Mandy Bridenhagen, Consultant
In Mozambique, Greengrants grantee Voices of the Zambezi and partner Justiça Ambiental have been organizing local communities and raising awareness about the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the proposed Mphanda Nkuwa Dam, located on the Zambezi River. A huge project expected to generate 1,350 megawatts, the dam would displace over a thousand people and compromise the livelihoods of approximately 200,000 subsistence farmers and fishermen, in addition to destroying downstream ecosystems. Financing for the project was secured in June 2009 from a Chinese bank.
A History of Displacement and Destruction
The Zambezi is one of the most dammed rivers in Africa, and the local river communities are unfortunately no strangers to the destructive fall-out of these projects. The Cahora Bassa Dam, located just 60 kilometers upstream from the proposed site of Mphanda Nkuwa, is the largest hydroelectric project in southern Africa. It was built in the early 1970s and has wreaked havoc on the people, wildlife, and floodplains downstream. Whole communities that had lived next to the river for generations were displaced to entirely different landscapes, jeopardizing their traditional livelihoods and their access to farmland and fisheries. Communities surrounding the site of Mphanda Nkuwa are fearful that they will face the same fate. To see testimonies gathered from these communities, watch a video produced by Liane Greeff in collaboration with Justicia Ambiental (the organization of our advisor Anabela Lemos), global advisor International Rivers, and the Environmental Monitoring Group.
Not the Answer to Rural Electrification Issues
Proponents of the dam hope it will attract more energy-intensive industries to Mozambique and that it will solve rural electrification issues. But the reality is that the electricity won’t reach the people in need due to the high cost of extending the transmission grid. Only 4.7% of the population currently has access to electricity and half of this tiny percentage live in the capital, Maputo. The majority of electricity produced by Mphanda Nkuwa will be sold to South Africa and, in the event of drought-reduced river flows, sold below cost.
China and Foreign Investments
For several years it appeared that the estimated $2 billion project would not find funding. However, the Export-Import Bank of China, solely owned by China’s central government, has committed to funding the project, as well as the $300 million transmission line between the dam and Maputo. A Chinese company is also under contract for the construction of the dam, which is scheduled to commence in 2010.
China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Ministry of Commerce have drafted green guidelines in response to the increasing number of Chinese companies involved in overseas projects and related criticism from international environmental groups and media. The draft guidelines may become effective in several months and would require Chinese investors to assess any potential environmental impacts of their projects before starting them. The companies would also be responsible for abiding by the host country’s environmental regulations, including mitigation and environmental protection measures for all proposed and existing projects. It is unclear what, if any, impact these guidelines would have on the Mphanda Nkuwa project, as the track record of Chinese-financed projects as well as Mozambique’s domestic environmental protection efforts are far from good.
In addition to the Mozambique dams, China is currently involved in building or funding dam projects in Sudan, Zambia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Gabon, Ghana, and the Republic of Congo. One of the reasons China is interested in funding such projects is to strengthen economic ties with countries that have large oil and mineral reserves. China’s lack of interest in ensuring that these projects are completed in an environmentally and socially-considerate way seriously undermines international efforts to establish accepted, sustainable standards.
Cause for Alarm
Local communities and environmental groups have a multitude of concerns about Mphanda Nkuwa. The dam site is located 200 kilometers from the heart of the Shire Trough, a highly active fault zone running almost all the way to Maputo. Geologists are concerned that, because of a lack of seismic data, accurate predictions for earthquake probability around the dam cannot be made. Daily fluctuations in river levels or minifloods due to dam releases will impact natural sediment distribution and destroy riverbank food gardens, which provide the only vegetable resource for local farmers. Restoration and improved management projects have had little success downstream of the Cahora Bassa Dam; building another megadam will only compound these difficulties, leaving the riverbanks and floodplains altered for decades.
Focus on the Future
Greengrants advisor Anabela Lemos tells us that China’s Export-Import Bank is currently conducting an environmental feasibility study which is scheduled to be completed in July, at which point they will begin the environmental impact assessment. Although the feasibility study is not complete, local newspapers are reporting that the dam is viable and construction is still scheduled to start in 2010. At this point the local communities have been given little information about where and when they will be relocated.
Organizing Resistance
Greengrants grantee Voices of the Zambezi has been working with dam-affected communities to educate them about what the construction of the dam will mean for them, and how it will pollute their water and destroy their farming and fishing. Several small grants from Greengrants totaling $4,500 enabled Voices of the Zambezi to create an office space, giving them a central meeting place, and to travel to 30 villages to educate people about the dam. The grants also allowed the group to identify the specific risks and impacts related to the construction of the dam. Since then, they have been organizing communities to build a stronger platform for citizens’ voices and make sure local people are informed of their rights. If the project does move forward as expected, Voices of the Zambezi and other environmental groups will play an important role in monitoring the construction of the dam, ensuring displaced people are fairly compensated, and advocating for sound oversight from the Mozambique government.
For more information on Chinese financing, click here.
For information about the potential environmental and social effects of the dam, click here.