Declaración de desafío
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
EXPLORATORY
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge is to develop a solution based on artificial intelligence to accurately and efficiently identify mining environmental liabilities in Bolivia.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
Mining royalties in Chuquisaca, Bolivia, are a tax paid to the autonomous departmental (GAD) and municipal governments (GAM) to exploit non-renewable mineral resources. The tax is based on mineral production and is calculated based on the amount and type of mineral extracted.
In Chuquisaca, mining royalties are collected and distributed under Mining and Metallurgy Law No. 535. The law establishes that 85% of the mining royalties go to the producing GAD and 15% to the producing GAM.
In the first half of 2023, according to the National Service for the Registration and Control of the Commercialization of Minerals and Metals (SENARECOM), mining royalties collected in Chuquisaca amounted to 9 million bolivianos. This represents an increase of 150% over the same period last year.
The central municipalities producing mining royalties in Chuquisaca are San Lucas, Sucre, Las Carreras, Yamparáez, and Camargo.
Mining royalties are an essential source of income for the autonomous departmental and municipal governments of Chuquisaca. These revenues can be used to finance investments in infrastructure, education, health, and other public services.
Chuquisaca is one of the departments with mining activity in Bolivia. Significant deposits of tin, silver, gold, and other minerals are found in the department.
Mining has had a significant impact on Chuquisaca's environment. Mining environmental liabilities are a major problem in the department.
Mining environmental liabilities are facilities, effluents, emissions, remains, or waste deposits produced by mining operations, currently abandoned or inactive, that constitute a permanent and potential risk to the health of the population, the environment, and the socioeconomic development of the affected regions.
Mining environmental liabilities can cause various environmental problems, such as air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, and biodiversity degradation. They can also cause health problems, such as respiratory, gastrointestinal, and skin diseases.
Mining environmental liabilities can also harm economic development. They can reduce land values, hinder the growth of new businesses, and generate social conflicts.
The remediation of mining environmental liabilities is a complex and costly process. However, protecting human health, the environment, and economic development is necessary.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
References to mining and metallurgy in Bolivia date back to long before colonial times, developed by the original indigenous peoples who lived in the territory that currently corresponds to the country. The mining history is marked by the discovery of Cerro Rico in Potosí in 1455, an activity that continues today. However, the long history of mining in Bolivia has accumulated a large amount of dispersed metallurgical mining waste, which, when not adequately treated, became environmental mining liabilities, causing negative impacts and associated environmental and social risks. In Bolivia, there is no official definition of mining environmental liabilities, but there is a general definition of environmental liabilities, which includes mining waste. This definition establishes that environmental liabilities are the set of negative impacts detrimental to health and the environment caused by specific works and activities over some time. Still, there are also environmental problems in general that mining works or actions have not solved. Current regulations define environmental management as the set of decisions and concomitant activities aimed at sustainable development, a term established in Law 1333 of the Environment as the process by which the needs of the present generation are satisfied without putting at risk the satisfaction of the needs of future generations. In the framework of an environmental audit, environmental management is that which directs the intention and operations of the public sector toward the achievement of objectives related to the adequate use, exploitation, or management of natural resources and the conservation and protection of the environment to satisfy the needs of the present generation without jeopardizing the satisfaction of the needs of future generations. The management of a public sector entity will be environmental to the extent that its mission and objectives contemplate protecting and conserving the environment and natural resources within the framework of sustainable development. With the enactment of Law 300 Framework of Mother Earth and Integral Development for Living Well, on October 15, 2012, sustainable development must consider a broader framework: Integral Development for Living Well in harmony with Mother Earth, which said law defines as the continuous process of generation and implementation of social, community, citizen and public management measures and actions for the creation, provision, and strengthening of conditions, capacities and material, social and spiritual means, within the framework of culturally adequate and appropriate practices and actions, which promote relations of solidarity, mutual support and cooperation, complementarity and strengthening of edifying community and collective ties to achieve Living Well in harmony with Mother Earth. As mentioned above, the definition highlights that Integral Development is not an end but an intermediate phase to achieve Living Well as a new civilizational and cultural horizon and that it is based on the compatibility and complementarity of the rights indicated in Law 3006.
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
In Bolivia, there is no official definition of mining environmental liabilities, but there is a general definition of environmental liabilities, which includes mining waste. This definition establishes that environmental liabilities are the set of negative impacts detrimental to health and the environment caused by specific works and activities over some time. Still, there are also environmental problems in general that mining works or actions have not solved.
https://es.mongabay.com/2023/05/bolivia-ha-explotado-recursos-naturales-para-el-planeta-y-se-ha-quedado-con-los-pasivos-ambientales-zonas-de-sacrificio-y-pobreza-entrevista/
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
This value proposition is based on the following factors:
Expertise in artificial intelligence: The Acc Lab has a team of experts who can develop and apply innovative solutions to this problem.
Partner network: The Acc Lab has a network of partners in the public, private, and civil society sectors that can help implement the solution.
Collaborative approach: The Acc Lab works with all stakeholders to ensure the solution is effective and sustainable.
These factors make the Acc Lab the most appropriate actor to work on this challenge. Other UNDP stakeholders, like the Environment Programme, could contribute to this challenge.
Identifying mining environmental liabilities is a significant challenge that harms the environment and human health. The development of an artificial intelligence-based solution has the potential to accelerate the identification of these liabilities and help governments and companies to remediate them.
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
#AI can help identify and remediate mining environmental liabilities, reduce the environmental impact of mining, and better understand the impacts of mining on local communities. #ResponsibleMining #Bolivia #AI
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
¿How can I use artificial intelligence to accurately and efficiently identify mining environmental liabilities in Bolivia?
This question is crucial because it will help me better understand the problem of mining environmental liabilities and the possibilities of artificial intelligence to solve it.
I need to know or understand the following:
The nature of mining environmental liabilities in Bolivia What types of mining environmental liabilities exist in Bolivia? What are the environmental and health impacts of these liabilities?
The data are available to identify mining environmental liabilities. What types of data are available to identify mining environmental liabilities? What is the quality of these data?
Artificial intelligence methods can be used to identify mining environmental liabilities. What artificial intelligence methods are suitable to identify mining environmental liabilities? What is the accuracy and efficiency of these methods?
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Explore, Test
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Literature research will be used to identify the types of mining environmental liabilities that exist in Bolivia. This will help me to better understand the characteristics of these liabilities and how they can be identified by artificial intelligence.
Data analysis will be used to evaluate the quality of satellite data available to identify mining environmental liabilities. This will help me select the data that are most accurate and reliable.
Experimentation will be used to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of different artificial intelligence methods to identify mining environmental liabilities. This will help me select the methods that are most suitable for the specific problem in Bolivia.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
Phase 1 (Morphological): the algorithm receives the patch that indicates that a subset of that image is the object of interest, then the algorithm classifies parts of the patch as belonging to the object of interest or not.
Phase 2 (Macro morphological): the algorithm establishes spatial relationships between these classified parts to form the object of interest and correctly classify it as a whole.
Phase 3 (Spectrometric): To evaluate the impact, there is a second model that only indicates if the spectrometry corresponds to an element that has high, medium or low impact (12 spectral bands).
11Sustainable cities and communities
13Climate action
17Partnerships for the goals
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