Mozambique

Mozambique has experienced economic growth rates between 7% and 8% for a decade, 130 but remains largely dependent on natural resource exploitation and the agricultural sector. Approximately 70% of Mozambique’s population lives in rural areas, of which about 80% work in agriculture.

Mozambique is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Much of the population lives in low-lying coastal areas with weak, non-resilient infrastructure and relies on local natural resources (e.g., agriculture and fisheries) for their livelihoods. Alternating flood and drought events affect the ability of farmers and fishermen to consistently grow crops and fish, which impacts food security, malnutrition, and sustainable incomes. Droughts, flooding, and higher temperatures impact human health and forest ecosystems. Extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones are affecting already weak infrastructure and damaging or destroying coastal ecosystems and livelihoods.

Civil society 139 has recently become more vocal on climate change. Organizations that have been critical of the government have faced intimidation, as have members of the public, resulting in a climate of intimidation and fear. CSOs have had limited participation in climate policy-making and in monitoring climate commitments (such as NDCs). There is limited CSO capacity to drive a bottom-up advocacy agenda on climate justice, partly due to CSO’s limited capacities.