Environmental Technologies and International Trade

Introduction

Technology is critical to national development. And because the possibility of sustainable development is closely linked to the diffusion of environmental technologies to less developed countries, the market for such technologies is becoming increasingly relevant in the global economy. The purpose of this article is to explore, from the perspective of an environmental engineer, the relationships among economic development, environmental technologies and technology transfer by

1. 1. outlining technology transfer's relationship to the development process;

2. 2. defining and categorizing the technologies related to environ-mental protection; and

3. 3. describing how international trade agreements expand and standardize environmental protection on a global basis.

The article's intended audience is scholars and practitioners interested in the role of environmental technologies in international trade. Hopefully, its insights will help create a context receptive to technological innovations indispensable for those countries seeking to reach new levels of development, and to international trade agreements designed to protect the environment.

Technology and Its Importance in the Development Process

Technology and development

Technology is information, knowledge, practical experience, and the ability to use equipment and processes in the production of needed goods and services (Working Group on Environmental Technology Transfer, 1991). Sustainable development has become a contemporary mantra because it supports multiple objectives, including economic growth and environmental protection, all of them desirable. Yet the possibility of achieving such a goal is closely linked to the diffusion of environmental technologies to less developed countries. The capacity to use, modify, retain, and constantly improve information and knowledge so as to produce goods and services more effectively depends on factors that are both explicit (e.g., factories, equipment, and infrastructure) and implicit (e.g., education, experience, training handbooks, organization structures, or management capacity; Wallender, 1979). Technology is in people's brains as well as in their machines.

Technology is the most important factor in the development process. Whatever competitive advantages a country may have are less and less dependent on the availability of raw materials or cheap labor, and more and more on its ability to use new technologies and apply them to other productive processes (United Nations Centre for Trade and Development, 1990). Because new technologies are capital and knowledge intensive, it is easier for high-technology companies to raise funds and establish themselves in any country, with little regard to the availability of raw material or specialized labor in that region. The strategic importance of technology for national economic development guarantees that diffusion and adoption will occur by a range of methods, including legal purchase and licensing agreements, or illegal transfers (e.g., theft, forgery, copying, and smuggling) that do not respect intellectual property rights. Although these legal and illegal methods apply to technology transfer in general, environmental technologies illustrate some unintended consequences of technology transfer in this area.

The environmental impact of technologies: unanticipated consequences

Technological choices determine the kind of impacts imposed over the environment and natural resources (United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP], 1988). Technologies may have great impacts—positive or negative—on a short-, medium-, or long-term basis. For example, refrigeration technology improved dramatically with the discovery of chlorofluo-rocarbons (CFCs) around 1930. Until then, the gas used for refrigeration was ammonia, which caused serious problems because of its strong smell, toxicity, and flammability. On the other hand, CFCs were odorless, colorless, nonpoisonous, nonflammable, and extremely stable in the lower atmosphere. Owing to these qualities, they were used not only in refrigerators, but also as propellants in perfumes and aerosol sprays. It was only after these compounds had been released into the atmosphere for over 40 years that we discovered their negative environmental impact—when subjected to ultraviolet radiation, they release chlorine atoms that destroy the earth's ozone layer, increasing the amount of ultraviolet radiation reaching the earth and causing a dramatic increase in skin cancers. Thus, our greatest continuing challenge is learning to use technology in ways that improve productivity without generating significant environmental problems or damaging the availability of strategic natural resources.

Issues in technology transfer and development

Beyond the unexpected outcomes that can come from technology, even the movement and transfer of...