Global Warming is the increase of the earth's
average surface temperature due to the effect of greenhouse gases, such as
carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide emissions from burning fossil fuels, deforestation,
and organic activities etc which trap heat that would otherwise escape from
Earth. Global warming results into climate change although global warming
itself represents only one aspect of climate change. Climate change refers to any
significant change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of
time. It includes major changes in temperature, precipitation, or wind
patterns, among other effects, that occur over several decades or longer.
Currently transfer of technologies, knowledge
and skills particularly from developed countries to developing countries occur
through a number of different channels or modes. This includes; Trade in goods
and services; All exports to different regions from a particular source may bear
some potential for transmitting technological information and the movement of
people especially workers from enterprises based on the technology rich
countries to regions deprived of such technologies. Secondly such transfers may
occur through foreign direct investment. As Multinational enterprises, transfer
technological information to their subsidiaries in developing countries, some
information or knowledge may leak to the host economies. Lastly transfer of
technology may occur through direct trading between different regions through
formal trading and licensing of such technologies.
Of interest to this paper is the interplays
of transfer of technology and global warming therefore the mode of transfer of technologies,
knowledge and skills of interest to this paper would be the transfer through
foreign direct investments and the legal trading and licensing of technologies
to consumer countries or regions. Often technology transfer in these two contexts
may occur as a result of either market pull or technology push. Market pull occurs where Multinational
enterprises relocating within developing countries are in need of or demand of
better or sophisticated technologies as compared to the host economies to
enhance their production. Technology push on the other hand occurs where
innovations or inventions are applied by Multinational enterprises to create
new markets or consumer needs for their commodities either within developing
countries or regions away from their mother countries.
Economy forms the most important mode of
organization of the society today, and economic growth virtually preoccupies
every inhabitant of the modern society. The
global economy is currently hugely fueled by fossil fuels with alternative and
saves sources of fuel such as wind and solar energy accounting for some
negligible percentage of the global energy consumptions and remaining highly unsustainable
for the global energy needs. There is a direct relationship between economic
growth and global warming. Human activities such as combustion of Fossil Fuels,
electricity generation, transportation, and heating, manufacture of cement etc
result in the emission of huge quantities of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This
enormous input of CO2 causes the atmospheric levels of CO2 to rise
dramatically. The large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
released into the atmosphere as a result of human activities normally form a
thermal blanket on the earth atmosphere, allowing the penetration of long wavelength
rays from the sun to the earth surface but preventing the re-radiation of short
wavelength rays into the atmosphere thereby trapping energy in the atmosphere
and causing it to warm. The continued buildup of greenhouse gases and the
trapping of the rays and their energies is causing the earth to warm in
unprecedented manner with 1999, 2005, and 2013 been the hottest years recorded
since 1850.
As indicated earlier, massive emissions of
greenhouse gases form a thermal blanket restricting the penetration into the
earth surface and re-radiation away from the earth atmosphere of the sun rays
due the change in the wavelengths of the rays. The magnitudes of emissions have greatly
increased at the turn of the industrial revolution due to the numerous
industrial activities taking place mainly within the current major developed
economies.
The shift in the production sectors by the
developed counties mainly from agricultural, to industrial and to service
sectors accompanied by the exploitative nature of capitalism economies and the
need for cheap labor and raw materials has lead to a major relocation of
massive industries from industrialized economies to developing economies. Although
to the optimists, the transfer of technology, knowledge and skills will
normally give developing countries undue advantage in term of development as
compared to the industrialized economies at their earlier stages of development
in the late 1800 and at the turn of the 1900 who had to invent most of their
technologies. However most of the profits earned through the industrial
activities in developing countries by Multinational enterprises are relocated
back to their mother countries. Such relocations have been made possible by the
accompanying transfer of technologies, knowledge and skills mainly through
foreign direct investments as evident by the numerous multinational corporations
relocating to Africa. The relocation is further made possible by the available
cheap labor and raw materials particularly land and natural resources. Technology,
knowledge and skills transferred create an opportunity for massive exploitation
of resources, massive production of goods and services, and massive emissions
of green house gases. With fewer frontiers remaining uncolonized, and massive
competition, the rate of exploitation of natural resource is and will continue
to increase with an accompanying increase in carbon dioxide emissions. Destructive
technologies from the north to the south will increase the rates of emissions
by the developing countries causing the cumulative amounts of CO2 in the
atmosphere to increase tremendously.
The opposite of the coin as discussed earlier
maybe rare but still a possibility where technology transfer may play a
critical role in reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases by African countries.
According to international panel on climate change’s definition of technology
transfer; technology transfer refers to a broad set of processes covering the
flows of know-how, experience and equipment for mitigating and adapting to
climate change amongst different stakeholders such as governments, private
sector entities, financial institutions, and non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) and research/education institutions. This however will call for attainment
of common goal by all actors globally and the transformation of the current destructive
technologies into cleaners and more climate resilient technologies and their
transfer to all countries including developing countries. However, underscoring
the significant role of the economy in shaping the current global society, the
key actors and the predominantly controlled development agendas of the African countries
and their poverty status, such a mode of technology transfer in favor of sustainable
development through reduction in greenhouse gases emissions where the agenda is
championed by developing countries and less African countries who are the
receipt of transferred technologies is not discernible.
Transfer of technologies, knowledge and
skills are important in the growth of Africa economies but such growth will
occur at the expensive of the environment. There are minimal opportunities
where such transfers will result in reduction in the emissions of greenhouse
gases.
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