Culture and Conflicts in Sierra Leone Mining

Fenda A. Akiwumi is an environmental and social geographer whose research is at the intersection of the sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, with an applied, policy, and community-engaged focus. Her work interrogates resource conflicts and the importance of cultural heritage in devising socioculturally sensitive mineral and water policies and laws in Africa. Her approach is interdisciplinary and integrative. She weaves together related issues such as sustainable livelihoods, indigenous knowledge systems, cultural alienation, equitable resource distribution, environmental deterioration,autochthony and citizenship, race relations, power, gender, and generational dynamics. From 2008 to 2010, she served as inaugural chair and member of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme(IHP) Expert Advisory Group on Water and Cultural Diversity, making policy recommendations onmainstreaming cultural diversity into Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).