In the spirit of Blog Action Day – today, October 15th – and inkeeping with this year’s theme of climate change, the eLA Blog reports on an address given by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva last week.

“ICTs are very vital to confronting the problems we face as a planet: the threat of climate change,” stated Mr. Ban. “Indeed, ICTs are part of the solution and are already being used to cut emissions and help countries adapt to the effects of climate change.”

Mr. Ban spoke about an initiative earlier in the year whereby the UN teamed up with mobile phone companies to install 5,000 new weather stations across Africa. The weather stations monitor the impact of climate change but also have a real and practical application for African farmers – in the case of relevant weather news, text messages are sent immediately to farmers’ mobile phones. You can read about an example of such a project on the eLA blog here.

Mr. Ban went on to state the importance of working together to find new ways to cut waste, reduce emissions, create jobs and promote better standards of living, noting that developing countries in particular should strive to be pioneers and innovators, unafraid to “think of even more creative ways to use ICTs to usher in a new green economy”.

So, as Blog Action Day only rolls round once a year, what are you waiting for? Get blogging! Kabissa – a group working towards positive change in Africa – offers the opportunity for first-time bloggers to contribute to a wide discussion on climate change via their website, their Facebook fan page or Twitter.