Archives, Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Development

Archives, Climate Change Mitigation and Sustainable Development explores fundamental issues at the intersection of archiving, climate action, and sustainable development. It investigates the impact of archives on climate change (not vice versa) and the contribution of archives towards the achievement of any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Issues of sustainability and sustainable development are currently topical as the world slides towards the SDGs deadline of 2030. This book explores how records management and archiving are contributing towards ensuring sustainable development, the challenges they face, and their negative impact on the environment, now and in the future. Focus is made on the role of records management and archiving in the achievement of the SDGs, amongst which issues of climate change, climate action, and climate mitigation feature prominently. Notwithstanding, issues involving the nexus between archives and good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, sustainable cities and communities, and life on land are also important determinants of sustainable development.

The book focuses on green information management as efforts are made to find sustainable means of addressing the present and future challenges that the world continuously encounters, including catastrophes such as resource depletion, global warming, deforestation, desertification, and rising sea levels, among others. It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that efforts are made to make people, the planet, flora, and fauna safe and sustainable. It would be improper and unfair to leave everything solely in the hands of environmentalists. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the book explores and examines the roles that record creators, record managers, librarians, information managers, and archivists play in the endeavour to meet one or more of the 17 SDGs. The book is an all-in-one compilation of information science sustainability, making it a unique contribution to sustainability where different perspectives, views, critiques, and explorations are found under a single cover.

Using a multi-disciplinary approach and a multi-research strategy, the book addresses the following six major topical issues as they link with records and archives management: the nexus between records management, climate action and sustainable development; green information management; environmental management; sustainable development goals; information and communication technologies; and knowledge management. The targeted audience for chapter contributions includes records management professionals, archivists, information managers, environmentalists, information and communication technologists, knowledge managers, undergraduate students, post-graduate students, public and private sector organisations, non-governmental organisations, universities and colleges.

Dr. Samson Mutsagondo is an Assistant Professor at Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. His research interests include green information management, skills and capacity development, artificial intelligence, and records management. He possesses extensive expertise in records, information and archives management, having worked as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe and a Chief Archivist at the National Archives of Zimbabwe for a period spanning 15 years. To date, Dr Mutsagondo has published 40 journal articles and book chapters, and 2 conference proceedings. In addition, he is the editor of the book “Artificial Intelligence in Records and Information Management”. He has presented papers at many international conferences in Europe, Africa and Asia.