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Conflict, Peace, and the History of Natural Resource Management in Sussundenga District, Mozambique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Jessica Schafer  and
Richard Black
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Abstract

This article examines the nature of conflicts over natural resources in the postwar period in Sussundenga district, Mozambique, as contextualized within a broad history of natural resource management in Mozambique from the colonial period through the postindependence and war years to the present day. The evidence suggests that the notion of a simple transition from wartime conflict to postwar sustainable development needs revision. Instead, some patterns and practices of resource use predated the war and have outlasted it, some began and ended with the peace agreement, and others accelerated or were initiated after the end of armed hostility. Throughout these periods, there have been social conflicts between and within different groups of resource users at all levels. Armed conflict did change patterns of resource use in some respects, but the result was not entirely negative for the natural resource base; forest resources in some areas actually regenerated during the war years. These conclusions build on arguments in environmental history and political ecology demonstrating that there is no deterministic relationship between humans and the natural environment. Rather, there is a range of possible interactions depending on locally varying contexts as well as broader social and political structures.

Résumé:

Résumé:

Cet article examine la nature des conflits portant sur les ressources naturelles dans le district de Sussundenga, en Mozambique, pendant la période d’après guerre, mise en perspective dans une plus grande histoire de la gestion des ressources naturelles en Mozambique depuis la période coloniale, tout au long des années de post-indépendance et de guerre, jusqu’à nos jours. Les témoignages suggèrent que la notion de transition simple du conflit du temps de guerre au développement durable d’après guerre doit être révisée. Plus précisément, certains modèles et pratiques d’utilisation des ressources ont été établis avant la guerre et y ont survécu, certains ont commencé et fini avec l’accord de paix, et d’autres se sont accélérés ou ont été initiés après la fin des hostilités armées. Tout au long de ces périodes, des conflits sociaux ont éclaté entre et parmi différents groupes d’utilisateurs de ressources à tous les niveaux. Les conflits armés ont effectivement modifié les modèles d’utilisation des ressources dans une certaine mesure, mais le résultat ne fut pas entièrement négatif pour l’origine des ressources naturelles: les ressources forestières dans certaines régions se sont en fait régénérées pendant les années de guerre. Ces conclusions se basent sur des arguments en histoire de l’environnement et en écologie politique, démontrant qu’il n’y a pas de relation déterministe entre humains et environnement naturel. Il existe plutôt un champ d’interactions possibles dépendant de contextes variant au niveau local, ainsi que de structures sociales et politiques plus larges.

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , December 2003 , pp. 55 - 81
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2003

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