Mozambique: Afrobarometer Finds Natural Resource Community Dissatisfaction

• Most Mozambicans are dissatisfied with local community participation in natural resource extraction.
• Citizens report little information is available on how natural resource revenues are used, leading to beliefs that benefits primarily accrue to elites.
• Mozambique's economy is heavily dependent on natural resources, which contribute approximately half of its GDP.
• Despite government efforts to introduce clearer legal frameworks and revenue-sharing mechanisms, challenges in transparency, accountability, and equitable benefit distribution persist.
• Previous and recent Afrobarometer surveys confirm widespread public skepticism regarding the benefits versus harms of resource extraction and the government's handling of the sector.

This widespread sentiment underscores deep-seated Mozambique natural resource community dissatisfaction, indicating a critical challenge for the nation's extractive sector.

New survey data from Afrobarometer's 2025 study reveals significant public skepticism regarding the management of Mozambique's natural resources. A majority of Mozambicans express unhappiness with the extent of local community participation in the extraction of these resources. This widespread sentiment underscores deep-seated Mozambique natural resource community dissatisfaction, indicating a critical challenge for the nation's extractive sector.

Furthermore, the survey highlights a profound lack of transparency, with most citizens reporting that little information is available concerning how revenues generated from natural resources are utilized. This opacity fuels public distrust, as a significant portion of the population believes that the primary beneficiaries of natural resource extraction are political and economic elites. More than half of those surveyed also indicated that the government is performing poorly in its stewardship of these valuable assets.

Mozambique possesses extensive natural resource reserves, including vast deposits of natural gas, coal, heavy sands, gemstones, and substantial forestry resources. The exploitation of these resources is a central component of the national economic development discourse, with natural resources contributing approximately half of the country's Gross Domestic Product, according to a 2012 study by Bandeira, Macome, Maradan, Nhabinde, and Zein. This heavy reliance on the extractive sector makes effective governance and equitable benefit distribution crucial.

In response to this dependence, the Mozambican government has actively sought to enhance sectoral governance and ensure a more even distribution of the benefits derived from these resources. Efforts have included the introduction of clearer legal frameworks, such as previous mining and petroleum laws. However, Mozambique enacted revised mining and petroleum laws in June 2026, replacing earlier legislation and introducing significant changes to state participation and local content requirements. Additionally, revenue-sharing mechanisms designed to benefit local communities were established between 2013 and 2020 by the Republic of Mozambique and the Assembly of the Republic, aiming to foster greater Mozambique mining community participation and address historical imbalances.

Despite the government's initiatives to improve governance and benefit sharing, various studies point to ongoing and significant challenges within the extractive industry. These include persistent issues related to a lack of transparency, accountability, and equitable distribution of benefits, alongside insufficient community participation in extractive projects. Reports from entities like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (2025) and Mate (2024) also highlight instances of embezzlement within the sector, further eroding public trust and exacerbating Mozambique EITI challenges.

Earlier Afrobarometer research from 2022 had already indicated public skepticism, revealing that only one-third of Mozambicans believed the rewards of natural resource extraction, such as employment and tax revenue, outweighed the associated harms, including pollution. That same survey found that over half of citizens desired stricter industry regulation to mitigate negative environmental impacts. The consistent findings across these surveys underscore a deep and enduring Mozambique natural resource community dissatisfaction, signaling a critical need for enhanced Mozambique extractive industry transparency and more robust mechanisms for Mozambique natural gas revenue sharing and local engagement.

Lawyers advising extractive companies in Mozambique should note the heightened social license to operate risks due to deep community dissatisfaction with participation and benefit transparency. This signals potential for increased regulatory scrutiny, community activism, and demands for more robust local content and revenue-sharing mechanisms.

Source: Original reporting via Afrobarometer