Corner: African women speak out about the sacrifices caused by the development of mineral resources, demand compensation for historical damages

On October 13, tens of thousands of attendees gathered at the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which is being held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Photo taken in June 2016 at a copper-cobalt mine in southern Congo (2024 Reuters / Kenny Katombe)

[JOHANNESBURG/BAKU, 13mh Thomson Reuters Foundation]- Tens of thousands of attendees gathered at the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which is being held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. At the same time, in October, an “anti-COP” meeting was held in Senegal, attended by more than 120 African women activists who criticized the COP conference.

These women activists are members of the Women’s Climate Council (WCA). They want compensation for the historic environmental and social damage caused by mining, and a stronger voice in extracting essential minerals for the world’s transition to clean energy.

Oumou Coulibaly, a WCA member based in Senegal, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation: “I’m in favor of energy transition, but I’m against it if it includes child labor in mines, and if it means that women are used. injured and used.” If that is the case, I will oppose it.”

At the Africans Against the COP meeting held in October, activists spoke about the challenges caused by mining activities, from communities displaced by the development of new gold mines in Burkina Faso to water pollution from aluminum mines. in Guinea Information was provided about adverse effects.

Meanwhile, in Baku on the 13th, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, gave a speech following the conclusions of the Panel of Experts on Critical Mineral Resources.

“Too often we have seen the mistakes of the past repeated, where the hordes of the greedy crush the poor,” Guterres said.

“We have a situation where we are rushing for resources, taking advantage of communities, trampling on rights and neglecting the environment. Developing countries are being pushed to the bottom of the value chain and other countries are building wealth on their resources.”

A report published by a panel of experts in September recommended making the mining sector more sustainable, including by creating a transparency framework and assets to deal with the legacy of abandoned mines.

Guterres said the report’s recommendations aim to “empower communities, establish accountability and ensure that clean energy drives equitable and resilient growth.”

Africa accounts for more than 40% of the world’s mineral resources needed for energy transfer, such as cobalt, lithium, and copper. Both are essential resources for “green” technologies such as electric cars and solar panels.

If, based on appropriate policies, more processing and manufacturing of these resources were done within the African continent, Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) would increase by at least $24 billion (3.75 trillion yen) per year, or 230 billion yen, we will create jobs for everyone, says a study by the civil society group Publish Don’t Pay You.

As COP29 debates what to do next, African women activists are calling on international mining companies to reap wealth from mineral resources while local residents face little but environmental destruction .

The anti-COP group of African activists and the WCA argue that African voices are largely excluded from the COP. It is said that governments and companies in the developed countries of the so-called “Global North” are failing to keep their commitments at the COP to provide funding to deal with climate change as needed.

The WCA is working to quantify past financial losses and is preparing legal cases to seek compensation from the companies that caused the pollution.

“We need to talk to polluters about the problems they bring to our communities,” Abie Freeman, a WCA member from Liberia, said in a statement.

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In a declaration released last year, the WCA condemned the impact of resource extraction such as oil drilling and mineral extraction in the Congo Basin, saying, “The leaders of the most powerful countries in the world are side with their own dirty businesses. .

The Congo Basin is extremely rich in mineral resources such as cobalt and coltan, and is sometimes called the “lung of Africa”. This is because the area’s forests are the world’s largest carbon sink.

Prime Minister Judith Souminuwa Turka, the first female prime minister in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said reports have intensified the linking of mineral resources, including those needed for energy transfer, to states the country’s civil war that they do that.

“For the energy transition to be fair and just, it must be built on a foundation that contributes to peace and development,” said Prime Minister Suminuwa at the COP29 event.

This means producing countries and their local communities benefiting from every step and investment, Sminuwa continued.

Samantha Hargreaves, director of Warmin, an African ecofeminist coalition, says that the resources needed for green energy devices, such as solar panels and batteries, are increasingly replacing minerals such as cobalt and lithium.

Mr Hargreaves argues that Africa, as an integrated regional bloc, should control the extraction and trade of essential minerals. Mining projects often reduce women’s access to public services, water and energy, and increase the incidence of sexual violence.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) also participated in a report by the United Nations Panel of Experts, which said it would help local communities to increase the benefits they receive from the development of mineral resources and businesses “with to raise high value”. , such as domestic processing We intend to cooperate with other countries to achieve this goal.

Ruthumaria de la Mora, Director of International Trade and Commodities at UNCTD, said that women are underpaid in the mining sector and are often left alone when men have to leave their communities to work. to find in the mines families.

Speaking to the Thomson Reuters Foundation at the COP29 venue, Della Mora said, “In the age of mineral resources, which are essential to the energy transition, we must be careful not to repeat the same model we have seen before. ‘ ‘ There are.

However, Della Mora expects that this will take time, including the establishment of a legal and regulatory framework that will be binding on governments and businesses.

“I think the first step is to do a good evaluation, and we’re at that stage right now,” said DellaMora.

(Translation: Airkreren)

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