Extractivism and Climate Justice in a Context of Political Contestation in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This chapter explores the nexus between extractivism and climate justice in Zimbabwe. The country has been going through a protracted political crisis, particularly so after the post-November 2017 “military assisted transition”. Available data shows that the extractive sector plays a strong economic role in different countries, many of which face challenges such as resource dependency and weak governance. Selected key sectors—mining and energy—are at the core of extractivism in Zimbabwe, leaving the country stuck in the fossil energy age. This comes at a time when the world is calling for green transitions to cleaner and sustainable renewable energy and the country has made commitments to a low carbon development strategy. The new lithium frontier is expanding and mutating and this can facilitate clean energy and mobility transition while also creating green job opportunities. However, as we will illustrate in the following chapter, green jobs and green energy are, so far, a fantasy. This chapter utilizes various case studies to explicate what can be conceived as violent extractivism and extractivist banditry in both old and new mineral frontiers, showing how a political rhetoric on green transition is playing out and how climate justice remains an illusion for local communities.