There is a troubling contradiction at the heart of the global transition to a cleaner, greener, tech-driven future: Modern technologies – everything from AI to wind turbines, as well as cellphones, electric vehicles and defense systems – depend on critical minerals. But many of the communities where those minerals are mined end up with polluted water and poorer health because of the mining.
Lithium powers batteries. Cobalt stabilizes them. Copper carries electricity. Rare earth elements make wind turbines and digital devices efficient and durable. Each of these are essential to the technologies of the fourth industrial revolution, but they are also toxic and require enormous amounts of water to extract.
As researchers at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, we have been studying the impacts of critical mineral mining on communities around the world. Our new report shows why mining will end up worsening the lives of some of the world’s poorest people if critical mineral supply chains are not monitored and regulated.
One of us is from the Middle East, a region still suffering from the long-term consequences of supplying the fuel consumed for the remarkable economic developments of the 20th century. And one of us comes from Africa, the continent that is now serving as a major supplier of the critical minerals that fuel technological advancements in the 21st century.
Based on our experiences and our research, we believe that if there aren’t major changes in how countries, corporations and communities manage critical minerals, humanity risks reproducing the injustices of the oil extraction era, this time with the technological advancements meant to address the problems fossil fuels created.
Read the full article on The Conversation
Suggested citation: Nunbogu, A., Farsi, A., Matin, M., Madani, K. "Critical Minerals, Water Insecurity and Injustice," United Nations University, UNU-INWEH, 2026, doi: 10.53328/INR25ABN002.
