State-sponsored infrastructure projects can create humanitarian disasters in Africa

Several national mega-infrastructure projects are being built in Angola and Mozambique. Some are developed without regard to local conditions and contribute to natural disasters becoming humanitarian death traps. This is according to research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Social Anthropologist Ruy Blanes has studied the impact of recent droughts in Angola and cyclones in Mozambique on the local population. In his research, he sees a link between both governments' policies for infrastructural development and extractive activities - and the occurrence of climate-related humanitarian disasters.

New infrastructure projects, such as extractive activities, industrial agriculture, hydropower projects, as well as new roads and communication networks, are often designed as national initiatives without sufficient consideration of the needs and preconditions of local communities.

"This shows how some so-called long-term solutions to address the climate crisis through the transition to greener energy sources can still be disastrous in the context of climate disasters," says Ruy Blanes.

One example is megaprojects like hydroelectric dams, which are under great pressure from an increasing number of storms and cyclones. This forces water discharges that have dramatic impacts on people and animals downstream.

“We have seen this in recent years around the Zambezi River in Central Mozambique. It was also the case when the Derna dam in Libya collapsed in September 2023, killing at least 2,000 people," says Ruy Blanes.

In southern Angola, the lack of maintenance and investment in existing water distribution systems has left farming and herding communities helpless in the face of drought. People are losing homes, farmland, livestock, and livelihoods.

When local knowledge and conditions are not considered in planning at the national level, the traditional agency and resilience of local communities are challenged. 

“These situations often arise from a lack of dialogue between the central governments, local authorities, and local communities. While the governments of both Angola and Mozambique are engaged in climate adaptation and sustainability policies, they need to take them more seriously and not use them as gateways to 'green capitalism', where climate and environmental concerns are integrated into market-based policies," says Ruy Blanes.

Read the scientific article: Fatal architectures and death by design: the infrastructures of state-sponsored climate disasters in Angola and Mozambique

Contact:
Ruy Blanes, senior lecturer in Social Anthropology, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg
Phone: +351 933 452 815
E-mail: ruy.blanes@gu.se