Table a Motion

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🎯 SDG 9

Motion GA-26/09 — Establishing a Global South Data Center Network for Digital Inclusion.
Sustainable Development Goal: SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure)

The General Assembly,

Recognizing that access to computing infrastructure has become essential to education, public services, and economic participation in the twenty-first century;

Concerned that more than two-thirds of the world's data-center capacity is concentrated in a small number of high-income economies, leaving developing regions dependent on distant and costly foreign infrastructure;

Affirming the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 9 to build resilient infrastructure and foster inclusive and sustainable industrialization;

Adopts the following operative provisions:

1. There is established a Global South Data Center Network (GSDCN), a network of regional data centers hosted across participating developing nations and coordinated by a UN-affiliated Digital Inclusion Authority.

2. A Digital Inclusion Fund of USD 8 billion over ten years is established, financed by assessed contributions from developed member states scaled to gross national income, supplemented by voluntary private-sector partnership.

3. The Authority shall ensure at least one operational facility in each participating region within six years, prioritizing sites with reliable renewable power and connectivity.

4. Public institutions, universities, and small and medium enterprises in participating nations shall be guaranteed affordable, subsidized compute access to the Network.

5. Each facility shall be powered by at least 60% renewable energy within eight years of commissioning.

6. Participating nations shall retain full jurisdiction over data stored within their borders, subject to common baseline data-protection and sovereignty standards set by the Authority.

7. Partner operators shall train the local workforce and transfer operational capability to the host nation within ten years.