Short note: Appropriate technology in Nepal

Appropriate technology is technology that fits local economic, social, cultural and environmental conditions: low-cost, small-scale, labour-intensive, easy to operate and repair locally, using local materials and renewable resources.

Significance in Nepal:

1. Suits rural and mountain geography: many villages are far from roads and the national grid; decentralised options like micro-hydro, solar home systems and improved water mills work there.
2. Low capital, abundant labour: Nepal is capital-poor but labour-rich; AT creates local jobs and reduces foreign migration pressure.
3. Uses local resources: water, sunlight, biomass and local materials reduce imports and save foreign currency.
4. Environment protection: biogas and improved cooking stoves reduce firewood use, deforestation and indoor air pollution.
5. Health and women's welfare: less smoke in kitchens, less time collecting firewood and water.
6. Self-reliance and ownership: communities can build, run and maintain the system (e.g. community-managed micro-hydro).
7. Rural income: improved water mills, solar dryers and agro-processing add value to farm products.

Examples: micro-hydro, biogas plants, improved cooking stoves, improved water mills, solar dryers, rainwater harvesting, gravity-flow water supply, trail bridges, drip irrigation. Nepal's Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) promotes many of these technologies.