The development of environmental technologies in such a scenario takes place with an approach that looks at the environment as a ‘problem-to-be-solved’ Technology has to be therefore developed and used to ‘solve’ a ‘problem’ with the environment. This is the classic ‘end-of-pipe’ approach.
But for technologies to be successful in developing countries, there are additional socio-economic criteria that also need to be taken into consideration. Experience has shown that, in developing countries, technologies not only ‘solve’ the ‘problem’ but also generate income and jobs at the same time.
In such a scenario, development of technologies takes place with an approach that looks at the environment primarily as a ‘business opportunity’ – to start a business, to create jobs, to generate income and to contribute to overall economic development. This is an important ‘leap-frogging’ approach that eventually also prevents an environmental problem from becoming a problem in the first place.
