Poor Countries Demand Green Technology

African Nations Say Importing Expensive Hardware Makes Goals Unattainable

(AP)  Uganda gets plenty of sun, making it a great spot for solar energy. There's only one problem: In one of the world's most impoverished nations, few people can afford an imported solar panel.

Poorer countries accuse the rich of pressuring them to control emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, while refusing to provide them with technology needed to do so without hurting their economies.

They have made their demands that rich nations provide cheap access to green know-how a centerpiece of the U.N. climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia.

"We know the challenges are there, but we cannot respond to the challenges because we don't have the capacity," said Maria Mutagamba, Uganda's environment minister.

Wealthy countries say they must consider demands of private companies for protection of their intellectual property rights, assurances they will have the opportunity to profit from their investments, and better regulation and laws in host nations.

Industrialized countries deny they are unfairly withholding know-how from poorer nations.

"Let there be no doubt, America is engaged in the transfer and receipt of technologies on a massive scale," Jim Connaughton, the chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, told reporters.

The need of developing countries for energy will only increase with economic growth, and they argue that reliance on outdated technology today will lock them into high-emissions patterns for decades to come.

The United States has long been the world's top greenhouse gas emitter, but some say it has already been eclipsed by rapidly growing China, a country that relies heavily on outdated and dirty coal-burning technology. India's burgeoning economy is also a growing environmental worry.

"What is needed in the short- to medium-term is for developed countries to speed up the process of transferring climate-sound technologies to developing countries," said Maxwell Kofi Jumah, Ghana's environment minister. "Time is running out and more action is needed."

Uganda relies on hydropower for almost all of its electricity. But droughts in recent years have cut the supply, forcing people chop down trees for firewood.

That's why Mutagamba, the environment minister, is so interested in solar power.

"We're still importing everything," said Mutagamba, explaining why solar panels are so expensive in her country. "When there's no electricity, then the people go and cut the forests."

A draft of the statement to be released at the end of the conference calls on countries negotiating a new global warming pact to consider ways of removing barriers to technology transfer, provide incentives and improve access to clean technology.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol on global warming already established ways of funneling green technology to developing countries. But money so far has focused on China, India and Brazil, leaving impoverished Africa mostly out of the process. A so-called Adaptation Fund, which helps countries adjust to the effects of rising temperatures, is seriously underfunded.

Developing nations have also called on the U.N. to fully fund the programs for technology transfer, set up powerful incentives for companies to share their know-how with the developing world, and set international targets for such transfers.

Wealthy countries, meanwhile, are pushing free-market answers to speed the diffusion of technologies.

The United States and the European Union, for instance, have proposed tearing down trade barriers to 43 green goods and services such as wind turbines. Washington is also concerned about protecting intellectual property rights as technology is spread around.

"If you want funds, venture capital funds, going to such inventions, the entrepreneurs, the businesses that invest, need to know they're going to get a return on their investment," U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in Bali earlier this week.

[pepperwood2]

Uganda gets plenty of sun, making it a great spot for solar energy. There''s only one problem: In one of the world''s most impoverished nations, few people can afford an imported solar panel.

Let me ask the people here in Good Ole USA? What makes Kyoti, UN & Green Team, think that the average person here can afford the high cost of alternate forms of energy? Solar Energy just for one.

After all Big Oil & Big Business continues to make record setting profits each quarter & Al Gore receives special funding from those that have set him up as The Global Warming Guru.

The rest of us would like to do our fair share & be treated with dignity & respect.

I''m serious! As a retired senior c, I simply don''t have the luxury that Al Gore has been given of Free Gratus! All the rest of us have received during these debates is a generous supply of threats & innuendos.

[runningralph]

Why don''t African countries have factories and infrastructure? Why can''t they build solar panels? I suspect it''s because large numbers of them are down on their knees 5 times a day kaotaoing to Mecca. Not very productive for anything but war and terrorism. Other large numbers concentrate on singing and dancing and procreating. The main thing they produce is hungry mouths. How many generations have we been looking at pictures of babies with their ribs sticking out? It will never get better until the Africans themselves realize that poverty is caused by high birth rates and blind faith in religion.

[octavianfdlr]

Is this Bali conference about science (the allegation that we humans are causing global warming) or about politics (demanding that the US give someone some money)?

(Hint: the reporter started by pointing out that few Ugandans can afford solar panels to make them energy-independent. What about Americans...)

[wny14127]

The EU is so big on ''green'' stuff, let them supply the poor countries.

Oh, I forgot, the EU has no innovative industries. They can''t do it themselves, so they sue successful American companies who can make products.

[rf35]

Ther reason I advocate population control is for the good of mankind. I don''t have children and don''t plan to. I would vastly prefer one child per family laws and bring the Earth''s population down to a sustainable level, but that might be too radical of a move for most. Question: what happens to the deer population when most predators are remove from the ecosystem? Answer: the population explodes, they consume all the food in the area, disease runs rampant, and the herd eventually collapses. All of them DIE. Since humans have no preadators, it''s up to us to keep our numbers under control by way of having fewer children. This would reduce problems of water shortages, famine, disease, and of course, energy consumption. One would think this wouldn''t be so hard for a supposedly intelligent species.

[blazercoach1]

krenz, you''re right on. Perhaps they would like to sell some of their military equipment in exchange for green technology? If they are serious, they will make consistent decisions to promote life.

rf35...have you forgotten WHO we want to "save the earth" for? PEOPLE! Not just you and yours...but all people. If you''re so concerned about population..then don''t have ***. If you insist on population controls, why stop at 2? Why not just 1 child? Why not just enough for them to maintain their infrastructure so that there will be enough people to serve you when you come visit but not so many people that they get in your way? Help people or don''t....but don''t confuse your motives.

[krenz4]

I agree, but it seems that it is always gimme gimme gimme with these countries that have plenty of resources for hatred and war, but none for food or peace. They have looted their own economies,or stood while their ''leaders'' have done it, engaged in ethnic cleansing, and all manner of horrors, but they spend none of their time or energy, or resources on self sustanance.Always wanting richer countries to prop them up, but complaining about our meddling when we do.

[rf35]

Before allowing these technology transfers to Africa or Asia, the countries need to adhere to population growth limits. Without such limits, there will never be enough power to from "green" sources and they will continue to destroy their environments while calling for more and more energy production aid. At the very least, population sustainment laws (no more than 2 children per couple) should be enacted before technology transfer or aid of any kind is offered.