A window into what we are reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program

DRC Mining Project Displaces a Local Community

Kolwezi is the “cobalt capital of the world.” But residents of this city in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being compelled to relocate under questionable circumstances in order to make room for a new mine sponsored by the Chinese mining company COMMUS.

Mongabay reports that the city’s Gécamines neighborhood saw 40% of its land transformed into a cobalt and copper mining quarry in 2022. COMMUS offered cash compensation to displaced residents to avoid the relocation requirements stipulated by Congolese law, but those affected by the mine have demanded a legal relocation process.

Demand for critical minerals like cobalt is increasing rapidly as the global clean energy transition gains momentum. But the leaders of African civil society fear that what is happening in Kolwezi is a harbinger of what is to come for the continent’s mineral-rich communities.

READ | What Better Looks Like: Breaking the Critical Minerals Resource Curse

UN Report: Climate Tipping Points Loom Large

The UN University’s Interconnected Disaster Risks Report finds that the world is fast-approaching climate tipping points in which critical systems will stop functioning as intended.

The new report also underscores the risk that several of these tipping points, such as accelerating extinctions, glacial melt, and groundwater depletion, which converge to pose a threat to global systems and livelihoods.

Addressing such interconnected issues requires multisectoral solutions. To this end, the report proposes a framework categorizing risk mitigation solutions into strategies to avoid, adapt, delay, and transform threats. This framework urges a tailored approach to the specific demands of each risk, while drawing input from a range of sectors.

READ | Living on the Edge: Who’s Ready for Climate Tipping Points?

Driving Climate Action Through Education in Developing Countries

Equipping young people in developing countries with “green skills” is a crucial, underutilized tool for addressing the climate crisis. Education Above All (EAA), an organization started by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the former First Lady of the State of Qatar, is among the efforts seeking to fill this essential role in climate action.

As part of its program, EAA’s “Reach Out To Asia” (ROTA) program has launched an Education for Climate Action initiative focusing on three areas—greening learning, greening communities, and greening refugee camps.

Integrating climate education into secondary school curricula is one pathway to empower youth to develop “green skills.” Abdulla Al Abdulla, Executive Director of ROTA, notes that the initiative helps youth “become the driving force behind tangible change in their communities.”

READ | To Fight Climate Change, Educate and Empower Girls