Leapfrogging Possibilities For Sustainable Consumption and ...

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BOX 1 : ICT Leapfrogging and SCP The relevance and implication of leapfrogging cases to the SCP approach of meeting basic needs and hence alleviating poverty and hunger is illustrated by the case of Ethiopia. As mentioned earlier the most common and widespread case of leapfrogging has happened in the area of ICT and usage of cellular phone both in Africa and other parts of the world. This leapfrogging has shown already a positive impact on the economic development of countries that have leapfrogged, albeit at a hitherto insufficient level. Ethiopia has so far installed 4 500 kilometres of fibre optics. It has covered all its 600 districts and well above half of its 15 000 Kebeles, the smallest unit of administration. Although still the project is mainly in the phase of developing the infrastructure, even the low level of utilization so far has resulted in appreciable magnitude of results. Different activities carried out through video-conferencing such as educating over 6 000 people in an area very far from the point of instruction has created, among other things, the reduction of consumption of transport fuels imported by hard currencies. Connecting district courts to high courts has reduced the discomfort of citizens who would have travelled long distances for appeal procedures leaving their jobs behind. Moreover, the expenditure of the government in terms of the allowances given to employees who used to travel from place to place has now reduced due the fact that such trips are made unnecessary. It has become common now to send reports from the smallest units of administration to the regional and federal government offices electronically and thereby making the whole process faster and effective. This is happening even in previously inaccessible areas such as Rash Dashen, the highest mountain in Ethiopia with an elevation of 4620 meters above sea level where road construction etc is very costly due to topographic difficulties. As a test case of the health-net initiative in Ethiopia, a hospital in Ethiopia is connected to a specialist hospital in India thereby sharing patient information electronically in realtime simultaneously with the possibility of exchanging ideas regarding diagnosis and treatment. Once around 20 hospitals in the country are connected, this same technique will help patients in rural parts of Ethiopia to have access to the best medical doctors of the country without being transferred over long distances. All these will have a propagating effect of huge improvement in the production and consumption realm due to efficient communication, connectivity and access, leading to better health services and education. Besides, to consumers and retailers as well as farmers the connectivity dimension provides access to better market information. 38
5 SCP Areas attractive for leapfrogging in Africa Many of the leapfrogging discussions and literatures on successful cases and suggestions for the future, specifically targeting Africa, focus on the ITC sector. As one important missing link in the development of Africa is lack of access and connectivity, cellular phones and desktop and laptop computers will play a vital role in transforming daily life of Africans. In addition to this indispensable role of ICT in the economic and social development, there is an obvious need to consider leapfrogging possibilities in other sectors namely agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors. In all three clusters outlined below i.e. Infrastructure Planning and Development, Production and Manufacturing, and Service Delivery, the role of ICT in enhancing their implementation and operation significantly is very crucial. The areas that are selected worthwhile to look at are those that are related to meeting basic needs and have an infrastructural importance in terms of pulling millions of Africans out of poverty. 5.1 Infrastructure Planning and Development Cluster 5.1.1 Energy There is a need for leapfrogging both in the area of fossil fuels and renewable sources. In oil rich countries such as Algeria, Angola, Libya, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Equatorial, Guinea, Gabon, Mauritania, Sudan, and Tunisia the technology used for oil extraction is important. The same is true for the natural gas producing countries namely, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, and Nigeria. In the renewable energy front, examples of leapfrogging technologies to consider for the African context are solar nano tubes, magnetic wind power turbines and bioenzymic processes that can convert cellulose materials to fuels for cooking and transport. The bottom line is to have access to ecologically sustainable, economically affordable and socially acceptable energy solutions. Once an energy system that is based on renewable systems is set, clean or carbon-neutral industrialization can be developed. On the infrastructure front while expanding Grid-based systems in the urban areas a balance of decentralized solutions is worth considering in rural areas. On the supply side depending on the prevailing condition of each country and sub-region, a resource mix of renewable and non renewable should be sustainable developed. On the consumption side, efforts of promoting efficient use of energy and conservation as well as other demandside managements are of necessity. 5.1.2 Building and construction Building materials incurring less embedded energy and chemical inputs on one hand, winning social acceptability on the other, should be widely used with due attention to local contexts. A life cycle perspective of selecting the materials is necessary. Development and use of local renewable materials that can fulfil structural and safety 39
Page 1 and 2: Task Force “Cooperation with Afri
Page 3 and 4: 6.2.3 Lack of institutional capacit
Page 5 and 6: need to consider leapfrogging possi
Page 7 and 8: household and government level resu
Page 9 and 10: PART I - CONTEXTUAL DESCRIPTIION 2
Page 11 and 12: Table 1: Agricultural Indicators by
Page 13 and 14: The Reference scenario assumes cont
Page 15 and 16: primarily along waterways. Associat
Page 17 and 18: Figure 6: Water Supply and Sanitati
Page 19 and 20: Figure 8: Malaria affected areas in
Page 21 and 22: Figure 9: Threatened and endangered
Page 23 and 24: 3.2 Current activities related to S
Page 25 and 26: the context-relevance of SCP to Afr
Page 27 and 28: PART II- SCP AND LEAPFROGGIING 4 Le
Page 29 and 30: African countries face the challeng
Page 31 and 32: Biofuel The development of large-sc
Page 33 and 34: To appreciate the significance of t
Page 35 and 36: deterring cattle thefts, The EU bee
Page 37: Solar-powered micro-enterprise buil
Page 41 and 42: 5.2.3 Biotechnology Development of
Page 43 and 44: Sanitation access Sanitation Techno
Page 45 and 46: Figure 12: Proportion of Children C
Page 47 and 48: programme is associated with the go
Page 49 and 50: 7.3.3 South-South Cooperation Coope
Page 51 and 52: this temptation of going for quick
Page 53 and 54: initiatives. The role of developmen
Page 55 and 56: http://www.uneca.org/csd/CSD4_Repor

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