‘A climate of control: flooding, displacement and planned resettlement in the Lower Zambezi River valley, Mozambique’

Alexander Huw Arnall
School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University of Reading

In recent years, the potential role of planned, internal resettlement as a  climate change adaptation measure has been highlighted by national governments and the international policy community. However, in many developing countries, resettlement is a deeply political process that often results in unequal distribution of costs and benefits amongst relocated persons.

This seminar will examine these tensions in central Mozambique. It will use a political ecology approach to show how a dominant narrative of climate change-induced hazards for small-scale farmers in the Lower Zambezi River valley is contributing to their involuntary resettlement to higher-altitude, less fertile areas of land. The findings add weight to the argument that a depoliticised interpretation of climate change can deflect attention away from underlying drivers of vulnerability and poverty, as well as obscure the interests of governments that are intent on reordering poor and vulnerable populations.