an open collaborative platform that such crucial knowledge can be shared
and captured to address issues that emerge due to climate change.
Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook attract and support networks of people and
facilitate connections between them. They are representative of what Gee (2004) calls affinity
spaces, where people acquire both social and communicative skills, and at the same time become
engaged in the participatory culture.
3.3 SMART PHONE AS AN EMERGING DEVICE FOR RICH INFORMATION
EXCHANGE IN COLLABORATIVE ENVIRONMENT
Smartphones are communication gadgets that are emerging to be the
communication devices world over.
Statisctis predict that
preferred personal
smartphone users will exceed
computer users by the year 2014 (Cochrane, 2010). Their popularity has grown because of their
increasing technical capabilities and convenience (Microstrategy Incorporated, 2010). Many
mobile applications running on the devices have transformed the way disseminate and consume
information as well as the richness of the information. Web 2.0 for example is a more recent
development that allows internet user to make changes by adding or modifying information on
the websites. This has seen social networks booming in popularity. Smartphone, being the driver
for the information and mobility age is an indispensable tool for information scientists, other
experts as well as the general user. This is because an increasing number of new applications
running on the devices are tailor made to suit every user (Nature America, 2010).
The prices of smart phones have recently been on the downward trend in the Kenya market
making it affordable by the average Kenyan. The Smartphone penetration is expected to increase
rapidly with the buys from the youth raising the level because of their internet habits.
In the
developing countries over 45% of the population is composed of the youth under 25 years of age
with Kenya having youth below 35 years of age comprising
78% of the total population
(International Telecommunication Society). Studies show that about 84 % of the youth below 17
years
use the internet and an average
53% of them accessing the social network sites
(Vahlberg, 2010, Australian Communication and Media Authority, 2008).
The smart phones come with tools that make communication easy and have been made in such a
way as to afford quick access to social sites like Facebook.
4
CONCLUSION
This paper has presented a summary of the possibilities of using ICT innovatively to address the
challenges of climate change in Kenya. Climate change is one global problem that poses
profoundly significant intergenerational challenges and needs strong focused attention from all
people in all countries urgently .Borrowing from success it is had in school learning
environment, collaboration is anticipated to bring about a revolution within the environmental
sector as stakeholders are engaged in finding solutions in a more supportive environment. The
Smartphones have recently found extensive use in exchanging rich information especially among
the youth in social networks, this being the case, it is expected they will collaborate in the same
way in the effort to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. Vital and useful
information will thereby be exchanged freely in an interactive forum.
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