This certainly did not detract from my enjoyment of Florence’s many architectural delights (churches, palaces, and galleries spring to mind) and the wonderful art and sculpture that accentuate the insides and outsides of these architectural marvels. Seeing art, that I had only previously read about and dreamt of seeing one day, such pieces as those by Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Caravaggio, to name only a few of the greats, was an moving and enlightening experience.

The weather is Florence is best described as “approaching miserable”, frequent spells of light rain to add to the monotony of a pervasive and chilly gloom, but there are some benefits in that you have fewer tourists to contend with. The lines at the Uffizi Gallery (see picture for Leonardo Da Vinci’s full sized sculptured rendition close to the Uffizi’s main entrance) are more thirty minutes long, a brief moment in time when compared to the five hour wait in summer (the June – August period).

Some general recommendations to sharpen your experience in Florence,

1. Florence is best seen on foot

2. The Uffizi and Palazzo Pitti offer a veritable paradise to the art-lover (within walking distance of each other as are most of the places on the must-see list in Florence)

3. Try getting to the Uffizi early (doors open at 8.15 am through the week and weekend) to avoid queues and ruminate peacefully over the displayed art without worrying about being surrounded by the guided tour hordes

4. The coffee is rich, smooth,tasty, and cheap (especially when compared to the prices in Paris); drink yours at the coffee bar if you wish to avoid a charge for service at the table

5. The pasta (my culinary predilections lead me in the direction of gnocchi) is delicious as you would expect in Italy

6. There are several other galleries, museums and churches that you can spend plenty of time in; personally, I prefer the surprise of discovering them as I set about exploring the city

Arguably, these festivals do more to foster ethnic harmony between culture and help build an understanding of the ‘other’; providing a context in which to engage in fruitful communication in a festival-like atmosphere and providing ample opportunity for the Indian culture to be ‘sampled’ (and by this I refer to its various foods). It also allows the ethnic Diaspora to put on a show for the other communities.

• Community Development through building of social capital (via social networking)

• Transfer of capital (social, political and cultural)

• ICT and Entrepreneurship
• ICT and Diasporas

The Method :

• Online giving (Kiva like platform or Give India )
• m-banking like service

The Stakeholders :

• Diaspora : Indian Communities in Paris and wider France with resources to spare and driven by altruism
• Beneficiaries / Business Partners : Indians living in India with similar interests to the diaspora in need of entrepreneurial assistance via start-up capital  
• Development Organisations : HTAs (Hometown Associations), Local and International NGOs

My presentation at the Sustainable Living Festival focussed on the interplay between Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Sustainable development, particularly Sustainable Agriculture and Renewable Energy, drew on personal experience and research. In the text that follows, the terms Sustainable Development, Sustainable Agriculture, and Renewable Energy have been shortened to SD, SA, and RE respectively. For a full list of websites that have been looked up in the course of research,  look at my delicious list

Major Points of Discussion

*  Fundamental underpinnings of SD  
- Poverty Reduction  
- Sustainable modes of food and energy production  
* Why focus on the developing world ?
* The Importance of Knowledge
* The Importance of NGOs
* Specific examples of where ICTs can play a significant role
* Creating bidirectional flows of information   

Drilling down into some key ideas

Fundamental underpinnings of SD   

- Poverty Reduction
- Lowered Costs & Higher Revenues for farmers
- Productive uses of RE for individuals and communities
- Sustainable modes of food production
- agricultural techniques and practices that do not stress the environment
- Sustainable modes of Energy production

why the developing world ?  
* increasing food and energy demands
* greatest inequities in development
* knowledge vaccuum

The Importance of Knowledge

Knowledge and SA

* As the term implies, “knowledge intensive” agriculture / RE implementation is dependent on knowledge.  
* Knowledge, contextualized and specific to the local environment, is a fundamental prerequisite for SD.

Some examples of where information flows can be off immense assistance are
* in technologies that enhance productivity, conserve natural resources.
* dissemination of production systems that limit the depletion of land, water and biological resources caused by agricultural intensification, and of environment-friendly technologies
* these include integrated management systems (e.g. organic agriculture, integrated pest management, zero tillage, agro- forestry), and technologies that guarantee food safety.

Let’s have a look at the broad brushstrokes of the stakeholder ecosystem that must be positively affected by the knowledge sharing before real improvements in the use of SA (and this can be applied equally to RE although individual elements may vary and certainly the experience from country to country may vary widely)    

* Policy makers need to have a thorough understanding of the implications of their actions.  
* Agricultural scientists need to understand and be able to apply ecological principles in the design and development of agricultural technologies.  
* Agricultural educators, including extension agents, need to be conversant in the most appropriate technologies and be able to disseminate and impart these in the most convincing manner.  
* Ultimately, farmers need to be able to evaluate, adopt and adapt new technologies that will best meet their individual changing circumstances without compromising the natural resource base.

Knowledge and RE
* RE in rural areas of developing countries has made significant inroads for household lighting and entertainment.
* Although electricity certainly provides improvements in the quality of life through these household applications, it is the  “productive uses“ of electricity that can increase incomes and provide development benefits to rural areas.
* As incomes increase, rural populations are better able to afford greater levels of energy service, which can allow even greater use of RE.
*  The major emerging productive uses of RE are for agriculture, small industry, commercial services, and social services like drinking water, education, and health care.

The Importance of NGOs
* 20% of total development aid in developed countries is administered by international NGOs
* best placed to form public – private partnerships
* community engagement and building local capacity is essential to long term sustainability of SA and RE projects
* experience with social enterprises to serve the unmet need  

Example of where ICTs can play a significant role

a. eLearning
b. Database
c. GIS
d. Access to enablers
e. Hybrid ICTs

a > eLearning :
- challenges in taking info across

Advantages of this approach for developing countries include,
- eLearning matches the needs of non-traditional students
- increases the educational facilities available to traditional students
- provides companies with cost-efficient yet effective training options
- gives students and researchers in developing nations an invaluable means of gaining a first world education tempered by third world experience

APTRC (Asia-Pacific Regional Technology Centre) offers courses in
- Digital Literacy for Agricultural Professionals
- English for Agriculture
- Safe and Effective Use of Agrochemical
- Introduction to Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
- IPM for Cotton
- IPM for Irrigated Rice
- IPM for Vegetables

Solar Energy e-Learning Laboratory (Solar e-lab)

* The Solar Energy e-Learning Laboratory (Solar e-lab) allows remotely located students/users to conduct real world experiments in the field of solar energy over the Internet in an interactive and independent way.
UNESCO’s Energy Forum offers free e-Learning courses  
* Bio-energy for Achieving the MDGs in Asia
* RE Policy and Planning for SD
* Solar Solutions for Energy Wise Communities in Asia

b > Databases (Information Systems) :

SA  Example
* Contextualized information storehouses that can queried and searched over the Internet
* Here in Australia, we have CSIRO that has extensive storehouse of information
* the developing world can learn from them, if not the specifics of information, then certainly the lessons learnt in implementing such an information system

RE Example
* There are several examples around the world, in Chile, China and Mexico, of RE projects, be it PV, Wind or Micro Hydro, that are making a real difference to communities.
* It is all the more paramount that a database of such projects be created and made accessible to NGOs / Communities and individuals around the world to tap into.

c > GIS  (Geographical Information Systems) :
* Digital Mapping and then query and display information based on search queries
* Pitchandikulam Bio-resource Centre
* Envrionmental Resources Mapping
* Community planning

d  > Access to ICT-based Enablers :
eChoupal
* market inputs through websites
* market efficiencies through access to timely, relevant information and inputs lead to increased productivity and lowered operating costs

IVRS: Indian Society of Agricultural Professionals  
* Utilise IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) for specific information services
* Utilises mobile and landline phone technology which is widely available

e > Hybrid ICTs:
Himalayan Light Foundation (HLF) : The RE Travelling Education Centre (RE-TEC)
* By employing a comprehensive information outreach program for remote areas
* villagers can better understand their energy choices
* what government programs are in operation
* what companies and services are available and how best to take advantage of these for increased living standard.
* It does its information outreach through a portable solar powered multi-media presentation unit capable of showing VHS, PAL, VCD and other power point presentations along with the actual functioning of the RE-TEC’s solar power supply as an example of solar PV in action.  

Cicada : Online Digital Training
* Peanut famers face several challenges that include the problem with white grubs wihc hare a major pest  
* Being designed currently, Online Digital Training platform that uses email, video and illustrations to meet agricultural challenges
*  Uses a combination of Farmer Group, Intermediary, Agricultural Expert and Fictional Farmer

Digital Green

* Digital Green is a research project that seeks to disseminate locally, relevant agricultural information to small and marginal farmers in India through digital video
* Enables learning outcomes

Web 2.0 Technologies
* Blogging, YouTube and a whole slew of others) can enable constructive communication between stakeholder ecosystems in the South and in the North to exchange experiences and information truly enabling bidrectional flows

Creating bidirectional flows of information  :
* Knowledge diffusion predominantly happens from North – South but cannot underestimate the importance of South – South diffusion and indeed South – North diffusion

M S Swaminthan Research Founation : Village Knowledge Centre (VKC)
* Use of not just Computers and the Internet but also radio, CD-ROMs, etc
* Quoting from MSSRF’s website

 “MSSRF uses different modern and traditional technologies such as notice boards, wired and wireless public address system, K YAN-PC (it contains PC, projector, TV tuner card, DVD player, amplified speaker and modem), WiFi based video conferencing such as 802.11 b and 802.11 g, satellite based video conferencing, offline CDs for both audio and video, community newspaper in Tamil, Marathi and Malayalam and providing answers through telephone and advisories through video.”

This end the talk but for the conclusion which I have chosen not to include here.