Mozambican environmental problems: Myths and realities
| Author | P. O'Keefe,I. Cherrett,J. Kirkby |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230110403 |
| Date | 01 July 1991 |
| Published date | 01 July 1991 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Vol.
11,307-324
(1991)
Mozambican environmental problems: myths and realities
P.
O’KEEFE,
J.
KIRKBY
Newcastle Polytechnic
and
I.
CHERRETT
ETC
International
SUMMARY
This article assesses the resource potential and environmental problems facing Mozambique
at present, pointing to the extreme distortion imposed by the current war upon the development
potential of the country. Looking at the long list of environmental problems and issues identi-
fied by Timberlake as characterizing the environmental crisis in Africa, it is noted that, at
the national level, few
of
these problems prevail, but that most of them can be identified
locally. Both the World Bank and United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP)
have
carried out environmental assessment
of
Mozambique and, whilst not agreeing on what the
major environmental issues are, are agreed on the major problem posed by the war. The
main environmental threats are almost exclusively located along the coastal littoral. Fleeing
the fighting in the interior, the population has concentrated along the coast, and environmental
pressures in this area are becoming severe. It is likely that, even when the war ends, the
population will remain in these areas. There is great potential
for
economic development
in Mozambique, with substantial unemployed agricultural, energy and mineral resources.
However, the traditional cash crop industries have been decimated and statistics indicate
an overwhelmingly preindustrial subsistence economy. Half the population has been affected
through massive civilian losses, malnutrition, displacement and emigration, and no reasonable
environmental management strategy can be initiated under these circumstances.
The environmental context of development in Mozambique is similar to that
of
other subsaharan African countries, with significant differences. Significant differ-
ences in Mozambique include a relatively rich but only partly explored and developed
resource base, and an overall lack of population pressure on resources with an esti-
mated 18 inhabitants/km* in
1987
(ComissBo Nacional do Plano,
1988).
However, clouding the aggregate rosy picture is evidence at the local level of
severe environmental deterioration. This occurs particularly near urban areas, on
the drought-prone soils
of
the south, in the easily disrupted near-coast ecosystems,
and
in
areas
of
refugee settlement. In the short term, this local environmental degrada-
Dr Phil O’Keefe is Professor
of
Environmental Management at Newcastle-upon-Tyne Polytechnic and
board member
of
ETC International.
John
Kirkby is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Environment,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne Polytechnic. Ian Cherrett is Managing Director of ETC (UK).
027
1-2075/91/040307-18$09.00
0
1991 by John Wiley
&
Sons, Ltd.
308
P.
O’Keefe,
J.
Kirkby
and
I.
Cherrett
Table
1.
Environmental problems
and
issues characteristic of many subsaharan countries
and their relevance to Mozambiaue
Significant Locally
nationally in relevant in
Problemhue (Timberlake,
1985)
Mozambique Mozambique
Population pressure
on
resources
No
Yes
Resource overuse
No
Yes
Overcultivation
No
Yes
Overgrazing
No
Yes
Overfishing
No
Yes
Conflict between pastoralists and cultivators
No
No
Agriculture and pastoral extension to erosion prone
No
Yes
Perennial drought lasting many years
No
Yes
‘Drought’ caused
by
massive
soil
degradation
No
No
Deforestation
No
Yes
Excessive commercial
logging
No
No
Extreme fuelwood scarcity
No
Yes
Limited water availability, poor water
quality
No
Yes
International conflict over water use
No
No
Transfrontier pollution
No
Yes
Industrial pollution
No
Yes
Use of Third World countries
as
dumm for industrial waste
No
environments
No
Derived
from
Timberlake
(1985).
Interpretation
by
the
authors.
tion is likely to increase in intensity and to spread in extent. War and guerilla activities
determine environmental problems in both the short and the long term. As the disrup-
tion of war continues, changes, at present seen as temporary, will determine the
long-term use of the environment.
Table
1
is an attempt to summarize the issues that Timberlake (1985), in a recent
review of Africa, argues are significant in the continent. It is notable that many
of these issues are either not significant in the case
of
Mozambique, or are
of
local
relevance only. Desertification, soil erosion and deforestation, generally regarded
as central problems in the environmental challenge in Africa, are discussed in some
detail later in this paper. Table
2
summarizes two recent analyses of environmental
problems in Mozambique. It can be seen from these Tables that the present emergency
is the major cause of environmental problems, but there are significant differences
in interpretation elsewhere, for example, in relation to deforestation, health and
the marinekoastal environments.
ENVIRONMENTAL THREATS
Desertification
Since the Nairobi conference on Desertification in
1977,
and indeed since the 1930s,
desertification-severe environmental degradation relating principally to misuse or
over-use of the environment-has been widely perceived as
a
destructive tendency
in subsaharan Africa. Over-grazing, extension of agriculture into non-resilient
environments, and the removal of trees for a variety
of
purposes have been identified
as major components of the phenomenon, exacerbated by drought. Famine, malnutri-
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