Africa

The African continent has become an important destination and, in some cases, testing ground, for new technologies. Now technological change is accelerating on the continent. Sectors from agriculture and health, to finance and energy, are being upturned by a wave of automation, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, big data, synthetic biology and geoengineering.

While these technologies are often presented uncritically as being beneficial to Africa’s development, they have the potential to disrupt and threaten ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. New technologies require careful assessment and interrogation, a process that should be undertaken by Africans themselves.

The Africa Technology Assessment Platform (AfriTAP) brings together African civil society groups, social movements, independent scientists, lawyers and media professionals working together to assess the implications of new emerging technologies on the continent. AfriTAP aims to enable Africans to choose their future pathway and assert control over new technologies and the continent’s technological advancement

Working as a decentralised, pan-African network, oriented toward civil society, local communities and government, AfriTAP monitors, scans and analyses emerging technologies along with their impact on biodiversity, conservation, food sovereignty, climate change and other issues, with a view toward enabling social movements to organise together. It challenges current narratives on technology, promoting an alternative framing that emphasizes protecting, preserving and promoting indigenous and peasant knowledge, customs and technologies.