Page - 519 - in Loss and Damage from Climate Change - Concepts, Methods and Policy Options

22 Technology forClimate Justice… 519 include applications to agriculture inCambodia andBangladesh and coastal zones inThailand. Inmanyof thesecasespatents andother formsof intellectual property protection constrain technology transfer, especially from developed to developing countries (Klein et al. 2014).Between2008 and2010, 262patentswere published makingspecificclaims toabiotic stress tolerance (suchasdrought, heat,flood, cold andsalttolerance)inplants.Justsixcorporations,includingDuPont,BASFandMon- santo, control 77%of these patents in relation to climate-ready crops (ETCGroup 2010).NationalMeteorological andHydrological Services (NMHS) in developing countries do not have access to the same level of knowledge and technology as developed countries. For example, digital elevationmodel data at sufficiently high resolution, requiredformoreaccuratefloodriskmodelling, isusuallynotaffordable (Simpsonet al. 2015). UseofTechnology isUnjust Technologiesareoftenusedinunsustainableways,depletingresourcesandstacking upproblems for future generations (PracticalAction 2016). For example, industri- alisedagriculture leads tobiodiversity loss, thereby limiting theoptionsavailable to farmers to respond to climate-induced shocks and stresses. In somecircumstances, theuseof technologies to reduceshort-termriskandvulnerabilitycancontribute to increasedvulnerability toextremeevents for futuregenerations (Etkin1999;Moser 2010). This was seen in the impacts of HurricaneKatrina, where a flood defence systemenablingconstructioninafloodplaindecadesbeforefailed,withcatastrophic consequences for thepopulationofNewOrleans in2005 (Freudenburget al. 2008; Link2010).Floodprotectionleveesareknowntoeliminateoverbankflooding,caus- ingdiminishedsedimentaccumulationandeventualwetlandloss,whereaswetlands arebeneficial asanaturalbuffer forhurricanes (Turner et al. 2006). Technological Innovationand Implementation for theMostVulnerable Technological innovationand implementation is rarelydrivenby themost pressing socialandenvironmentalchallenges.Technology justiceargues for the involvement ofthepoorestandmostvulnerablesothattechnologiesdeliverimpactsonourbiggest humanchallengesandarenotdrivenbyaprofitmotivealone(PracticalAction2016). It requires lookingintohowtechnologiescanempowervulnerablecommunitiesand which corresponding capacities theyneed to best utilise and further innovate these technologies.Thisrequiresacriticalexaminationofnotonlyhowtechnologyreduces vulnerability but also how the use of some technologies can increase vulnerability to disasters, for example bydegrading the local environment or by creating a false senseof security. GovernanceMechanisms toEnableAccess Appropriate governance enables access to the technology and knowledge that is required, promotes theuseof inclusive technologies andcurbs those that adversely affect the environment (Practical Action 2016). Governance mechanisms should ensure that there is a coherence between the global and national/local policies and that technologies required for implementing climate riskmanagement (CRM) are considered in national and local public investments. Governancemechanisms are