Outcome document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society A/RES/70/125 with 3.4 per cent in 2005, and that mobile broadband remains the fastest growing market segment, with continuous double-digit growth rates reaching 47 per cent in 2015, a value that increased 12 times since 2007. 15. We note that the digital economy is an important and growing part of the global economy, and that connectivity is correlated with increases in gross domestic product. Information and communications technologies have created a new generation of businesses, innovators and jobs, while altering and making obsolete others, and have also generally increased the efficiency, market access and ingenuity of all sectors. We recognize the critical importance of expanding the participation of all countries, particularly developing countries, in the digital economy. 16. We also recognize that information and communications technologies are contributing to higher levels of social benefit and inclusion, providing new channels among citizens, businesses and Governments to share and augment knowledge, as well as participate in decisions that affect their lives and work. As envisioned by the World Summit on the Information Society action lines, we have seen information and communications technology-enabled breakthroughs in Government, including in the provision of public services, education, health care and employment, as well as in business, agriculture and science, with greater numbers of people having access to services and data that might previously have been out of reach or unaffordable. 17. We simultaneously recognize that information and communications technologies are fundamentally altering the way individuals and communities interact, consume and spend their time, with new and unforeseen health and social consequences, many of which are positive and some of which raise concerns. 18. We recognize that information and communications technologies have become important to disaster and humanitarian response, and further reaffirm their role in enhancing and developing multi-hazard early warning systems, preparedness, response, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction. We also encourage greater investments in innovation and technology development for long-term, multi-hazard and solution-driven research in the field of disaster risk management. 19. We recognize that information and communications technologies are also increasingly a means to support the diversity of cultural expression and the fastgrowing cultural and creative industries, and we affirm that comprehensive, practical digital strategies are needed for the preservation of cultural heritage and access to recorded information in the digital environment in all its forms. 20. We further recognize that increasing use of information and communications technologies both generates certain environmental benefits and imposes certain environmental costs, which we aim to reduce. We welcome the opportunity afforded by sustainable energy to potentially decouple the growth of information and communications technologies from contributions to climate change, and we also note their catalytic value for the deployment of renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart and resilient city concepts and Internet-enabled delivery of services, among other abatement options. However, we recognize that we must encourage further action to improve the resource efficiency of information and communications technologies and to reuse, recycle and safely dispose of e-waste. 5/14