Trusted land: land deals, climate vulnerability and adaptation in Northern Mozambique

Abstract

ABSTRACT The surge of private land concessions in Sub-Saharan Africa carries the potential to push local populations to marginal areas, aggravating their climate vulnerability. This paper analyses the effects of resettlement on the vulnerability of relocated rural communities in Mozambique, from the perspective of environmental justice. The research seeks to understand how land concessions interfere with autonomous processes of adaptation that are not recognised within land distribution policies. The findings draw on a qualitative field research in two locations, in the provinces of Nampula and Cabo Delgado, where levels of poverty have persisted despite national trends of economic growth. The paper highlights how climate events inflluence perceptions of fairness amongst resettled populations, and how resettlements constrain their adaptative capabilities. The findings raise concern that misrecognition of adaptation practices can exacerbate the vulnerability of households to environmental change and to food insecurity, thereby hindering the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG1 (No Poverty), SDG10 (Reduced Inequalities) and SDG13 (Climate Action). The author argues for the centrality of recognition within environmental justice, while contributing recommendations to ensure that land deals fulfil principles of distributional and procedural justice, which take into consideration the compound pressures of land use changes and climate vulnerability.