Total mayhem and a 'climate bomb' in Mozambique

O n September 12, Mozambique’s President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi received Patrick Pouyanne, head of the board of the French oil and gas company Total. Climate bomb In May 2019, when Total announced the full extent of its project in Mozambique, the French environmental organisation Les Amis de la Terre released a report which accused the French mega-energy firm of starting a “climate bomb” in the region. Reports have surfaced that show that this pipeline, and the other fossil fuel projects being developed by Total along Eastern Africa, have resulted in evictions of people from their land and could result in further “job losses as farmers, fisherfolk, tourism operators, crafts-makers, and others could lose their jobs due to climate change, oil spills, biodiversity loss, and other risks”. These projects, notably around Lake Albert in Uganda, are “marred by a disruption of traditional lifestyles, significant delays in paying compensation for land purchases, dispossession of land, and opaque resettlement processes.” Maria-Isabel Cubides, a researcher with FIDH, said: “Companies are causing major social upheavals, which particularly affect women, by grabbing land to make way for oil, often without adequate consultation.” In August, the Al Sunnah wa Jama’ah attacked Cabo Delgado.