Technology impact and appropriate technology for LDC

Technology and its impact on societies

Technology is the application of scientific knowledge, tools, skills and organisation to produce goods and services and solve human problems.

Positive impacts:

• Higher productivity, economic growth and new jobs
• Better health care and longer life
• Fast transport and communication; global connection
• Access to education and information; empowerment of women and marginalised groups

Negative impacts:

• Unemployment of unskilled workers due to automation
• Income inequality and digital divide
• Erosion of culture and traditional values; breakdown of joint families
• Pollution, deforestation and climate change
• Misuse: weapons, cyber crime, privacy loss

Appropriate technology

Appropriate technology is technology suited to the local economic, social, cultural and environmental conditions: low-cost, small-scale, labour-intensive, simple to operate and repair, based on local materials and skills, and environmentally friendly (E. F. Schumacher, Small Is Beautiful, 1973).

Examples: micro-hydro, biogas, improved cooking stoves, improved water mills, solar home systems, rainwater harvesting.

Relevancy to LDCs (like Nepal)

1. Low capital requirement: LDCs lack capital; AT is cheap to install.
2. Employment: it is labour-intensive and uses the large unemployed labour force.
3. Local resources and skills: uses local materials and can be repaired by local technicians, reducing import dependence.
4. Rural development: decentralised technologies (micro-hydro, solar) reach remote villages where the national grid or heavy machines cannot.
5. Environment friendly: renewable energy reduces deforestation and pollution.
6. Self-reliance and ownership: communities can build, own and maintain it.
7. Poverty reduction: saves time and fuel (e.g. biogas saves women's time collecting firewood), raising income.

Thus appropriate technology helps LDCs develop in a sustainable and equitable way.