Natural Resources
The exploitation of natural resources is well known to affect the peace and security dynamics through exacerbating existing grievances, motivating greed, and ultimately financing and driving conflict. This exploitation, in addition, is often highly degrading for the surrounding environment and tends to be linked to negative socioeconomic dynamics such as poor benefit sharing practices, exclusion of vulnerable groups, unemployment and lack of livelihood options. Against these problematics, frontier technologies offer significant tools to address them through, for example, the use of Earth Observation for monitoring of exploitation to ensure sustainability and environmental protection, or employing blockchain to ensure benefit-sharing arrangements that contribute to local well-being and development.
Resources
Colombia: Ripple and Mercy Corps Launch Blockchain Pilot for Colombian Farmers
International
Ripple Impact has launched its second pilot of the year in partnership with Mercy Corps Ventures and WËIA. This new initiative is being carried out…
DRC: Inside the Mines Fuelling Congo’s Brutal War — and the World’s Tech
International
This is the Rubaya mine in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, an area ravaged by conflict stemming back to the 1994 Rwandan genocide and…
Egypt/Ethiopia/Sudan: How Science Could Resolve Africa’s Largest Water Dispute
International
A new study proposes a science-based policy for operating the Nile River’s mega-dams during prolonged droughts, aiming to balance Ethiopia’s need for hydropower with Egypt’s…
Conflict Minerals: In Data: Mining Disputes Rising amid Rush for Critical Minerals
International
There is growing opposition to the exploitation of critical minerals like cobalt and lithium, according to research by the Institute of Development Studies, a research…
Global Biodiversity at a Crossroads: The Need for Data in Conservation and Peacebuilding
Blog
The World Bank’s study highlights the urgent need for reliable biodiversity data to drive conservation efforts, especially in conflict zones and transboundary ecosystems. It argues…
Liberia: EPA, Partners Launch Geospatial Training to Boost Forest Monitoring
International
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of Liberia, in collaboration with Novasphere, has launched a one-week geospatial training program aimed at enhancing forest monitoring capabilities. Hosted…
DRC: The Impact of Conflict Minerals on Technology: A Closer Look at Tantalum from DR Congo
International
Currently, the DRC is experiencing ongoing conflict, with significant implications for tantalum extraction. Recent military actions by the M23 rebel group have drawn international attention,…
Liberia: FDA Okays Export of over 250 Illegal Logs
International
The Forestry Development Authority (FDA) permitted a company to export round logs mid-last year. However, the regulator ignored its computerized system—known as LiberTrace—red-flagged over 60 percent…
Afghanistan: How Data Analysis, Community Engagement, and GIS Delivered a Reliable Water Source to an Afghan Community
International
In early 2024, the Afghanistan Value Chains Program (AVCP), funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), launched an initiative in northern Afghanistan aimed…
Afghanistan: Geospatial Analysis Conveys Current Conditions under the Taliban
Blog
When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, one of its first policies was to ban poppy cultivation. The halt in a trade…
Liberia: Foresters Trained to Identify Timber Using Technology amid Smuggling Rise
International
The United States Forest Service (USFS) has sponsored the training of seven Liberian foresters in identifying timber species using science-based technology through smartphones as part of the…
Detecting Yemen’s Informal Dumpsites from Space
Blog
The war in Yemen has profoundly affected solid waste management, increasing open dumping and with it risks to the environment and public health. In this…
War and Climate Change Intensify Global Water-Related Conflicts
Blog
The Pacific Institute recently updated its Water Conflict Chronology—a database of water-conflict events that began to take form in the 1980s. The recent updates include…
Colombia: Renewable Energy in Colombia Boosted with a Line of Financing
International
Any local government authority in Colombia will be able to access, from today on, a new line of financing for the development of generation projects…
Will Critical Minerals Be Another Poisoned Chalice for Africa?
Blog
The world's journey to a decarbonised energy future requires a shift towards the development of low-carbon technologies. The development of these low-carbon technologies in the…
Low-Income Countries Host 75% of EJAtlas' Environmental Conflicts
Blog
The Environmental Justice Atlas (EJAtlas), created by researchers at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), has documented…
DRC: Blockchain Ensures Conflict-Free Gold from DRC: Society Artisanal and Minespider Partnership
International
Society Artisanal, an organization dedicated to exporting conflict-free artisanal gold from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has announced a collaboration with Minespider, a technology…
Women and Indigenous Peoples in Bolivia Resist Dispossession of Resource-Rich Lands
International
There is a natural relationship between women and their attachment to the land, the natural environment, clean water, and uncontaminated food, agreed the women interviewed…
DRC: Society Artisanal Partners with Minespider to Track Conflict-Free Gold from the DRC
International
Society Artisanal, an organisation that aims to export conflict-free artisanal gold from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has announced its partnership with Minespider, a…
Afghanistan: 'Critical' Lack of Clean Water Stalks Flood-Hit Afghanistan
International
After unusually heavy spring rainfalls unleashed torrents of muddy water that swept away loved ones and livelihoods across multiple Afghan provinces last month, it is clean…
Ukraine/Russia: Ukrainian ‘Ecocide App’ Calculates Russia’s Bill for Environmental Damage
International
Ukraine’s environment has been the “silent victim” of the Russian invasion, according to the country’s environment minister Ruslan Strilets, but thanks to app-wielding Ukrainian citizens,…
Colombia: In a Village Divided, Farmers Stall Massive Copper Mine in Colombian Andes
International
The Quebradona project aims to extract nearly 1.4 million metric tons of copper over a construction and production period of nearly 30 years, plus 2.6…
Ukraine: Eagles Shifting Flight Paths to Avoid Ukraine Conflict, Scientists Find
International
Eagles that have migratory routes through Ukraine have shifted their flight paths to avoid areas affected by the conflict, researchers have found. GPS data has…
CCC Commissioner Underscores Empowering Women
International
The Climate Change Commission (CCC) emphasized the critical role of women in addressing climate change and advocating for gender equality in ecological governance at the…
Water: The Connection between Water, Data and Peace
International
WaPOR, which stands for Water Productivity through Open-access of Remotely-sensed derived data, is a tool created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United…
DRC: Residents Worry as DRC Rebels Frantically Exploit Coltan Mine
International
Reputed to be the coltan capital of the world, the mining town of Rubaya, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has fallen into the…
Israel/Palestine: Half of Gaza Water Sites Damaged or Destroyed, BBC Satellite Data Reveals
International
Hundreds of Gaza's water and sanitation facilities have been damaged or destroyed since Israel began military action against Hamas, satellite analysis by BBC Verify has…
Kyrgyzstan/Tajikistan/Uzbekistan: Intel Report: Fergana Valley and Regional Security
International
The last meeting in Fergana between the heads of the security services of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan accentuated the countries’ desire to cooperate in regional…
Egypt/Ethiopia/Sudan: Energy Trades Could Resolve Longstanding Nile River Disputes
International
In the quest to resolve longstanding disputes over the Nile River’s resources, a novel approach has emerged, emphasizing energy trades as a potential pathway to…
The Gendered Impact of Heatwaves and Water Crisis in India
International
The effects of climate change, specifically heatwaves and water scarcity, exert disproportionate effects on women in India. Currently, water reservoir levels in the country have plummeted to…