Report (Part 1): Sustainable Development Convention 2002

Digital Revolution in favor of Sustainable Development

Time: 30 October 2002, 9:45 Location: A Chair: Cheryll Gerelle, CEO IBEX, Peter Sissons Presenters/ Participants: Dr. Ashok Khosla, Development Alternatives Group Reporter: Danielle Dalsoren, Makoto Fujiwara (ICVolunteers) Languages: English Key words: Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA)

From mud bricks to cyber-cafés, one Indian company is taking sustainable development into their own hands. Dr. Ashok Khosla, of the Development Alternatives Group, described their remarkable accomplishments toward sustainable development.

Dr. Khosla began with a broad overview of the bases for sustainable development achievements in India. He articulated that sustainable development, although a very complex issue, is also one that is highly amenable to action.He described the current context of development: 85% of the world's wealth is contained in one-fifth of the population; two billion people do not have clean drinking water; three billion people live in third world countries; etc. He proclaimed that these problems are everyone's problems because if current trends do not change, the whole world will pay the cost of the self-centeredness of a few.

Dr. Khosla defined sustainable development as development such that everyone's needs are met without destroying our resource base. The means by which this can be achieved are equity, ecological security, economic efficiency and endogenous choices. In essence, sustainable livelihoods need to be created. He went on to describe the determinants of sustainability:

• Technology
• Economic institutions- social welfare, subsidies, taxes
• Government and institutions- local government, self-help groups, infrastructure
• Knowledge structure
• Value systems- lifestyles, consumption patterns, relationship with nature, attitude toward waste, etc.

Dr. Khosla further elaborated on the use of technology toward sustainable development. Technology is perhaps the easiest of these determinants to implement, and impacts economic productivity and efficiency. Technological choices for developing countries must be context specific (specific to the aspirations, resources and stage of development of the people who will use it), dynamic and must also empower people. Dr. Khosla described three different strategies for technology transfer:

1. "Copy-cat" -- to make an exact copy of technologies from the North
2. "Piggy-back" -- to adapt a technology to suit the local context
3. "Leap-frog" -- to create an entirely new technology or solution, specific to the local context.

Dr. Khosla then went on to introduce some of the innovations that the Development Alternatives Group has designed and implemented. The innovations include fireless mud brick construction, a hand loom that is comparable in speed and quality to machine looms, a water and energy-efficient recycled paper process, a power plant that uses a weed as fuel, a vertical shaft brick kiln that reduces emissions by 50%, low-cost check dams, vermicomposting (worm composting) and many others. All of these innovations are being implemented through the business division of the Development Alternatives Group-Technology and Action for Rural Advancement (TARA), and have proven extremely successful at providing sustainable livelihoods for people throughout India. Through "TARAhaat Information and Marketing Systems, Ltd.", the Development Alternatives Group is also working toward bridging the digital divide by establishing franchise cyber-cafés. The power of the Internet, he asserted, lies in its universal access, decentralized nature, multiple entry points, and ability to share existing knowledge and forge partnerships. TARAhaat's immediate goals for the cyber-cafés are to help accelerate development, decentralize economic activity and emphasize the use of renewable resources. He then listed the conditions he felt are necessary for successful sustainable development through technology:

• Technological choice
• Pricing systems
• Subsidies
• Intellectual property rights
• International cooperation- new goals for development; reward/promotion systems for sustainable solutions

Dr. Khosla summarized by saying that sustainable development solutions must include the social objectives of equity and empowerment, while still being scalable, commercially viable and competitive -- to combine public good with private benefit. The independent sector -- NGOs like TARA -- is the key to implementing this kind of development.

Interesting Questions
Hugh Falkner, a member of the audience, asked what role banking plays in sustainable development. Dr. Khosla replied that banking is a key issue for sustainable development. He stressed that banks currently provide only micro- (household-scale) credit and large-scale credit. Banks tend to avoid "mini-credit" (between ,000 and ,000) loans because the transaction costs are too high. However, mini-credit is the type of financing that is essential for building small companies. We must "think out of the box" in order to provide financing for this scale of business, because it is the key to sustainable development.

Conclusions
Through innovation and small business, the Development Alternatives Group serves as one of the first successful business models for sustainable development.