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Gas in Mozambique: A Windfall for the Industry, a Curse for the Country

Today JA!, Friends of the Earth France and Friends of the Earth International have released a report which exposes deep French involvement in the gas industry in Mozambique. The report, entitled Gas in Mozambique: A Windfall for the Industry, a Curse for the Country, details how the French government, its banks and corporations are part of a web of state corruption, arms deals, human rights violations and economic diplomacy, all in the interests of a $60 billion industry that has left destruction in its wake before a single drop of liquid natural gas has even been extracted.

The report shows how the French State, major private banks including BNP Paribas, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole, and fossil fuel giant Total, are some of the greatest beneficiaries of the devastating impacts of the industry in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

JA! works closely with local communities directly facing these impacts on a daily basis. We have seen entire villages uprooted from their homes, fisherpeople moved many kilometres from the coast, and their struggle and heartbreak at losing the land and sea that has been their livelihood for generations.

We have been present with them as they try to speak up in meetings where Total brings the news of their coming difficulties and losses, but have their voices suppressed. They have told us of their nightmarish fear of insurgents who have terrorised the region with violent and fatal attacks, and of the heavy-handedness of the military that has been deployed to protect the industry.

The report includes detailed and up-to-date information from the ground, and divulges the depths to which the French public authorities have gone to ensure their economy, bankers, fossil fuel and arms industry are the greatest profiteers of the gas exploitation, even it it means devastation of the local environment, lives, economy and climate.

With this report, JA!, Friends of the Earth France and Friends of the Earth International call for the French state, banks and fossil fuel companies to withdraw from their involvement in Mozambique, stop the country’s dependence on fossil fuels and cease corrupt diplomatic dealings which are leaving the Mozambican people, and the planet, in a state of hardship and chaos.

“France is determined to ensure that this gas windfall benefits first and foremost its own transnational corporations, even if this means sowing chaos for Mozambique and setting off a climate bomb equivalent to seven times France’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. Neither the French government, nor Total and its bankers, seem concerned about the impacts this will have in fuelling climate crisis, local conflict, corruption and human rights violations.”— Cécile Marchand, Climate and Corporate Justice Campaigner at Friends of the Earth France

“The fossil fuel industry is peddling a lie that gas can be part of the clean energy transition. In reality, this so-called transition in Mozambique has meant a shift from freedom to human rights violations, from peace to conflict, from communities living well through farming and fishing to starving populations deprived of their livelihoods. The gas rush, which is exacerbating the climate crisis and benefiting only transnational corporations and corrupt elites, must stop.”— Anabela Lemos, Director of Justiça Ambiental (JA!)/Friends of the Earth Mozambique

LINKS TO THE REPORT

English Executive Summary: https://www.foei.org/resources/gas-mozambique-france-report

Relatório Português: https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Gas-Mocambique_Portuguese.pdf

French report: https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/De-l-eldorado-gazier-au-chaos_Gas-au-Mozambique_Amis-de-la-terre_rapport_FR.pdf

For enquiries

For press enquiries, please contact:

Cécile Marchand, Friends of the Earth France, cecile.marchand@amisdelaterre., +33(0)669977456

Daniel Ribeiro, Justiça Ambiental, daniel.ja.mz@gmail.com, +258842026243

Friends of the Earth International, press@foei.org