ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the incentive regimes for the transfer and development of technological capacity in Africa with specific reference to environmentally sound technologies. It argues that much emphasis has been put on the international obstacles to the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, but the role of appropriate incentive regimes in the developing countries to facilitate technology acquisition and development has been downplayed. The chapter presents a range of policy incentives that could be applied to promote environmentally sound technology development in Africa. It also argues that the effective application of the proposed incentives can only be achieved if implemented within a policy framework that puts technology at the heart of the sustainable development process. The notion of technological appropriateness is being used widely when discussing the relationship between technology and environment. Probably the most important environmental development in the industrialized countries in the 1990s is the changing character of environmental research.
