Publisher’s Comments and Table of Contents – September 2026
Welcome to the Appropriate Technology September 2026 issue.
There is something uncomfortable about looking towards 2030 from where we stand today. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promised a shared vision of a fairer, healthier and more sustainable world. Yet the landscape is increasingly defined by conflict, climate disruption, economic insecurity, poly-crises and declining faith in multilateralism. Funding is inadequate, political will uneven, and progress on many SDGs stubbornly slow.
Is Agenda 2030 becoming a mirage? Perhaps. But there is another story worth telling – and it lies at the heart of this issue of Appropriate Technology.
Across the Global South, innovators, researchers, farmers, engineers and communities are developing technologies rooted in the realities they face. They are not waiting for perfect conditions. They are finding ways to grow food with fewer inputs, generate energy where grids do not reach, transform waste into valuable resources, monitor soils affordably and create livelihoods from locally available materials.
Our special feature, Focus on the SDGs, explores the tension between broken promises and practical possibility. It examines innovations emerging from the Global South and considers some of the most promising technologies of 2026 that could help accelerate progress towards the SDGs.
The stories throughout this issue reinforce that message. In Agriculture & Food, novel biopesticides could help protect Europe’s olive trees, plant–fungi symbioses could support more sustainable farming, and custard apple could offer farmers a promising new crop. In Health & Wellbeing, the search for artificial blood continues.
Innovation is equally evident elsewhere: wastewater and brine are being transformed into bio-based fertilisers, animal protein could increasingly be produced without livestock, and solar innovation is transforming lives in Bangladesh. Digital tools such as CropSuit and low-cost soil monitoring are helping farmers make better decisions and improve yields.
We have contributions from Practical Action, Engineering for Change, Prolinnova and Appropedia which all remind us that successful innovation depends on people, local knowledge, sustainable design and community ownership. The 2026 Ashden Awards likewise highlight climate innovators, including three winners from the Global South.
The SDGs may be under extraordinary pressure, but the future is not predetermined. Grand promises may be faltering, yet practical progress is happening – in fields, laboratories, workshops and communities.
That is where hope becomes tangible.
Ras Patel - Publishing Director
raspatel@appropriate-technology.com
Category: Publisher's comments, Table of Contents
