Environmental risks of graphite mining in Balama-Mozambique and perception by residents

Abstract

Mining has affected the land use and exploitation rights by residents around the Balama mining company. The company's practices in the process of compulsory displacement of people who lived in the concession area and the reality in the resettlement location were analyzed. It was important to understand the meanings that these people attribute to the environmental threats caused by the company. The methodology was based on bibliographical review and discourse analysis, in qualitative- quantitative research, of the survey type, with the application of interviews. The results infer that the mining company deterritorialized residents of those production areas, degrading cultural values by resettling residents in another place far from where they had buried their ancestors. It also contributed to the disappearance of some species of fauna and flora that make up ecosystem services. which affects the feeling of belonging, making it necessary to fight for the preservation of the place.