Global Scans · Resources · Weekly Summary

WHAT'S NEXT?: The world is depleting its natural resources at an alarming rate due to population growth and over consumption. Increased competition for ever-diminishing food and water resources may amplify socio-economically motivated armed conflicts and causing quests for more efficient resources on and beyond Planet Earth.

• [New] Longer droughts, rising populations and a siphoning off of resources via a large dam in Ethiopia may soon contribute to conflicts over water and its natural resources downstream in Egypt, potentially putting millions of people at risk of poverty and starvation. News Decoder
• [New] The APG creates significant economic opportunities for resource-rich countries such as Indonesia and Lao PDR by allowing them to monetise their renewable resources through electricity exports. Ember
• [New] SWOT analysis indicated that the main threats to the East Kazakhstan Region are linked to the lack of innovation adoption and the degradation of natural resources. Frontiers
• [New] Women make up just 22% of the global data and AI workforce, not for lack of talent, but due to young women in marginalized and underserved communities having limited access to digital resources, AI training and opportunities. EY
• [New] The odds of immigrants moving into rural Canada have decreased over time due to factors like transportation limitations, lack of employment opportunities, academic resources, and potential discrimination. CanadianVisa.org
• [New] Tanzania's extensive water resources, including rivers, lakes, and underground sources, provide significant opportunities for irrigation that can directly raise cassava yields and reliability. TanzaniaInvest
• [New] In 2026, AI is moving beyond simple chatbots and content generators to become an embedded, agentic collaborator that forecasts bottlenecks before they form, allocates resources with surgical precision, and writes status reports that are more accurate than human-prepared versions. Informat
• [New] A well-designed approach to space mining might someday help to take pressure off Earth's ecosystem by providing an alternative to dwindling resources, and space-borne manufacturing centers might alleviate pollution on Earth. EBSCO
• [New] Beijing will introduce additional fiscal support in a timely manner, pledging to maintain policy continuity while allocating resources over a longer cycle, as the world's second largest economy shows signs of a broadening slowdown. investingLive
• [New] New projects could lift U.S. rare earth output and meet much of future magnet demand, but costly processing, uncertain ramp-up, and limited refining capacity still stand between domestic resources and a secure mine-to-magnet supply chain. AZOM
• [New] Benefiting from the location within the sunbelt region, with abundant year-round solar resources and rapidly declining capital costs, solar PV represents the largest share of new capacity, contributing over 250 GW by 2040 in ASEAN. Ember
• [New] Esil-Mining, owned by Britain's Resources Enterprise Limited, plans to begin developing the Aksoran deposit in northern Kazakhstan in 2027, with production targeted for 2028. The Astana Times
• [New] Chinese tech giant Tencent has turned its back on instant profits, betting that a new business unit that creates its own AI and embeds that in its products will pay off to a greater extent than cashing in on demand for computing resources. theregister
• [New] Abu Dhabi aims to produce 1 billion cubic feet per day from unconventional resources by 2030, redirecting silica demand away from low-value concrete sand to engineered proppants that can withstand high closure stresses. Mordor Intelligence
• [New] Iran has exceptional solar and wind potential, but its economic value depends on converting natural resources into electricity through land, equipment, financing, engineering, grid connections and reliable revenue models. PressTV News
• [New] Traditional growth models based on resources and labour are losing effectiveness and warned that unless Kazakhstan rapidly transitions to a fully integrated, AI-powered, data-driven economy, it risks falling behind in the global technological race. The Astana Times
• [New] South America holds 50% + of global lithium resources yet faces headwinds Supply share forecast to hold at ~27% through 2036 despite enormous resource base. LinkedIn
• [New] Latin America is expected to grow at a considerable CAGR in the upcoming period, supported by abundant renewable energy resources, particularly in solar and wind power, and increasing interest in low-carbon energy solutions. Precedence Research
• [New] The best placed firms will lean into value creation plans, including proactively harnessing AI, and focus scarce resources on disciplined bets to create a true 'right to win', Bain advises. Bain
• RMI estimates that over-investment in gas resources could raise the power bills of an average US household by $94 to $118 a year, worsening affordability for Americans who are already struggling with soaring electricity costs. Energy in Demand - Sustainable Energy - Rod Janssen
• Over the next decade or so, the Health Resources & Services Administration expects the U.S. to see a huge shortage of registered nurses: 14% in nonmetropolitan areas and 8% in metropolitan areas by 2036. NMSU Global Campus
• An emergency agriculture bill passed by the French parliament on Tuesday, which facilitates the construction of water storage tanks for crop irrigation and livestock farms, has raised concerns over the equitable sharing of water resources and fears that farmers are being prioritised. The Guardian
• Human resources is one of the fastest-growing ERP segments, with a 9% growth forecast from 2023 to 2032. KreativeCoreTech

Last updated: 26 August 2026