Solutions to Mining-Related Challenges in Moatize

Por Environmental Governance Programme (EGP)

01 de December de 2021

By Rita Cunha, Luany Galdeano, Diogo Nunes and Sandra Johnson*

The residents of Moatize, a town in the northern Mozambican province of Tete, greet a new day when the sun rises above the soot-covered landscape. Many still remember the days when the air was clean and easy to breathe, as well as when their water was clean and safe to drink. The constant noise from blasts that shake their homes and crack the walls is new - it only came when an open coal mine opened in the town in 2011.

Vale is a Brazilian mining company responsible for operating the site. It got permission from the Mozambique government to start digging and selling the coal obtained from the Moatize region. The black rock then gets transported to Europe, Asia, and Brazil where it is used in factories producing iron, steel, and cement. As a result of the company’s $2.0 billion investment in their mines, Vale has extracted around 11 million tons of coal every year. As of 2021, Vale is expanding the mine to extract a whopping 22 million tonnes of coal annually.

Samora Machel Bridge across the Zambezi river in city of Tete, Mozambique. Photo: iStock.com/alexerich

Government contracts with mining companies are commonplace in Mozambique. This southeast African country is well known for its rich mineral reserves and its annual budget relies heavily on the sale of mining concessions and exploration licenses. All in all, around 34% of all the land in the province of Tete has been opened to mining, with more permits awaiting approval. If all the current pending licenses are sold, 60% of Tete will be open to all sorts of mineral extraction.

However, much of the local population has yet to see the positive effects the mine was promised to bring them. In Moatize and neighboring villages, there have been several clashes between residents and staff from the mining company. Coal mining in Moatize has taken a sad, drastic toll on the quality of the air, freshwater streams and wells, and local topography. Despite the villagers having the right to a healthy and sustainable environment, the reality is that they are not being allowed to reap all the benefits from it.

Google Maps' view of the district of Moatize and the coal mining site located all over the southern border of the urban centre. Credits: Google Maps

The community is not sitting idly by watching the negative impacts brought on their town by mining activity. Much to the contrary, they are taking things into their own hands to protect their homes and loved ones from the accelerated degradation of the environment. Moatize residents have adopted a decentralized and increasingly popular tactic for protecting the environment.

Participatory Environmental Monitoring (or PEM, for short) is a methodology gaining traction in mining communities all over the globe. Its ethos states that everyone - not just professional scientists backed by well-financed institutions - should be actively involved in the preservation of the environment. Local communities, more than anyone else, can recognize and measure the changes to their land. By collecting data on the quality of water, biodiversity, and other ecological factors, communities are better equipped to fight for their rights to a healthy and sustainable environment.

This methodology has proven especially interesting and effective in protecting areas that do not receive a lot of funding for conservation efforts. That is because there is little need for costly and complicated scientific trips planned from the outside to the affected areas, which is especially relevant when addressing remote, hard-to-reach locations. Rather, with adequate government support, the local communities can promptly start the monitoring work themselves.

Thus, by forming action committees - and through the use of low-cost and low-tech equipment, PEM can be a cost-effective alternative to other unsuccessful methodologies tried to date. Moreover, by promoting citizen’s involvement, it is a more inclusive and democratic way of approaching environmental monitoring - a far shot from the old-school approach that typically involves external consultants traveling to an affected village or town and measuring certain parameters, without ever getting involved directly with the community.

Participatory Environmental Monitoring meeting in Moatize, Tete Province, Mozambique. Credits: National Environmental Quality Control Agency AQUA/Mitader, Josimar Biosse

* Prepared by the Young Environmental Journalists: Rita Cunha, Luany Galdeano, Diogo Nunes, and Sandra Johnson; copyedited by Jess Chua (UNV).

The Young Environmental Journalists campaign aims at raising awareness and fostering youth engagement in environmental and human rights protection in the mining sector in four resource-rich countries: Colombia, Kenya, Mongolia and Mozambique.

This initiative is organized by the joint Swedish Environmental Protection Agency – UNDP Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) in collaboration with the United Nations Volunteers’ online volunteering service and the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR).

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this story are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the United Nations, including UNDP or the UN Member States.

Footnotes

Cover photo: An overview of the mining site in Moatize, Province of Tete, Mozambique. The image clarifies the distance between the mine and the inhabited center. Photo by Stefano Sbrulli.

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FootNotes

Cover photo: An overview of the mining site in Moatize, Province of Tete, Mozambique. The image clarifies the distance between the mine and the inhabited center. Photo by Stefano Sbrulli.

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