Mekong at Risk

Written By Frontier Tech Hub

THE QUESTION

Can satellite-based mapping and hydrometeorological data identify communities exposed to mining contamination and guide targeted interventions?

LOCATION: Mekong Region
SECTOR: Health
TECH: AI, Satellite Data
TIMELINE: January 2026 - Present
PARTNERS: TBD

 
 

Hundreds of mines release heavy metals into rivers during floods, threatening the millions who depend on the waterways, yet the scale and location of contaminated communities remain unknown. Using satellite imagery to track flooding patterns, this project will identify which communities face the greatest toxic exposure to guide health interventions and avoid contaminated agricultural areas.

 

Our learnings and stories so far

This pilot hasn’t started to publish yet, but there are plenty of other blogs to read below. Check back soon!

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Changing the user, not the technology
Changing the user, not the technology

When building a tool to improve access to justice for women in Tanzania our biggest successes came from more than just improving the AI architecture.

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Mexico Safe Online is looking for a local market consultant
Mexico Safe Online is looking for a local market consultant

Call for Mexico-based expertise to help shape a new initiative. Applications close on 9th October.

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What the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice taught us about testing tech for justice
What the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice taught us about testing tech for justice

Reflecting on insights from our Access to Justice Learning Brief with Sara Wahedi at the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice.

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Could designing for the "furthest first" close Tanzania's justice gap?
Could designing for the "furthest first" close Tanzania's justice gap?

When a woman in Tanzania goes to the police, she will often be told that the problem she’s facing, whether it is around inheritance or gender-based violence, is a domestic issue. Therefore, it’s not something for them to intervene in. That response is legally wrong, but unless she knows that, it’s the last she’ll hear on the matter.

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The solutions that already exist
The solutions that already exist

12 September is the International Day for South-South Cooperation. This year's theme, Solidarity Rising, rests on the observation that proven solutions already exist across the Global South, but too often they stay fragmented and hard to reach.

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Making climate risk investable: our first portfolio learnings
Making climate risk investable: our first portfolio learnings

A new film and report sharing what we learned from our first climate adaptation portfolio. Can frontier technologies turn climate risk into something someone is willing to pay for?

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What does international development look like in the Age of AI?
What does international development look like in the Age of AI?

As we end our AI mini-series, join us for a Field Trip to the Future.

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Are we about to waste it?
Are we about to waste it?

From Sierra Leone to Sri Lanka: the case for building AI together.

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What happens when the algorithm marks its own homework?
What happens when the algorithm marks its own homework?

The responsible AI decisions that matter most rarely arrive labelled as such.

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Access to Justice: a new learning brief 
Access to Justice: a new learning brief 

Introducing our latest learning brief on integrating AI and other technologies to improve access to justice for survivors in low-resource and post-conflict settings

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The age of AI: Ten years in, looking ten years on
The age of AI: Ten years in, looking ten years on

Ten years ago, tech was stuff you could pick up and drop on your toes. Now it’s often AI + X. What might AI make newly possible for people doing development in the future?

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The age of AI: what's worth testing in the future that’s emerging?
The age of AI: what's worth testing in the future that’s emerging?

Fitting AI to real systems, building institutions that can work with it, and testing new arrangements that shift power over how it is developed and used.

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Frontier Tech Hub

The Frontier Tech Hub works with UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) staff and global partners to understand the potential for innovative tech in the development context, and then test and scale their ideas.

https://www.frontiertechhub.org/
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