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Critical minerals are essential to all kinds of technology, from the semiconductors that run your tech devices to electric vehicle batteries, solar panels and defense systems. But many of these minerals are hazardous to mine, and their extraction processes pollute water and food supplies that local communities depend on.

Take cobalt − it’s used to stabilize energy storage in batteries, but inhaling the dust can cause lung damage and neurological problems. In parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, runoff from cobalt and other mineral mining has made rivers too contaminated to safely serve as drinking water, fish stocks have collapsed, and miscarriage and birth-defect rates in nearby populations are high. In South America, lithium and zinc mines compete with agriculture, livestock and communities for limited water supplies.

In a new report, water researchers Abraham Nunbogu and Kaveh Madani of United Nations University explain how some the world’s poorest people − those living near the mines and working in them − are left to contend with the damage and what can be done to help. Without changes in how companies and countries manage critical minerals, Nunbogu and Madani write, the growth of these mines to meet the rising demand risks creating “sacrifice zones,” where “human and ecological well-being are traded away for technological breakthroughs.”

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