{"id":403174,"date":"2026-04-29T11:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/403174\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:37:07","slug":"critical-minerals-are-oil-of-21st-century-as-demand-fuels-poverty-and-pollution-in-poorer-countries-critical-minerals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/403174\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical minerals are \u2018oil of 21st century\u2019 as demand fuels poverty and pollution in poorer countries | Critical minerals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel are becoming the \u201coil of the 21st century\u201d as the scramble for precious metals deepens poverty and creates public health crises in some of the world\u2019s most vulnerable communities, a report by the UN\u2019s water thinktank<\/a> has found.<\/p>\n

The investigation by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH<\/a>) concluded that the growing demand for lithium, cobalt and nickel<\/a> used in batteries and microchips is draining water supplies, eroding agriculture and exposing communities to toxic heavy metals.<\/p>\n

An estimated 456bn litres of water were used to extract 240,000 tonnes of lithium in 2024, the researchers found, with little of the financial benefit or technological advances from the green energy transition or AI boom reaching the affected communities.<\/p>\n

Can we call the transition green or clean, asks Prof Kaveh Madani. Photograph: UNU-INWEH<\/p>\n

\u201cCritical minerals are quickly becoming the oil of the 21st century,\u201d said Kaveh Madani, director of UNU-INWEH and the 2026 Stockholm water prize laureate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we are selling as a solution to sustainability is actively hurting people somewhere else in the world. How can we then call the transition green or clean?\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), growth in demand for key energy minerals has been strong in recent years<\/a>, with lithium demand rising by nearly 30% in 2024. The production of rare earths<\/a> almost tripled between 2010 and 2023<\/a> as demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and powerful computer chips has soared.<\/p>\n

The report found that while EVs may reduce emissions by consumers in North America and Europe, the environmental and health costs are borne by communities far away, in the mining regions of Africa and Latin America.<\/p>\n

About 700m tonnes of waste, enough to fill 59m bin lorries, were generated by global rare-earth production in 2024. Africa \u2013 home to about 30% of the world\u2019s critical mineral<\/a> reserves \u2013 is being hit hard by the environmental fallout.<\/p>\n

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the world\u2019s biggest cobalt producers<\/a>, the authors say extraction has caused the widespread contamination of rivers used for drinking, fishing and irrigation in the south-eastern mining belt of Lualaba province.<\/p>\n

Women washing ore at Kamilombe, an artisanal cobalt mine, in Lualaba, DRC. A majority of the women doing this work report reproductive health problems. Photograph: Washington Post\/Getty<\/p>\n

According to the report, about 64% of people in the country lacked basic access to water in 2024, while 72% of those near mining sites reported skin diseases and 56% of women and girls reported gynaecological problems<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome communities struggle on, walking more than a mile to collect water, while others are being forced to abandon their homes for urban areas, driving them further into poverty,\u201d said Abraham Nunbogu, an UNU-INWEH researcher and the report\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n

Mining is driving poverty, says Abraham Nunbogu, the lead author. Photograph: UNU-INWEH<\/p>\n

Lithium extraction often requires large amounts of water to be pumped from underground salt flats and evaporated, while chemical processing of other critical minerals can contaminate rivers and underground reservoirs.<\/p>\n

Latin America\u2019s lithium triangle \u2013 the high-altitude salt flats that stretch across Argentina, Bolivia and Chile \u2013 hold some of the world\u2019s largest reserves of the metal. They are also some of the world\u2019s most arid ecosystems.<\/p>\n

In Bolivia\u2019s Uyuni region, some communities can no longer reliably grow quinoa, while in Chile\u2019s Atacama salt flats<\/a> \u2013 where lithium and other mining account for as much as 65% of regional water use<\/a> \u2013 lagoons are drying up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese salt flats are the traditional territory of several Indigenous peoples. Their agricultural and pastoral economies have been devastated by the intensive extraction of salt-flat brines and worsening water scarcity in what was already one of the driest ecosystems on Earth,\u201d said Jos\u00e9 Aylwin, coordinator of the lithium and human rights in ABC project, a cross-border research project tracking the social and environmental impacts of lithium mining in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.<\/p>\n

Lithium brine at a mine in Chile\u2019s Atacama desert, where vast amounts of groundwater are pumped from underground and evaporated in a very arid region. Photograph: Anadolu\/Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the report highlights, there is an urgent need to move from voluntary compliance mechanisms to mandatory international and domestic due-diligence standards.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UN researchers warn that the damage is expected to worsen because lithium production must increase ninefold by 2040 \u2013 the IEA estimates eightfold<\/a> \u2013 while cobalt and nickel extraction must double to meet climate targets.<\/p>\n

The authors say legally binding global standards on mineral sourcing, tighter controls on toxic waste and water pollution, and independent monitoring of water use and heavy metal contamination are needed to regulate industries.<\/p>\n

A resident of Obi Island in North Maluku, Indonesia, in a pool that was once a source of clean water for villagers until nickel mine waste polluted it. Photograph: AF Pramadhani\/Guardian<\/p>\n

Without an overhaul, the green transition risks repeating the patterns of fossil fuel extraction \u2013 enriching wealthier nations while leaving poorer communities to bear the cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought the Industrial Revolutions were progress and now we understand the damage it caused, so we are launching another revolution to fix it. But once again, the burden is falling on the poorest. We are just moving it from the Middle East to Africa and Latin America,\u201d Madani said.<\/p>\n

While the report paints a bleak picture of the environmental costs of the rare-earth extraction boom, some communities and governments are pushing back, said Thea Riofrancos, a political scientist at Rhode Island\u2019s Providence College who studies extraction and the energy transition.<\/p>\n

Protests in Argentina<\/a> and Chile<\/a> have challenged lithium projects in the salt flats, while Indonesia has banned exports of raw materials, including nickel ore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen anti-mining protests becoming more frequent and more militant around the world over the past two decades,\u201d she said. \u201cCommunities are forcing governments to pay closer attention to the costs of extraction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel are becoming the \u201coil of the 21st century\u201d as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[273,111,139,69,147],"class_list":["post-403174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}