| APrIGF 2025 Session Proposal Submission Form | |||||||||||||||
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| Part 1 - Lead Organizer | |||||||||||||||
| Contact Person | |||||||||||||||
| Mr. Yug Desai | |||||||||||||||
| Organization / Affiliation (Please state "Individual" if appropriate) * | |||||||||||||||
| South Asian University | |||||||||||||||
| Designation | |||||||||||||||
| Doctoral Candidate | |||||||||||||||
| Gender | |||||||||||||||
| Male | |||||||||||||||
| Economy of Residence | |||||||||||||||
| India | |||||||||||||||
| Stakeholder Group | |||||||||||||||
| Academia | |||||||||||||||
| List Your Organizing Partners (if any) | |||||||||||||||
| Pavel Farhan, The IO Foundation, pavel.farhan@theiofoundation.org (Civil Society) | |||||||||||||||
| Part 2 - Session Proposal | |||||||||||||||
| Session Title | |||||||||||||||
| Disasters, Data, and Digital Rights | |||||||||||||||
| Thematic Track of Your Session | |||||||||||||||
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| Description of Session Formats | |||||||||||||||
| Roundtable (60 minutes) | |||||||||||||||
| Where do you plan to organize your session? | |||||||||||||||
| Onsite at the venue (with online moderator for questions and comments from remote participants) | |||||||||||||||
| Specific Issues for Discussion | |||||||||||||||
| Natural disasters—typhoons, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions—and human-caused disasters including armed conflicts and displacement increasingly challenge Asia Pacific communities. Climate change intensifies their frequency and severity, creating unprecedented challenges for digital infrastructure and governance. This session examines the intersection of disaster response, data governance, and digital rights through four lenses: Physical Infrastructure Resilience: How can telecommunications and internet infrastructure be hardened against disasters while maintaining accessibility and affordability? We explore tensions between security investments and digital equity, examining how preparedness measures can create or exacerbate digital divides. Internet as Crisis Communication Backbone: Internet connectivity during emergencies encompasses relief coordination, information dissemination, and social cohesion maintenance. We analyze successful and failed cases of internet-enabled disaster response across Asia Pacific, examining how governance models impact crisis communication effectiveness. Technological Solutions and Predictive Management: Emerging technologies offer opportunities for early warning systems, real-time monitoring, and coordinated response. IoT devices, AI analytics, satellite monitoring, and mobile platforms enhance disaster preparedness. However, deployment raises questions about data sovereignty, privacy rights, and technological dependence. We discuss how communities can harness benefits while maintaining agency over data and response strategies. Digital Equity in Crisis: Disasters disproportionately affect vulnerable communities with least digital access. Urban-rural connectivity gaps and governance variations create unequal disaster resilience across the region. |
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| Describe the Relevance of Your Session to APrIGF | |||||||||||||||
| This session directly addresses the APrIGF 2025 overarching theme by examining how multistakeholder digital governance can be reimagined to address one of the most pressing challenges facing the Asia Pacific region: climate-induced disasters. Relevance to Resilience Sub-theme: The session explores how digital infrastructure and governance frameworks can be strengthened to withstand and recover from natural disasters. It addresses crisis response coordination and infrastructure vulnerability while examining how resilient digital systems can support community preparedness and recovery. Relevance to Sustainability Sub-theme: By focusing on long-term approaches to disaster preparedness and equitable connectivity, the session contributes to sustainable digital development. It examines how sustainable infrastructure investments and governance models can reduce vulnerability while promoting inclusive access. Relevance to Innovation and Emerging Technology Sub-theme: The session explores how emerging technologies—including IoT sensors, AI-powered predictive analytics, satellite monitoring, and mobile communication platforms—can transform disaster preparedness and response capabilities. It examines the governance challenges and opportunities these innovations present, particularly regarding data sovereignty, privacy rights, and ensuring equitable access to technological benefits across diverse communities. Contribution to Multistakeholder Governance: The session will demonstrate how effective disaster response requires coordination across government agencies, private sector infrastructure providers, civil society organizations, and affected communities. It will explore innovative governance models that can bridge the gap between centralized emergency coordination and community-driven resilience building. |
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| Methodology / Agenda (Please add rows by clicking "+" on the right) | |||||||||||||||
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| Moderators & Speakers Info (Please complete where possible) - (Required) | |||||||||||||||
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| Please explain the rationale for choosing each of the above contributors to the session. | |||||||||||||||
| Mr. Prem Awasthi specialises in Disaster planning and management is a strategic planner for the United Nations's Afghanistan Mission. Dr Amreesh Phokeer is an Internet measurement expert whose work focuses on Internet Resilience which perfectly aligns with the technology solutions and infrastructure resilience focus of the session. Ms. Selu Kauvaka is a founding member of Tongan Women in ICT group and has also worked with Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management, Environment, Climate Change and Communications and CERT. (MEIDECC) under the Information Department of Tonga, |
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| Please declare if you have any potential conflict of interest with the Program Committee 2025. | |||||||||||||||
| No | |||||||||||||||
| Are you or other session contributors planning to apply for the APrIGF Fellowship Program 2025? | |||||||||||||||
| Yes | |||||||||||||||
| Upon evaluation by the Program Committee, your session proposal may only be selected under the condition that you will accept the suggestion of merging with another proposal with similar topics. Please state your preference below: | |||||||||||||||
| Yes, I am willing to work with another session proposer on a suggested merger. | |||||||||||||||
| Brief Summary of Your Session | |||||||||||||||
| This roundtable addressed the intersection of climate disasters, digital infrastructure resilience, and human rights in the Asia-Pacific region, which experienced over 140 disasters in 2022 affecting tens of millions. With two-thirds of the regional population now dependent on Internet connectivity for emergency warnings and coordination, the session examined how to build resilience while protecting rights. The moderator opened with two case studies: Tonga's January 2022 undersea cable severance following the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai eruption, isolating the nation for weeks, and Turkey's 2023 earthquake response where social platform restrictions narrowed critical information access. Three expert panelists shared perspectives: Selu (disaster communications, Tonga) described reverting to radio broadcasting when digital infrastructure failed; Amreesh (Internet resilience, ISOC) highlighted how less-connected populations face disproportionate crisis impacts, citing Myanmar's intentional disconnections; and Prem (humanitarian planning, Nepal) addressed mountain-hazard preparedness challenges. Active participants from Philippines (experiencing three earthquakes and volcanic eruption within two weeks), Bangladesh (coastal communities fighting for access), and Bhutan (Starlink transformation) contributed real-time disaster experiences. Key themes included infrastructure redundancy, decentralized networks, digital equity, data governance balancing speed with privacy, cross-border early warning systems as human rights issues, and community-centered digital literacy as essential as physical infrastructure. |
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| Substantive Summary of the Key Issues Raised and the Discussion | |||||||||||||||
| Infrastructure Vulnerability and Redundancy: The discussion centered on physical infrastructure as the crisis communication backbone. Tonga's cable severance demonstrated catastrophic single points of failure, requiring reversion to analog radio broadcasting. Participants emphasized decentralized network architectures over centralized systems, which prove difficult to repair post-disaster. Market diversity with multiple operators emerged as essential for resilience, with Bhutan's Starlink adoption illustrating how satellite technology can connect previously unreachable areas. Digital Equity and the Resilience Paradox: A critical tension emerged: those least connected suffer most during crises, yet commercial-only infrastructure investment widens digital divides. Amreesh articulated the need to balance digital equity with resilience so marginalized populations receive protection rather than further exclusion. Myanmar's intentional disconnections before crises exemplified how policy choices compound vulnerability. Bangladesh coastal communities' struggle for access and Philippine pandemic-era connectivity failures causing learning loss demonstrated equity gaps with long-term consequences. Human Networks and Capacity Building: Beyond physical infrastructure, participants stressed human network importance—community collaboration, digital literacy, and knowledge of where physical infrastructure exists. Japan's superior crisis response was attributed to foundational investment in both technology and human capacity. Tonga's post-disaster capacity building included ICT disaster preparedness for schools and youth, recognizing different requirements for main islands versus remote communities. The Philippines participant posed the critical question: without climate-aware digital capacity building in vulnerable communities, can early warning systems truly be effective? Data Governance and Rights Protection: Early warning systems were framed as human rights issues, not merely safety matters. The principle of minimum data collection and humanitarian data sharing rules emphasized that no one should choose between safety and privacy. "Trust by design" was proposed as an alternative to heavy-handed misinformation takedowns, ensuring trust travels faster than false information. Cross-border data exchange (India-Pakistan example) and data preparedness as a governance component highlighted the need for rapid, predictable humanitarian response frameworks. Policy and Institutional Gaps: Philippines' incident command systems failing to acknowledge Internet as critical infrastructure revealed institutional lag behind technological reality. Cellular broadcast alerts arriving minutes to hours after incidents demonstrated implementation failures. Nepal's recent disaster exposed communication and coordination weaknesses requiring better data governance. Regional collaboration and integration were identified as essential for backup channels when primary systems fail. |
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| Conclusions and Suggestions of Way Forward | |||||||||||||||
| Critical Infrastructure Recognition: Governments must formally designate Internet as essential infrastructure in disaster frameworks and emergency protocols, driving investment and protection. Multidimensional Resilience: Build physical redundancy through decentralized networks, diverse connectivity (fiber, satellite, microwave), and multiple operators. Develop community digital literacy tailored to contexts and publicize infrastructure locations for crisis intervention. Rights-Protective Governance: Implement data preparedness frameworks with minimum collection, humanitarian sharing rules preventing safety-privacy trade-offs, trust-by-design approaches, and cross-border early warning agreements. Systematic Equity: Counter commercial-only models through universal service obligations, subsidized access for marginalized populations, prioritizing climate-vulnerable communities, and explicit equity provisions in disaster planning. Regional Collaboration: Establish backup connectivity integration, mutual technical aid, coordinated early warning systems, and joint capacity building for essential redundancy. Sustained Investment: Tonga's experience revealed that Internet became "secondary and convenience" after disasters when funding dried up, despite proving critical during emergencies—highlighting the challenge of sustained investment in digital resilience beyond immediate crisis periods. Embed digital resilience in long-term development financing, create sustainability funds for crisis-critical infrastructure, and establish responsibility frameworks preventing post-disaster neglect. Multistakeholder Action: Coordinate government policy, private sector infrastructure, civil society rights protection, technical standards, and international support. Translate Internet Society measurements into actionable governance. Youth Integration: Embed ICT disaster preparedness in curricula, recognizing climate-aware digital capacity building as prerequisite for effective early warning systems. |
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| Number of Attendees (Please fill in numbers) | |||||||||||||||
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| Gender Balance in Moderators/Speakers (Please fill in numbers) | |||||||||||||||
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| How were gender perspectives, equality, inclusion or empowerment discussed? Please provide details and context. | |||||||||||||||
| Gender and inclusion were addressed through Tonga's Women in ICT program targeting gender-specific digital literacy and disaster preparedness needs. Youth empowerment featured prominently through school-based ICT disaster preparedness training. The discussion emphasized how marginalized and less connected communities face disproportionate crisis impacts thus requiring greater protection and that commercial-only infrastructure widens existing divides. Vulnerable groups highlighted included coastal Bangladesh communities fighting for access, remote areas requiring months to reach, communities outside main towns needing differentiated approaches, and youth experiencing learning loss from connectivity failures. Early warning systems were framed as human rights requiring inclusive design. Capacity building was recognized as needing varying approaches across communities, acknowledging multidimensional vulnerabilities based on geography, economics, age, gender, and infrastructure access. |
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| Consent | |||||||||||||||
 I agree that my data can be submitted to forms.for.asia and processed by APrIGF organizers for the program selection of APrIGF 2025. |
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