Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development

U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan - NYTimes.com

via www.nytimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/14/world/asia/14minerals.html?pagewanted=1&ref=world

An interesting development in Afghanistan, in particular regarding the large scale commercialization of electric vehicles. Apparently, the US has recently learned that Afghanistan holds vast supplies of lithium, a essential component of most batteries for electric vehicles. Some have speculated about the likelihood of limited supplies of lithium as a limiting factor in the meaningful growth of the electric vehicle market. See our earlier post on the topic here.

In addition, the war-ravaged country also holds vast reserves of iron and copper, based on geological surveys conducted by the Russians several decades earlier, the NY Times Reported recently.

The NY Times writes, quoting government officials:

“No one has tested that law; no one knows how it will stand up in a fight between the central government and the provinces,” observed Paul A. Brinkley, deputy undersecretary of defense for business and leader of the Pentagon team that discovered the deposits.

At the same time, American officials fear resource-hungry China will try to dominate the development of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth, which could upset the United States, given its heavy investment in the region. After winning the bid for its Aynak copper mine in Logar Province, China clearly wants more, American officials said.

Another complication is that because Afghanistan has never had much heavy industry before, it has little or no history of environmental protection either. “The big question is, can this be developed in a responsible way, in a way that is environmentally and socially responsible?” Mr. Brinkley said. “No one knows how this will work.”

Coping with the “Deepwater” Disaster

        

Some of the visually oriented among us are turning to revising a particular corporate logo as a means of coming to grips with an immeasurable catastrophe.    Greenpeace UK and others have re-design contests underway.  Some of the entries are really quite good. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greenpeaceuk/4682407000/in/set-72157623796911855/

http://www.logomyway.com/contestView.php?contestId=1746 

Others, however, are touting the use of new treatments with environmental consequences unknown to clean up the mess.  For example, one firm is suggesting that we dump nanotech chemicals (nanomaterials) to help clean up the oil.  Some nanomaterials have been linked to health concerns such as pierced cellular walls and have “unique” physical features, the unknown risks of which pale in comparison to past “miracles” like asbestos. 

"We can aerial spray it in the sea. We can put it in the boats and dump it out and the strength is so strong, it's about one gallon to every acre," Rodney Bath, Vice President of Government Sales, added.

Fortunately, the company still needs approval by the US EPA for this use.  But, its a good example of the way in which the private sector often responds to problems – and the need to have rigorous environmental impact assessments for technologies, especially those that are new and unproven. 

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has recently held that environmental impact assessments are now such standard practice that they can be considered a “requirement under general international law.”  Hopefully, the type of assessment they are speaking of is rigorous enough to avert future “solutions” that unjustly expose us all to their astronomical externalities. But, the meaning of this requirement under "general international law" depends upon national environmental regimes, so given the disaster in the gulf, it appears that there is still some work to be done on elevating the standard for environmental assessments.