The global push for a transition to green energy has sparked demand for critical minerals such as lithium, vanadium, copper and cobalt. These are needed for electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels. Sub-Saharan Africa hosts about 30% of the world’s mineral reserves, including huge quantities of critical minerals: 92% of all platinum, 36% of all chromium, 54% of all manganese and 56% of all cobalt.
Many critical minerals are concentrated beneath the continent’s biodiverse forests.
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‘Sacred forests’ in West Africa capture carbon and keep soil healthy
We are conservation scientists researching the impacts on the environment when resources such as timber, minerals or animal species are extracted and used by people. We have spent years tracking how resource demand can reshape fragile ecosystems.
