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

Water Wars

In the midst of the current protests in Egypt, few outsiders to the region are aware of another major issue that's been boiling: control of the river Nile.

Here are the facts.

The Nile, the longest river in the world at over 4,000 miles, nourishes life in 9 countries, flowing through Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Egypt. With the Nile crossing so many borders, one is astonished to learn that 66% of it's waters are controlled by Egypt. In fact, the Nile Water Agreement, guarantees Egypt 55.5 billion cubic meters of water, out of a total 84 billion cubic meters.

Herein lays the problem.

The Nile Agreement was signed in 1929 by Britain on behalf of it's then East African colonies (Uganda, Kenya, & Tanzania). It's evident looking back that Britain needed to strategically benefit Egypt because of shipping routes (see Suez Canal), at the expense of the millions of people along the Nile basin merely looking to harvest its waters for their livelihoods. Those upstream countries, plagued by drought, first need the consent of downstream Egypt before proceeding with any irrigation (or hydropower) projects. But Egypt (and Northern Sudan) have been unwilling to change the agreement, which the other countries understandably argue did not & does not represent their best interest, as they (with exception of Ethiopia) were under colonial rule at the time of it's signing.

Egypt's refusal to equitably share the Nile's water seems pretty audacious considering that 85% of it's flow comes from the Blue Nile, which originates in Ethiopia, with the remaining 15% of flow coming from the White Nile, which originates from Lake Victoria, whose shorelines grace Kenya, Uganda, & Tanzania. The best argument I've heard thus far in Egypt's defense, is that they do not benefit the same from seasonal rains as their sub-Saharan counterparts, making the Nile it's lifeblood.

As it stands now, the 7 upstream countries (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, & DRC) recently met to sign a new agreement, giving Sudan and Egypt one year to answer to a more equitable sharing of the river Nile's resources.

With Southern Sudan soon gaining their independence from the North, the balance of power is expected to tilt in favor of the Nile Basin countries, who command less diplomatic clout than Egypt. Consider international donor countries who are reluctant to advance funds to Nile Basin countries for major water projects for fear of damaging relations with Egypt, all as a result of the power granted them via this Colonial-era agreement.

Lets hope the negotiations will remain peaceful and another war in Africa isn't ignited due to external puppeteering.

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