A mineração artesanal, vulgarmente conhecida como garimpo, constituiu uma actividade de extracção de minérios, realizada com tecnologia rudimentar e sem equipamentos de sondagem, requerendo, por isso, o investimento de pouco capital. A mineração artesanal é, normalmente, realizada na informalidade, na maioria dos casos sem licença de exploração, num processo por vezes itinerante e realizado por grupos independentes.

Moçambique possui uma extensa linha de costa (ca. 2470 km) que é caracterizada por uma diversidade de ecossistemas e espécies de diversidade e endemismo elevado, oferecendo uma variedade de recursos naturais com potencial para o desenvolvimento social e económico do país. A rede de áreas de conservação costeiras e marinhas do país inclui cinco reservas e parques nacionais e uma área de conservação transfronteiriça.

O Centro Terra Viva – Estudos e Advocacia Ambiental (CTV) é uma instituição não governamental moçambicana que trabalha na área de Advocacia Ambiental e Boa Governação, cujos objectivos principais são: promover maior justiça, equidade e sustentabilidade no uso e aproveitamento de recursos naturais, com maior incidência para o sectores de terra, florestas, pesca e turismo e influenciar na criação de mecanismos de avaliação e desempenho da legislação ambiental e monitorar a responsabilidade social do Estado e do sector privado.

Este estudo fornece uma visão geral do contexto de REDD+ em Moçambique através de uma síntese do conhecimento actual das principais causas da mudança de carbono florestal, uma revisão do quadro legal e institucional, e uma descrição do processo político actual de REDD+. O objectivo é reunir dados e informações pertinentes, e oferecer uma análise preliminar dos aspectos fundamentais a ter em conta para políticas de REDD+ eficazes, eficientes e equitativas.

No mundo e em África, o agronegócio internacional assume novas dimensões nos últimos anos. A procura de extensas áreas no estrangeiro para a produção em grandes plantações de commodities, associada à crescente internacionalização do capital agrário e financeiro em programas bi ou multilaterais é uma das manifestações desse fenómeno.

Dr Mulaudzi is a lecturer in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Cape Town. In this presentation made as part of a 4.5 day course on the political economy of land, mining and rural democracy in South Africa he critically examines different perspectives on the 1913 and 1936 Land Acts.

Professor Ben Cousins from the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies at the University of the Western Cape provides a critical review of the land reform programme in South Africa 1994 - 2016. This presentation made as part of a 4.5 day course on the Political economy of land, mining and rural democracy 22 - 26 Feb 2016 for activists associated with the Alliance for Rural Democracy.

The Government of Zambia is embarking on an ambitious program of legal and administrative reforms in land policy. Although the need to liberalize the land market is universally shared, the ideas on how to accomplish this transformation are not. Two decades of underinvestment in field research have resulted in the present situation of micro-level data on land tenure and farm-level production, consumption, and resource management inadequate to guide policy decisions.

The need for energy security and climate change mitigation have increased blending mandates worldwide; in Southern Africa, demand for biofuels could increase following South Africa’s planned blending mandates. However, land constraints limit local industry expansion, with demand likely to be met in land-abundant countries. This paper reviews the status of the biofuels industry in Zambia, as a land-abundant country, for the local and wider Southern African market. It identifies potential biofuel feedstocks as crucial elements for establishing a viable industry.

This paper analyzes the implications of copper mining in Zambia on customary rights to land and forests, and the societal stakes associated with foreign investment in the mining industry. Copper mining affects forests, and in turn the people with customary rights to those forests, in a number of direct and indirect ways, from deforestation during green site development and selective harvesting of timber to the significant but indirect pressures over forests through infrastructure development and the population pull effect of mining towns.

This study relates to an on-going debate as to whether customary African land tenure must be reformed or converted to a statutory, individualised land tenure system (often referred to as a ‘titled’ system) as a pre-requisite to agricultural development. Past arguments in favour of titling claim that traditional tenure is insecure for the small farmer and thus creates disincentives for land improvements; that it prevents land from being used as collateral for credit; and that it prevents the transfer of land from inefficient users to efficient ones.

This report was commissioned by UN-Habitat to review the laws and land tenure of a selected number of southern African countries. It involved the appointment of country specialists who researched and produced country chapters for their respective countries namely, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. A regional expert was appointed to produce a regional overview to serve as a source document for the country reports, as well as provide overall coordination of the project. The project was carried out over a period of roughly one year, which began in March 2004.