Tecnologias sociais: as organiza es n o governamentais no enfrentamento das mudan as climáticas e na promo o de desenvolvimento humano Social technologies: the non governmental organizations facing climate change and promoting human development

De acordo com o quarto relatório do Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as regi es semiáridas do mundo estar o entre as mais afetadas pelos impactos das mudan as climáticas globais. Estudos realizados pelo Ministério do Meio Ambiente (MMA), em 2007, confirmam que, no Nordeste brasileiro, n o apenas choverá menos e mais irregularmente, mas, também, haverá mais secas, devido ao aquecimento da temperatura. Diante dos diversos impactos sociais, ambientais e econ micos possíveis nesses cenários, é de fundamental importancia a verifica o de alternativas sustentáveis para o semiárido brasileiro. Este artigo tem por objetivo avaliar o potencial de algumas das tecnologias sociais (TS) de convivência com o semiárido, desenvolvidas por diversas organiza es, para a mitiga o das mudan as climáticas e a promo o de desenvolvimento humano. Constata-se que as TS tem grande potencial para auxiliar na mitiga o e na adapta o das mudan as climáticas, ao mesmo tempo que promovem melhorias na qualidade de vida das localidades onde est o sendo desenvolvidas. According to the fourth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the semiarid regions of the world will be among those most affected by the impacts of global climate change. Studies conducted by the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) in 2007 confirm that in the Brazilian Northeast, rising temperatures resulting from climate change will cause a drop in precipitation as well as irregularities in the frequency of rainfall. The various impacts (social, environmental and economic) from this scenario make it fundamentally important that sustainable alternatives currently being developed in Brazilian semi-arid regions should be supported. This article assesses the potential of social technologies (ST) for co-existence developed by various organizations for the dual purpose of 1) facing climate change while 2) promoting human development. It appears that ST have great potential to assist with the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change. Moreover, ST can help support improvements to the quality of life in the towns where they are being developed.