ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) and Climate Change. Alexandre VASSILIEV ITU Radiocommunication Bureau

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1 ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) and Climate Change Alexandre VASSILIEV ITU Radiocommunication Bureau WSIS FORUM 2009, Geneva, May 2009

2 Radio and Information Society Today radio technologies provide means and ways for information exchange everywhere in the World. Radiobased are the most used telecommunication devices. According to the recent statistics the World population currently uses: more than 4 billions mobile phones; ~ 2.5 billions radios; ~1.5 billions television sets; plus many set-top boxes (satellite and terrestrial), Wi-Fi cards, powerful broadcasting transmitters, etc. Source: and

3 ITU-R and Information Society ITU-R allocates spectrum to radio services and fulfils international spectrum management functions providing ways and means for successful operation of different radio systems and applications. ITU-R develops standards for all radio-based systems and applications: 1) Mandatory international treaty status: Radio Regulations (RR) 4 volumes (~2000 pages); ITU-R Recommendations incorporated by reference in the Radio Regulations (RR); 2) Voluntary: Other ITU-R Recommendations; These standards form the basis for the use of wireless technologies in information society!

4 ITU Engagement with Climate Change and ITU-R Monitoring Climate Change As the steward of the global framework for spectrum, ITU provides for the radiofrequency spectrum, orbit resources and develops radiocommunication standards to foster the operation without interference of radiocommunication systems used for climate monitoring, weather forecasting, disaster prediction, detection and mitigation of negative effect of disasters. ICT as a clean technology As the preeminent global body for standardization in the field of ICTs, ITU is working to limit and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through the development of standards and by promoting the use of more energy efficient devices and networks. Adaptation and Mitigation As a core function of its development mission, ITU is assisting Member States in the use of ICTs for e-environment and sustainable development and to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change, including the use of emergency telecommunications and alerting systems for disaster relief. Climate Neutral ITU In its own activities, the use of ICTs to reduce emissions through paperless meetings, virtual conferencing and sharing its expertise on the use of ICTs for energy saving with other institutions and general public. 4

5 Radio and Environment Monitoring Radio emissions are not only for communications but also for obtaining information about the environment with which they have been in contact. Environmental information, including climate monitoring data, is currently being obtained by special radiobased measuring instruments called remote sensors. Remote sensors are the only tools providing environmental data on a long term, repetitive and global scale. ITU-R Study Group develop standards providing basis for the development and the effective use of radio equipment for climate monitoring, prediction and detection of disasters (hurricanes, fires, typhoons, thunderstorms, flooding, etc.), early warning and mitigating negative effect of disasters. 5

6 Aircraft Global Observing System (GOS) GOS is based on remote sensors and telecommunication systems disseminating information about the environment Polar orbiting satellite Geostationary satellite Satellite image Ocean data buoy Weather ship Satellite soundings Surface station Satellite ground station Upper-air station NMS Weather radar Automatic station Detailed information provided in the ITU/WMO Meteo-012 Handbook Use of Radio Spectrum for Meteorology: Weather, Water and Climate Monitoring and Prediction, available free of charge at: 6

7 Remote Sensing for Climate Monitoring CO2 global map July in parts per million by volume. Altimeters identify a change of the sea level with precision of 2 to 3 cm. Modern tools measure the sea surface temperature with an accuracy of up to 0.2 C. 7

8 Mitigation and Adaptation 2 mitigation aspects: mitigation of negative effects of disasters saving lives and properties; mitigation of the further climate change reducing GHG emissions and global warming. Adaption to climate change: developing adaptation strategy based on environmental monitoring data; implementation of this strategy using radio equipment. 8

9 Radicommunications in Preventing Loss of Lives In many cases, when disaster strikes the "wired" telecommunication infrastructure is significantly or completely destroyed and only radiocommunication services can be employed for disaster relief operation (especially radio amateurs and satellite systems). ITU-R forums (Conferences and Assemblies) take decisions, which foster creation of radio systems for prediction, detection of natural disasters, providing early warnings to general public and mitigation of negative effects of disasters; ITU-R's Study Groups develop technical standards related to the development and operation of radio systems/applications for mitigation of negative effects of climate change, natural and man-made disasters. 9

10 Disaster Detection and Early Warning One of the main goals of telecommunications is to provide timely early warning information to the general public in case of disasters. Hundreds of thousands of lives would have been saved in December 2004 by an effective tsunami early-warning system had existed. A tsunami early-warning and mitigation system for the Indian Ocean currently exists. It is based on 25 seismic stations, 26 national tsunami centres and the use of deep ocean sensors, with messages sent by satellite phone. Deep-ocean Assessment and Report of Tsunami (DART) system 10

11 Damage Assessment used for relief operation planning Earth-exploration systems employing remote sensing equipment play a major role in damage assessment and planning relief operations. 11

12 ITU-R Standard Sample: Rec. ITU-R S.1001 on the Use of Fixed Satellite Service Systems for Warning and Relief Operations Configuration of the emergency network 12

13 Mitigation: Radio and Minimizing CO 2 Emissions Main directions/activities: Monitoring Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions - Radio-based devices called remote sensors are the main tool for the global monitoring of carbon dioxide emissions. Minimizing CO 2 emissions from radio equipment/systems - The use of advanced technologies, such as modern chips, coding and compression technique, digital modulation allowed significantly reduce power consumption per unit for almost all radio applications. The use of radio-based devices/systems for reduction in other sectors - Wireless devices, such as mobile phones are currently the most common way of communications, which significantly reduce commuting and travelling. Radio, in many cases, is the most economically valuable solution of the last mile problem. Dematerialization through the use of radio equipment/systems The use of radio technologies, for example satellite systems, paves the way for Internet access from remote areas and allows to apply paperless working methods, switch from physical distribution DVDs and CDs to online delivery.

14 Reducing GHG Emissions: Radiocommuncations as a Clean One of the most effective ways Technology of preventing further climate change is energy saving due to reducing radiocommunication equipment consumption. An impressive example in this area is a digital broadcasting Plan GE06 developed by Regional Radiocommunication Conference 2006 for 120 countries. GE06 Plan envisages: reduction (almost 10 times) in transmitter power due to the use of digital modulation. There are hundreds of thousands of transmitters around the world with power of up to kw - the energy saving is very significant; possible reduction number of transmitters due to the transmitting up to 10 TV programmes in one 8 MHz channel instead of 1 TV programme per channel. GE06 Plan is based on ITU-R standards (Recommendations). 14

15 Mitigation CO 2 Emissions in Other Industries Remote Collaboration In terms of technologies for reducing carbon emission, the use of radiocommunications might be considered as replacing virtually the need for a physical journey. The work of ITU-R Study Groups 4, 5 and 6, on multimedia, is of particular importance, notably in terms of standards for remote wireless collaboration, such as the BO, M, S Series of ITU-R Recommendations on audiovisual and multimedia systems, including video-conferencing, which provides a means for people to collaborate at a distance without needing to travel. ITU-T s Study Group also develop Recommendations on different aspects of multimedia. 15

16 Climate Neutral ITU Radiocommunication Sector Role (1) Few samples of ITU-R practices: voluminous ITU-R service publications, distributed to all ITU-R Member States on weekly bases, are published on DVD and Internet, that significantly reduced the amount of paper, consumed by BR; World Radiocommunication Conferences (the biggest ITU forums) use electronic document publication and significantly reduce number of paper copies distributing to delegates. WRC-07 attended by about 3 thousands participants, saved several millions of pages of paper; WRC-07 decided to publish series of maritime service publications in electronic form from That will save about 300 tons of paper per year and reduce the carbon emissions from transporting paper copies; 16

17 Climate Neutral ITU Radiocommunication Sector Role (2) ITU-R is finishing switching from paper to electronic submission of frequency assignment/allotment data. Hundreds tones of paper are being saved (in the past a notice with data related to one satellite network could require more than 1 thousand pages). BR develops tools for electronic access to frequency assignment/allotment data in the Master International Frequency Register (MIFR), that contains billions of data elements. These tools allow not only provide very quick access to these data, but also significantly reduce amount of publications on physical mediums; BR trains the staff from administrations and other involved organizations. 17

18 Cooperation with Other Organizations and ITU Sectors ITU-R, in its work in this area, has established strategic partnerships with other UN agencies (e.g. WMO, IMO, ICAO) and specialized UN Groups (e.g. WGET); ITU-R also has close cooperation with international and national agencies and organizations (e.g. meteorological agencies, EUMETSAT, ESA, JAXA, NASA, NOAA, RSA, Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Space Frequency Coordination Group (SFCG), etc.) involved in climate monitoring and emergency telecommunications; ITU-R is coordinating its work with ITU-D, ITU-T and the ITU General Secretariat; ITU-R representatives participate in ITU and UN events and provide information on the role of radiocommunications in combating of negative effects of climate change. 18

19 Web resources Main ITU Web page on ITU and Climate Change: ITU-R Web page on Radiocommunications and Climate Change: R/index.asp?category=information&rlink=climatechange&lang=en ITU-R Publications: r=1&lang=en 19

20 Sources: ITU, WMO, ESA, CNES, JAXA, NASA, NOAA 20