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Broad alliance demands: Digitization must serve social and ecological change

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A broad alliance of 13 organisations from the fields of environmental protection, digital policy, development cooperation and academia publishes a catalog of demands to show political solutions towards a more sustainable digital society. This as a prelude to the upcoming conference for digitization and sustainability "Bits & Bäume".

A broad alliance of 13 organizations from the fields of environmental protection and nature conservation, digital policy, development cooperation and academia demands: Digitization must be at the service of society and social and ecological change. This is what the organizations are calling for at the forthcoming conference on digitization and sustainability "Bits & Bäume", which will take place from September 30 to October 2, 2022 in Berlin. Today, the same organizations publish a catalog of demands that show political solutions towards a more sustainable digital society.

Wind turbines on a field
Global access to technology and in service of society is a pre-condition for a sustainable future. Free Software is crucial for that.

Digital technologies are double-edged. It is becoming increasingly clear how digital technologies are contributing to the increasing demand for resources worldwide and how facilitate monopolization tendencies across sectors. On the other hand, with use of Free Software, they can also help contributing to equal access and participation in technologies and help improving living conditions and environmental protection worldwide.

The organizations demand that politics align the strategic framework for digitization with the needs for nature, climate and resource protection and the preservation of biodiversity. Along with this, digitization must support a globally fair and sustainable economic system that enables everyone to participate while actively involving local communities and civil society groups in shaping the global digital economy and politics.

The big questions of digitization are discussed, including social participation, socio-ecological transformation, food sovereignty, economic order, common goods and a global peace order. Free Software comes as a basic technology for the demands made by the alliance because it is decisive for the longevity and reusability of hardware, gives users control over their technology and because it guarantees legally secure international cooperation and reuse while at the same time allowing local adaptation.

The demands form the prelude to the forthcoming conference for digitization and sustainability “Bits & Bäume”, which will take place from September 30 to October 2, 2022 in Berlin. The FSFE is part of the organisational committee, thus co-organiser. The program that has just been published offers exciting topics related to Free Software and the commons, and ticket sales have started.

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