To mark the 2025 International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI), the world turned its gaze to a theme that couldn’t be more urgent: “Ensuring Access to Environmental Information in the Digital Age.” As climate change intensifies and environmental degradation accelerates, the ability to access, understand, and act on environmental data is no longer a luxury – it’s a lifeline.
But what role does digitality – the vast ecosystem of digital tools, platforms, and data – play in shaping environmental impacts? The answer is both profound and transformative.
Digital Access: The Gateway to Environmental Awareness
The celebration of the International Day for Universal Access to Information, IDUAI, by the Katiba Institute in collaboration with the Media Council of Kenya and other partners like KICTANet on the 29th of September, provided valuable insights into the intersection of digital access, environmental information, and policy advocacy in Kenya.
Digital platforms have revolutionized how we access environmental information. From satellite imagery tracking deforestation to real-time air quality apps, digitality empowers citizens, journalists, and policymakers with data that was once locked behind bureaucratic walls.
Currently, open data portals allow communities to monitor pollution levels, water quality, and biodiversity loss. Mobile apps and SMS alerts inform farmers when to plant or harvest based on climate forecasts, and social media amplifies environmental advocacy, turning local concerns into global movements.
Water drop with house in it, in the style of light green and dark azure, Photo Credit: Freepik
In Kenya, for instance, over 1,450 digital hubs and 84,000 kilometers of fiber infrastructure are bridging the information divide, enabling rural communities to access climate-smart agricultural data and disaster preparedness tools. Without information, we are unable to face the challenges.
Access to information is a fundamental right that calls us to invest in digital platforms to make environmental information more available. With the local mobile phone usage at 64.9% and internet penetration at 35%, environmental information should be readily available, and all of us, including the media, should tap into this to empower communities in the effective consumption of environmental information.
Digital Literacy: The Missing Link?
Access alone isn’t enough. Without digital literacy, environmental data remains inaccessible to the very communities most affected by climate change. Digitality must be inclusive right from the training programs, translation of complex data into actionable insights, and at community-driven data initiatives to foster trust and relevance.
A biologist in a forest with a magnifying glass and a notebook. Photo Credit: Freepik
Additionally, we must be proactive in disclosing relevant environmental information and consistently demand full accountability. Information in regard to environment is a lifeline to saving lives. It should be easier to share and access.
Digitality Risks
While digital tools can democratize access, they also risk deepening inequalities. Misinformation, data manipulation, and digital exclusion can distort environmental narratives and hinder climate action. Algorithmic bias may prioritize commercial interests over ecological ones, data privacy concerns have always risen whenever environmental monitoring intersects with personal data, and digital divides continue to widen between urban and rural, rich and poor, and among the marginalized and vulnerable populations.
Thus, digitality must be governed by ethical frameworks that prioritize transparency, equity, and sustainability.
Actioning Information and Data
Digitality isn’t just about access—it’s about impact. When citizens have the right tools and information, they can hold polluters accountable, influence policy, and protect ecosystems. As such, governments and all other stakeholders must proactively disclose environmental data and support open-source platforms.
On the other hand, civil societies and human rights defenders must advocate for digital inclusion, challenge opaque data practices, influence innovators to design with purpose, and ensure that digital solutions serve both people and planet.
“In the fight for our environment,
information isn’t just power,
– it’s survival.”
Recently, we have seen global leaders giving diverse perspectives on climate change. But the reality stands that climate change is not a pipe dream but a reality. This is a wake-up call for us to invest in early warning systems by harnessing the power of digital platforms for efficiency. This could further be scaled to the infusion of digital technology in agricultural systems.
Kids spending time together walking through the forest. Phot Credit: Freepik.
Finally, global players like Apple and Meta Llama are coming into and investing locally—what do we stand to gain, environment-wise and economically? Could it be a moment to call for the sustainability of digital environmental initiatives?
As UNESCO reminds us, access to environmental information is “a lifeline for people and the planet”. On this 10th anniversary of IDUAI, let’s recommit to building a digital age that informs, empowers, and sustains.