Hi Vijay
I enjoyed reading your blog. it seems that we do share the same concerns and have similar ideas. The ideas of technology transfer and of investing in renewable energy initiatives are dear to my heart (and got some mention in my blog "Pam - we want street lights") so I was interested to read about the President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed, and especially his comments that:
The Western countries cannot ask "dynamically fast developing" countries like India not to produce or consume energy in order to control carbon emissions. The better option for the rich countries is to invest in renewable energy initiatives and facilitate transfer of technology to developing countries.
Similar ideas also featured in a 21st Century Network Meet-up that I recently attended in London. It was called Climate Change - Involving The Big Players. The speakers were presenting ideas related to investment in sustainable technologies, and in projects that would not show a quick financial return, but would be valuable in the long term.
Sustainable technologies are also a recurring theme in our UK-Nigeria team meetings, and in related convesations (voice and emails) that I have with various people. A few recent ones come to mind:
- A wood burning stoves project at Fantsuam Foundation
- Exploration of using solar power to charge phones (involving people at several locations in UK and several locations in Nigeria)
- Exploration of using other solar powered artifacts
- Exploration of "domestic solar" (power in a suitcase)
- Skype update yesterday with Stewart Craine of BarefootPower - Fantsuam Foundation would like to get invovled with this project as part of its SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) programme, but needs an investor to launch the project.
I wonder if technology transfer for sustainable development is an area of shared interest that we could start to work on together here at dadamac.net. What do you think?
Pam