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Abstract:
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"The emphasis on using environmental technologies for rural development is a defining feature of sustainable development. The perceived benefits attributed to such technologies relate to their capacity to mitigate environmental problems alongside the promotion of social and economic development. However, the success of these technologies in bringing about socially equitable and environmentally efficient outcomes remains unscrutinised. This report addresses this gap in the literature by examining the stateled introduction of an environmental technology for rural electrification in northern Thailand. This study argues that contrary to the programme objectives that allude to a sustainable development rationale, the introduction of the solar electric systems led neither to beneficial environmental outcomes nor to a socially sustainable technology transfer. Moreover, it is evident that these programmes were not designed to consider, much less meet, the most basic energy needs of the communities that they purported to serve. To explore why this situation might have arisen, the motivations of previous rural electrification programmes are considered: an analysis of which reveals a highly politicised, ethnically divisive state-serving agenda. Given the inability of the chosen technology to fulfil its objectives, it is concluded that this programme might have been directed by similar state-serving agendas with the addition of the appearance of promoting environmentally sustainable development."
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