Global Mineral Politics: Critical Minerals & Climate Change

Who is At the Table, Who is on the Menu?

Facilitator: Dr Yao Graham

The saying “if you are not at the table, you are probably on the menu” rings true for many African mining host communities - especially in the light of recent global conversations around “a just energy transition”. As critical stakeholders, we need to pause and ask the critical question: “Just for who?” “Who is at the table?” “For whom are these minerals ‘critical’?” “What are the externalized costs of green mineral mining?” “Who protects the rights and interests of mining host communities?” “What lessons have we learned from global history on mineral governance?” “Should Africa brace itself for a third wave of colonial onslaught?”

At the heart of Africa’s colonial history was the intentional system of pillage that left the continent and its indigenes intergenerationally traumatized and continues to stunt their development almost a century later. The sociopolitical, environmental, and economic consequences of continued irresponsible extraction at the expense of mineral host communities will be intensified by the current global trajectory of “green minerals” exploitation, unless mining host communities and governments in the global south insist that the exploitation of these minerals will not be done at their expense and craft their own agenda for development and for climate change.

The race for critical minerals has become a new frontier in global power politics, reshaping how countries relate to each other and reshaping who controls Africa’s resources and who profits from them. What critical conversations must mining host communities and states have? How can they broach these conversations in a manner that will catalyze meaningful change at both the local and global levels?

Join Dr. Yao Graham, of Third World Network as he facilitates this month’s webinar bringing critical perspective to the emerging politics of critical minerals and the global energy transition.

Dr. Graham will unpack:

• What ”critical minerals” are and why they now sit at the center of global climate and energy politics.
• How rising global demand is reshaping mining and resource governance across Nigeria, Africa, and the global market.
• Who profits from the critical mineral’s economy, and who carries its environmental and social cost.
• Whether a truly just transition is even possible while mining continues to displace and endanger the host.
• What history teaches us about the price mining host communities pay and how best to empower them to protect their rights.
• What equitable resource governance should look like in the global economy.

Whether this is your first session or you’ve been with us since Module 1, we invite you to participate in this important conversation.