The transnational hybridisation of Mozambican nature

ABSTRACT

This article looks at the relations between Mozambique and transnational dynamics in nature conservation, and the consequences in terms of identity and practice. More specifically, it focuses on Mozambican nature as a political construct, its evolution over time since the independence of Mozambique in 1975, its management during the war and its (re)creation into ‘pristine’ areas after 1992, which facilitated new forms of inclusion in transnational networks and of disjunction at national level. We argue that the shift from relative isolation to inclusion in transnational networks (both regional – particularly South African – and global) brought new ways to deal with nature. In particular, it has radically transformed what was conceived as ‘nature’ and thus what was worth protecting, managing and controlling.

KEYWORDS:

• Mozambique
• nature
• protected areas
• biodiversity conservation
• transnational politics

Notes on contributors

Rozenn N. Diallo is lecturer in political science in Sciences Po Bordeaux, and she is affiliated to the research centre LAM (Les Afriques dans le Monde). Her work focuses on state-building processes and nature conservation in Mozambique and in Africa more broadly.

Estienne Rodary holds a PhD in geography and political science and is a senior researcher at IRD (French Research Institute for Development). His research interests focus on biodiversity conservation policies, protected areas, transnational governance, political ecology and the politics of connectivity, in Africa, the Pacific and at the global level.

Notes

1. ‘British team discovers lost Eden amid forgotten forest of Africa’, J Jowit, The Observer 21 December 2008.

2. Renamo, a rebellion movement supported by South Rhodesia and then by South Africa, challenged Frelimo’s power, from the late 1970s until 1992.

3. Interview with the warden of LNP, Massingir, November 2008.

4. As testified in several interviews conducted by the two authors from 2008 to 2012 both in the LNP and in Maputo.

5. Interview with the warden of LNP, Massingir, November 2010.

6. Interview with a former PPF manager, Stellenbosch, August 2009. See also Spierenburg & Wels (2010).

7. MINAG remains on the other hand responsible for wildlife outside of protected areas.

8. Interview with a member of the TFCA department former director of the DNAC and former director of the department of wildlife in MINAG, Maputo, May 2009.

9. Interview with the director of Centro Terra Viva, Mozambican centre of environmental studies and lobbying, Maputo, June 2009.

10. Central ministries in Maputo are represented in provinces and districts by devolved authorities. Mozambique counts 12 provinces and 128 districts.

11. Boletim da Republica, Decreto n°11/2011, Cria a Administração Nacional das Áreas de Conservação, abreviadamente designada por ANAC, 25 de Maio de 2011.