Technology for all?

To use technology and changes in attitude to reduce resource consumption and pollution to more sustainable levels. This is necessary to avoid an environmental crisis
To use technology and resources to develop parts of the world where poverty, ill-health, illiteracy and food insecurity are growing concerns. This is necessary to avoid a humanitarian crisis
A green revolution for Africa?
1. The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), an organisation funded by the Gates Foundation ($150 million) and the Rockefeller Foundation ($50 million), is one body seeking solutions.
2. The need is critical, as Africa's population growth rate of 3% per annum since the 1960s has exceeded its agricultural production growth rate of 2%
3. Low levels of agricultural investment mean that maize yields in Africa are typically 1-1.5 tonnes per hectare, compared to 2.5-4.5 in field trials where the best available technology is used
4. There have been some successes, such as the rice variety Nerica, which has a short growing cycle, resists weeds and doubles yields
5. The green revolution of the 1960s and 1970s bypassed Africa, so now agricultural research is looking for a way to bring such a change to this continent
6. More than the right seeds are required:
  1. Water for irrigation will be required
  2. Fertilisers will be needed, but if new crops require large quantities, input costs will spiral
  3. Improved storage of crops is required to prevent rot and rodent damage, so that surpluses can be stored until sale
  4. Access to markets require better roads, as well as communication systems to check prices. Farmers who cannot get their surplus production to market will be no better off
  5. Education is needed in crop management, pest control, water management and the impact of climate change
7. Current research is focused on developing drought-resistant crops, such as maize and cassava, capable of tolerating Africa's variable and infrequent rainfall
8. Much more investment is needed if a Green Revolution is to spread to Africa's 180 million small famers
Business as usual
1. Our current model of technological development, with its dependence on fossil fuels, seems incapable of meeting either of these challenges
2. A business as usual approach is likely to lead to further increases in greenhouse gas emissions, land degradation and water shortages
3. Global inequality is likely to continue to grow, leaving many parts of the world, such as sub-Saharan Africa, technologically impoverished
4. Bangladesh
  1. Poor countries such as Bangladesh face stark choices and limited options in the future
  2. Some 10 million Bangladeshis live on land less than 1 metre above sea level
  3. If sea levels rise this far, 15% of the country could be lost
  4. In many areas, groundwater has already turned salty, forcing farmers to switch from growing rice to the aquaculture of shrimps and prawns
  5. Bangladesh's 130 million people produced 0.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2004, opposed to 22.2% produced by the USA's 300 million people
  6. Can technology come to Bangladesh's aid?
    1. Sea level might be slowed or halted if the developed world used technology to reduce carbon emissions
    2. Coastal populations might be relocated inland, but farm technology would be needed to boost yields and feed the people
    3. Sea defences could be constructed, but the estimated cost runs to billions of dollars, well beyond Bangladesh's means
    4. Flood warning technology and cyclone shelters and flood platforms would save lives, but not crops
    5. Aid might be required more frequently in the future if tropical cyclones and river flooding become more common
5. A country like Bangladesh can only realistically use technology to cope with frequent flood disasters that afflict it.
  1. Longer term solutions that prevent disaster are out of its hands without either massive aid from the developed world or action to tackle global warming
Technological convergence
1. Of all the technologies invented in modern times, the one which people have come to depend on most is probably the internal combustion engine, developed in the 1870s and 1880s
  1. When Karl Benz used this engine to power the first automobile in 1985, our love affair with the car began
2. More than 120 years later there are around 700 million vehicles globally, most of the private cars
3. Cars allow individual mobility, creating choice and allowing people to live and work where they wish
4. The spread of the motor vehicle is an example of technological convergence
5. Road transport plays a key role in development, allowing markets and networks to operate
6. Transport is an industry, typically accounting for 5-10% of GNP and providing jobs and income growth
7. As a country develops, people seek to buy cars both as a status symbol and to increase their mobility
8. The launch of the Indian-built Tata Nano in 2008, priced at $2,500 (the world's cheapest car) shows how keen developing nations are to get mobile
9. More cars however means more carbon dioxide emissions and a higher risk of serious climate change
10. In China the rapidly expanding economy has led to a soaring demand for cars
11. Sales grew by 56% in 2002 and 75% in 2003
12. China's 22 million private cars in 2007 were expected to grow to 140 million by 2020
Energy efficiency
1. Globally, 12% of greenhouse gas emissions come from transport, and this is likely to rise as car numbers grow
2. Adoption of automobile technology by the BRIC economies has serious environmental implications
3. Forcing people not to buy cars is politically unrealistic
4. The price of fuel may reduce demand, but in many developing countries fuel is subsided
5. Launched in 2007, the Automotive X-Prize is a global competition to find a 100mpg four passenger car. The winner will receive $7.5 million in prize money from the X-Prize Foundation
  1. This non-profit foundation is well known for its competitive challenges which seek to encourage technological breakthroughs
6. Already a German company, Loremo AG, has demonstrated a car with fuel efficiency well in excess of 100mpg
7. If widely adopted, cars such as the Loremo could have a dramatic impact on greenhouse gas emissions
8. The Loremo is planned to sell for only €15,000, so perhaps here is a case of energy efficiency not costing the earth
9. Other automobile technologies may help reduce the environmental impact of the car, but they need further development
10. Electric Cars
  1. Electric cars could reduce emissions if they use renewable sources of electricity
  2. Conventional batteries are heavy and lightweight lithium-ion battieries are expensive
  3. Only a limited distance can be covered at present by a single charge of the batteries
11. Hydrogen Cars
  1. Either burning hydrogen or using a hydrogen fuel cell to produce electricity, would only emit water vapour
  2. Producing hydrogen is energy-intensive, so renewable energy would be needed to do this
  3. There are also major safety challenges in transporting hydrogen and refuelling because it is highly flammable
12. Biofuels
  1. In theory is close to carbon-neutral, but there are concerns about using land to grow plants for fuel instead of fuel
Technology Transfer
1. In 2007, a report by the IMF, 'Technology Widening Rich-Poor Gap', concluded that the world has become increasingly unequal since 1980
  1. It stated that technology has contributed most to this rising inequality and technological divergence
    1. The IMF study suggested this was because of
      1. Rising levels of technology require a workforce with skills and education that the poorest lack
      2. Manufacturing plants in Asia have trained a skilled workforce, allowing them to benefit much more than unskilled workers in Africa and Latin America
2. The report concluded that education was the key to ensuring people in the least developed parts of the world could benefit from new technology
3. In order to prevent the technology gap widening even further, significant technology transfer to the developing world is required
4. The commitment to development technology index, produced by the Centre for Global Development, measures the developed world's willingness to allow this technology transfer.
5. Countries with high index scores, such as France, are characterised as:
  1. Refusing to grant patents for new plant and animal varieties, as these could deprive poor countries of new food crops
  2. Refusing to allow patents on some ICT software innovations that the developing world could use
  3. Not using bilateral aid as a lever to extend intellectual property rights
  4. Forcing patent holders to license production of innovations that are seen as being for the public good
6. If the developed world wants the developing world to adopt technologies that might help solve global environmental problems, these have to be available at low cost
  1. Such technology transfers do happen, but they often rely on NGOs to provide the funding required to purchase and install the technology
  2. In many cases, this might be achieved by waiving patent and intellectual property rights in some countries in order to allow low-cost production to begin
  3. Solar power is one such technology. If used extensively in the developing world, it will need to cost less than power from fossil fuels
7. Practical Action is a UK NGO which has installed 6,000 solar powered water pumps across the developing world, at a cost of around $6,000 each
  1. Solar water pumps are designed to:
    1. Provide 40 litres of water per person per day
    2. Provide water for people, livestock or crops, and therefore improve health and food security
    3. Store 3-5 days supply of water as a buffer against cloudy periods
The Future
1. The contested planet's environmental problems are partly a result of our addiction to technology, particularly those technologies powered by fossil fuels
2. The widening development gap is to some extent caused by the different levels of access to technology that different groups experience
3. Technology has a role to play in narrowing the development gap and addressing the key global concerns such as global warming
  1. This will only happen if we develop environmentally sustainable technologies and make them available to all
4. We have to face difficult technological, economic and moral choices if we are to successfully reconcile the urgent need for global environmental sustainability and human development

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Technology for all?

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	Created by Jodie Goodacre about 11 years ago