A HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
#Cobalt is one of the most ubiquitous metals in modern life. It’s a crucial part of the lithium-ion #batteries that power our rechargeable devices. Without the energy density of cobalt, our phones, tablets, and even toothbrushes would lose their charge much faster.
That key attribute makes cobalt essential to green energy, too. The #ElectricVehicle revolution is powered by batteries that contain kilograms of cobalt—
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more than 1,000 times the amount in a #smartphone. As the market for electric vehicles heats up, demand for #cobalt is skyrocketing. A 2020 World Bank report projects that cobalt production will have to increase by up to 500 percent by 2050 to meet clean energy goals.
Roughly half of the world’s cobalt reserves are found in the resource-rich earth of the #DRC—one of the poorest countries on the planet.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/264930/global-cobalt-reserves/
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Nearly three-quarters of the global supply of mined cobalt comes from just two Congolese provinces, #Haut-Katanga and #Lualaba, in what’s known as the #CentralAfricanCopperbelt.
In the DRC’s artisanal mining sector—which exists alongside the formal mining industry—children and adults toil underground for hours in dangerous tunnels, using sticks or makeshift tools to mine for the cobalt-rich mineral #heterogenite. Others sift ore in noxious, contaminated #waters.
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With no protective equipment, #injuries and #deaths are common. Their take-home pay at the end of the day is often less than $2.
The #human and #environmental #destruction caused by #mining in the #DRC is staggering. Entire #communities have been forced to leave their homes to make way for a new mining concession. #ToxicWaste has contaminated critical water sources and arable land. Millions of #trees have been razed.
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The air, hazy with dust and particulates from open-pit #mines, is dangerous to #breathe.
These #inhumane working conditions, environmental harms, and the exploitative companies that underpin the deadly global #cobalt trade aren’t a recent phenomenon in the DRC. From the #rubber farms of King Leopold’s brutal Congo Free State in the 1890s to the #PalmOil plantations and #uranium mines of the twentieth century,
https://www.cfr.org/blog/why-cobalt-mining-drc-needs-urgent-attention
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#cobalt mining is just the latest chapter in a centuries-long story of exploitation in the #DRC. But despite the continuing legacy of #colonial resource extraction, local activists in the DRC have a vision for a better, fairer future.
https://globalhumanrights.org/stories/extraction-without-exploitation/
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anna_lillith 🇺🇦🌱🐖
