Blood Coltan: Have a Coltan-free Holiday

The conclusion of 2014 marks a decade and a half of explosion in gadgets. Many firsts, like iPods, consumer GPS devices and the Wii, helped to spark the revolution that has forever transformed our world. Now each holiday season finds us discovering and fiddling with new laptops, smart phones, game consoles, and more, that aim to make our lives more convenient and entertaining.

However, technological advancement has come with a dark-side. A key element in creating the electronic devices we love is a mineral called coltan. Short for Columbite-tantalite, coltan is a black tar-like mineral, that when refined forms a heat resistant powder that can hold a high electrical charge. This property makes coltan vital for manufacturing tantalum capacitors found in a vast array of electronic devices, particularly mobile phones, laptops, tablets and many other modern gadgets and electronics.

A vast majority (80%) of the world's coltan is found in the mineral-rich country in the heart of Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). One would have hopes that the technological revolution and the world's subsequent reliance on coltan would help spark a natural development process within the DRC that would catapult the nation's economy and people out of poverty. In reality, the DRC has remained volatile and unstable. In the east of the country, where coltan is mined, worrying levels of death, rape and displacement continues. In fact, during the span of the last fifteen years, up to 6 million people have died, and many are capitalizing on the anarchy in order to plunder the DRC's natural resources.

Additionally, as different armed groups fight to gain control of the mines, it's become evident that there are financial links between the never-ending war and trading of DRC's coltan and other natural resources. The exploitation chain runs deep and involves rebel groups and forces from neighboring countries (Rwanda and Uganda), transnational corporations who purchase, distribute and process the conflict-mined coltan, and the manufactures who use the refined capacitors in a wide range of electronic devices.

Ultimately however, we are all responsible as consumers. The clear dilemma for us consumers however, is; How do we know exactly what we are buying? Or in this case, what conflicts may our hard-earned money be unintentionally funding? In efforts to pressure the big brands and producers of electronics to use fair trade and implement transparent mechanisms that provide evidence that they are not directly or indirectly exploiting or fueling conflict zones, consider having a coltan-free holiday season this year!

(Note: Blood coltan is not exclusive to DRC and central Africa. Coltan reserves also exist in the Amazon jungle and the region bordering Venezuela, Columbia and Brazil has also become a conflict zone.)

Take the pledge!

Here are just a few popular items that use coltan:
Mobile phones
Laptops
Tablets
GPS devices
Digital cameras
Video cameras
Video game consoles (Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo)
Drones and other military technologies
and the list goes on!

Links and resources:
AllAfrica.com: Congo-Kinshasa: Blood Coltan - Remote-Controlled Warfare...
Blood Coltan
Blood In The Mobile
Breaking The Silence: Coltan Facts
UN Coltan Primer
Fairphone

Family Planning and Africa's Next Generation of Women

Today's numbers indicate that we are 7.2 billion human beings inhabiting the Earth. And projections forecast we will multiply to nearly double digits (9.6 bn) by 2050! These numbers raise clear concerns related to sustainability, such as resource scarcity and climate change.

So what lies at the heart of the population issue and why can't we control it?

Much of the developed world has managed to stint it's population growth with future expected increases due largely to migration. But the least developed countries of the world (most of which are in Africa) maintain high fertility rates and continue to grow somewhat uncontrollably. Researchers have confirmed statistically the perceivable correlations between large family sizes in poor countries to lower child survival rates.

But what is not as obvious, is that by focusing on improving child survival rate, you can as an outcome, reduce average family sizes in the developing world.

I realize this solution sounds paradoxical, so let me explain.

The equation for improving child survival rate includes family planning. A major function of family planning services is that they promote birth spacing methods that advise against having a baby within two years of a previous baby. Considering that there are regions in Africa where women can have between 4 to 6 babies before entering their late twenties, the potential implications for child survival and population sustainability become clear.

In addition, there are several other upsides to family planning interventions that I should mention.

They prevent unintended pregnancies that far too often lead to malnutrition, as extra mouths to feed trouble families already struggling for resources. Family planning also has positive implications for maternal health, because birth spacing methods can prevent 20-35% of all maternal deaths.

So what are the challenges for family planning and health-care advocates?

While it may be relatively easy for middle and higher income sexually-active couples to plan for child birth, their poorer counterparts living in rural villages, largely do not have adequate and consistent access to contraceptive supplies and reproductive health services (including staff) necessary to aid them in planning. These supplies and services are also complimentary and essential to maternal health as 20% of maternal deaths in Africa are due to HIV (pregnant women also die from malaria).

But even where condoms are plentiful, they presuppose a male's willingness to wear them. This reduces the women's agency in planning a pregnancy.

Furthermore, there is a huge cultural aspect that presents challenges for family planning advocates.

During my time living in a rural village in Tanzania, one of my personal highlights came from the time I was invited to accompany my host dad, who was the proud father of five daughters and two sons, on a small journey to negotiate and collect bride price for his youngest daughter who had been married several years before. For my host family and the tribe they belonged, bride price, which is an amount of money or property paid by the groom or his family to the bride's family, was compulsory in order to validate the marriage. The entire process was very formal from start to finish and included witnesses, a pastor, signed agreements, cash and cattle payment, and a ceremonial feast. Today, I can still vividly remember the pride and joy that exuded from my host dad on that day; and while he and his family were more "well-off" than most others in the village, the six cattle and huge stack of cash he received as bride price for his fifth daughter was nonetheless graciously accepted.

That example highlights a tradition practiced by many tribes and cultures in rural Africa. Many families rely on daughters being married in order to guarantee cattle and other wealth, and sons are likely the only form of life insurance a couple can hope to secure. These customs and circumstances make it extremely difficult to advance a trend towards smaller families in Africa.

Knowing these challenges, what can/should be done?

• African governments need to ensure health programs are adequately funded. While on aggregate, health spending has increased from 8.8% to 10.6% since 2001, when member-states of the African Union pledged in the Abuja Declaration to allocate at least 15% of their annual budgets to healthcare by 2015. But to date, only 6 governments have met their targets while about a quarter of AU member-states have regressed and are spending less.

• Appropriate health funding will help provide all regions and districts with access to consistent and adequate reproductive health and family planning services and supplies. Funding should also be used to supply and train health staff who can facilitate these services as well as help research new interventions for contraception that will grant agency to Africa's women.

• Lastly, trained local staff represent local voices using local languages that can support and reiterate family planning knowledge and it's importance to families in rural regions. 

But before I leave, I wanted to remind readers that it's easy to put all of the blame on the developing world for issues related to global sustainability. But let's not forget our responsibility in the developed world to practice sustainable living and examine our own policies and procedures that interrelate with global sustainability.

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