Adaptation technologies as drivers oF social development - Climate Change Adaptation and Development: Transforming Paradigms and Practices - page 102

environment elements) include relevant policies, human and organizational
capacity building and appropriate infrastructures.
For example, in a situation where an adaptation technology seeks to reduce
storm risks in a coastal area by building storm shelters, such shelters will be of
little use without early warning system and communication infrastructures. The
technology (storm shelters) is contingent on a communication infrastructure
such as an early warning system, as well as awareness of and the skills necessary for
using it: the early warning system is both an element of the enabling framework
and an adaptation technology. Strengthening this enabling environment element
(the communications infrastructure) would therefore contribute significantly to
the effectiveness of storm shelters.
Previous experiences with TNAs have shown that the prioritization
and selection of technologies for adaptation has been biased towards 'hard'
technologies. In addition, assessments tend to be quite generic, with little
attention to the details of national circumstances, including biophysical settings
and the economic, institutional, legal and socio-cultural contexts involved. That
indicates there is a special need for reconsidering technology options, as they may
otherwise fail to support countries in adapting to climate change. Klein (2011)
furthermore stresses that a narrow focus on technological hardware adaptation
options may in some cases be detrimental to development and vulnerability
reduction, particularly if there is a bias towards hard technologies. That is an
observation supported by Markandya and Galarraga (2011) and Vincent et al.
(2011) as well. Greater attention to soft technologies and framework conditions,
including orgware is generally advocated. Fida (2011) analyses the process of
TNAs for adaptation under the first phase of TNAs, the 'top-up round' from
1998 to 2008, with a focus on the challenges and lessons learned in countries
that have developed TNAs for adaptation. To inform and improve the process
of conducting future and ongoing TNAs, Fida (2011) explores how countries
have interpreted the concept of technologies for adaptation, and the impact of
this interpretation on the final outcome of the needs assessment for adaptation
technologies. Most first-phase countries chose hard technologies for adaptation.
Kossam (2011) draws several lessons on Malawi's experiences from the first
phase of TNAs, showing how more soft and organizational components
of technologies could help to improve the effectiveness of future TNAs,
emphasizing capacity building, institutional continuity, and the importance
of aligning TNA priorities with other national development objectives.
Importantly, Vincent et al. (2011) note that first-phase TNAs were often too
generic to provide sufficient detail on national contexts; moreover, by under-
emphasizing the soft and organizational components of technologies relative to
the hard components, one risks impeding effective adaptation to climate change.
Hardware cannot stand alone: soft- and orgware will need to be part of the
'technology package' applied for adaptation. Or, put differently: all technologies
(and their successful implementation) consist of three interconnected elements
(hardware, software and orgware); and the relative weight of each element