Proposed revisions to a Mozambican land law threaten environmental sustainability and poverty reduction

Abstract

In 1997, Mozambique introduced a land law that was applauded as one of the most progressive in Africa. The law recognizes customary rights, assures compensation and resettlement for expropriated people, and guarantees the rights of Mozambicans to land and natural resources, while promoting sustainable and profitable investments^1,2. However, since 2017, the World Bank and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have been pushing for the Mozambican government to revise this law with the aim of promoting a more ‘business friendly’ form of land governance. The government has collaborated in the revision process, but these proposals have been refuted by Mozambican civil society organizations¹. Although it remains uncertain whether this issue will be prioritized on the agenda of the new legislative body inaugurated in January 2025, the revised land law proposal can be brought to discussion by members of parliament at any point. The proposed revision will seriously risk rural livelihoods, the environmental sustainability that is closely connected to them, and the country’s biodiversity.

Investments in large-scale extractive industries, forestry and industrial agriculture have intensified over recent decades in Mozambique, which has transformed the country into an extractive economy³. Numerous communities have been displaced by this development, but demands for compensation under the land law have been ignored. The intensifying flow of investments has stirred up serious conflicts, particularly in the northern part of the country⁴. According to the government, the proposed revision aims to solve such land conflicts.