By the Witness Radio team.

Africa’s efforts to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss are fueling a surge in renewable energy, conservation, restoration, biofuels, and carbon projects. Researchers caution that these green solutions can dramatically alter who controls land and natural resources.

Stories from Uganda, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso, shared during the ILC’s “Whose Land, Whose Transition?” webinar, revealed how climate and environmental projects collide with land rights, livelihoods, and the deep bonds communities have with their land.

The regional webinar brought together organizations, researchers, donors, and other key players to explore new land conflicts sparked by the green transition and consider how land governance might address the climate and biodiversity crises.

Jeremy Bourgoin, Knowledge Management Lead at the International Land Coalition, said the urgency of addressing climate and biodiversity challenges should not obscure the consequences projects can have on people whose land is needed for those interventions.

“The climate and biodiversity crisis still demand urgent and far-reaching action,” Bourgoin said.

He pointed out that many of these promoted solutions—conservation, restoration, renewable energy, and carbon projects—require land, often clashing with the rights and livelihoods of those already living there.

“The question is not only on what kind of transition is needed but also on whose lands it relies upon,” he added.

He emphasized that the green transition is not a one-size-fits-all story across Africa. The unique land systems, institutions, and communities in each place shape its impact.

“These three streams asked us to examine the green transition without treating the region as a single uniform context. The case studies show how these dynamics unfold in particular places, through particular institutions, and for particular groups of people,” he said.

In northern Uganda, Dr Theresa E. Auma presented research on what she described as the exclusion and exploitation of communities around green energy activities linked to Bukona Agro Processing Factory in Koch-Goma Subcounty, Nwoya District.

Drawing on data from 2022 to 2025, the research examined how large-scale investments affect nearby communities and explored ways to prevent human rights abuses.

Auma described how communities worry about being pushed off their land, facing harsh labor conditions, and dealing with pollution that threatens their environment.

She She reported that workers often labored in hazardous conditions without proper safety gear, many lacking formal contracts and facing delayed or missing wages. The payment is either delayed, and people have to struggle, or in many cases, they did not receive the payments, like when they work on planting maize or things like that in the factory,” Auma said.

“The factory is Indian-owned, and so the racial question comes between the Indian and black workers in the factory, that the Indian workers are taken as a higher class of workers compared to the black workers, Ugandan workers,” she added.

In Nigeria, Chinwike Okereke from the African Law Foundation presented research on farmer-pastoralist land conflicts in Benue State, focusing on how the conflicts affect women differently.

The conflict is fueled by a mix of forces: growing populations, increasing resource pressures, fierce competition for land and water, cattle theft, armed groups, and uncertainty over land rights and pastoral movement.

Okereke explained that climate change adds another challenge, disrupting agriculture and making it even harder for people to access vital resources.

He noted that these hardships hit women hardest, since they are usually the ones tasked with gathering food, water, and other essentials for their families.

“It increased women’s workload and caused many hardships and poverty as women spend extra hours reaching land and water sources and often go into debt due to harsh economic conditions,” he said. In Burkina Faso, Saud Ata shared a case study from Darkwei Kelesuk, spotlighting how traditional knowledge helps communities protect biodiversity and steward their land.

She introduced participatory mapping, a tool that empowers communities to chart their territories and weave together diverse strands of knowledge.

“Different ways of knowledge can be combined without transferring the control of the territory far from the community,” Ata said.

Ata stressed that this approach is vital, since local people rely on their ecosystems for everything from breeding and gardening to crafting and managing forest resources.

She underscored how these ecosystems are lifelines, supporting both biodiversity and the daily realities of community life.

“The ecosystems in the area are key for biodiversity and the land conditions of the communities,” she said.

By the Witness Radio Team

The global rush to secure minerals for the clean-energy transition is exposing local and indigenous communities to land dispossession, conflicts, human rights abuses or violations, and attacks on those who challenge mining projects, according to a new report by the Business & Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC).

The report, Mining for the Future, Undermining Trust: Participation Deficit at the Heart of the Energy Transition, warns that growing demand for minerals like copper, lithium, nickel, and other transition minerals is advancing faster than mechanisms to ensure affected communities have a meaningful say in decisions about mining projects on their land.

Tanzania is among the African countries positioning itself as a future supplier of minerals needed for the global energy transition. The country has significant potential for graphite, nickel and rare earth elements, while investor interest is growing in minerals used in batteries and renewable-energy technologies.

In Kandaskira, a village in Simanjiro District, the drive to extract these minerals raises deep worries about land loss, water scarcity, forced displacement, and exclusion from decisions shaping their future.

Indigenous rights organization PINGO’s Forum has documented land conflicts, fears of forced displacement, risks of water contamination, and exclusion of communities from negotiations with mining companies around graphite projects. It also recorded unfulfilled corporate social responsibility promises, violence against community members resisting mining projects, and gender-based violence.

Rombo Ole, chairman of Kandaskira, said communities need clear information about the opportunities and potential impacts of the energy transition. He also called for transparent laws, procedures, and fair compensation for people whose land, livelihoods, or resources are affected.

“A just energy transition is important because energy is about people and communities. The transition must put people at the center and ensure no community is left behind or unfairly affected,” Rombo said.

Kandaskira’s story echoes a broader struggle faced by communities living near transition-mineral projects worldwide.

According to the BHRRC report, the resulting “participation deficit” risks undermining public trust and could fuel conflicts, lawsuits, and delays to projects supporting the global transition away from fossil fuels.

“The energy transition cannot be built on the silencing or exclusion of the people and communities who bear its costs,” the report argues.

The findings come as demand for transition minerals is projected to rise sharply in coming decades. The report estimates that by 2040, the share of global mineral demand for the energy transition could rise from 20% to 45% for copper, 38% to 92% for lithium, and below 10% to 54% for nickel.

As demand surges, so do the dangers for those who challenge mining projects.

The report documents over 1,880 attacks against critics of the mining sector in 11 years, highlighting a shrinking civic space around mining activities.

It identifies 1,226 allegations of abuse connected to transition-mineral mining since 2010. About one in six involved attacks on human-rights defenders, while 25 cases involved strategic lawsuits against public participation, known as SLAPPs.

The report says more than a third of human-rights defenders murdered over the past decade were raising concerns about mining, while close to 40% were Indigenous defenders.

The findings come against a broader deterioration in civic space globally. According to the report, only seven percent of the world’s population currently live in countries where civic space is considered free or relatively open.

The report says restrictions on civic freedoms make it harder for communities, journalists, environmental defenders, and human-rights organizations to scrutinize mining projects or challenge decisions affecting their land and livelihoods.

The report recorded at least 173 cases in 2024 and 2025 where communities or workers pushed back against abuses linked to the energy transition.

It identified 125 legal cases brought by people affected by abusive energy-transition projects. Eighty-nine involved transition-mineral mining, while 71 lawsuits targeted states for authorizing business activities.

The report calls on governments to protect civic freedoms and human-rights defenders, strengthen Indigenous rights and free, prior and informed consent, improve transparency around mining contracts and licenses, and ensure that affected communities have meaningful influence over decisions.

It also calls on mining companies and investors to conduct human-rights due diligence, establish effective grievance mechanisms, disclose project information, provide fair compensation and benefit-sharing, and commit to zero tolerance for attacks against human-rights defenders.

The report warns that unless communities have a meaningful role in mining decisions, the rush to build a clean-energy future could deepen the very conflicts and inequalities the transition is meant to address.

The Commander of the 3 Infantry Division, Brig Gen Michael Hyeroba Wakala, has warned communities in the Karamoja and Teso sub-regions against escalating communal land conflicts, saying the disputes pose a threat to peace, security and socio-economic development.

Brig Gen Hyeroba made the remarks during a joint regional security meeting at the 403 Brigade Headquarters in Matany, Napak District, where security leaders reviewed persistent land disputes in Abim, Napak and Kapelebyong districts.

He said the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) would not tolerate violence, incitement or illegal occupation arising from land disputes.

“Land conflicts are now a major security threat. I direct all commanders under 3 Division to take firm action against anyone who takes the law into their own hands. No community has the right to evict, attack or destroy property of another under the guise of land ownership. We shall enforce peace and protect every Ugandan,” Brig Gen Hyeroba said.

He said disputes involving gazetted land, communal grazing corridors and inter-district boundaries had been exploited to fuel violence, and tasked the joint security committee with conducting a comprehensive verification of gazetted land ownership and submitting recommendations to the Government.

“This committee must address the historical and administrative gaps. We need to know what is gazetted, what is communal, and what belongs to the local government. Without clarity, criminals will continue to hide behind land conflicts,” he added.

The Resident District Commissioner of Napak, Mr Milton Odongo, called for closer cooperation between security agencies and local leaders, saying isolated interventions had failed to deliver lasting solutions.

“We are moving from talking to action. We have resolved to deploy joint security teams in all hotspots across the three districts to stop violence, prevent illegal demarcations and protect lives and property. Any local leader who incites communities over land will be held personally accountable,” Odongo said.

He said the conflicts had outgrown local council mechanisms and now required a coordinated, multi-agency response.

“Land conflict is no longer a mere community disagreement; it is a security matter. We shall not allow it to reverse the peace we have achieved in Karamoja and Teso,” he said.

Mr. Odongo also said he would engage the Minister of Karamoja Affairs to facilitate the involvement of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and the Ministry of Local Government in developing a lasting policy solution.

The Deputy RDC of Abim District, Mr Gilbert Okwir, called for unity among communities and closer coordination among security agencies.

“The people of Abim, Napak and Kapelebyong are one. We cannot afford to fight over boundaries. I appeal to all security agencies to speak with one voice and find a lasting solution,” Okwir said.

He commended the UPDF, Uganda Police Force and Anti-Stock Theft Unit (ASTU) for joint operations that he said had helped curb cattle raids, which had contributed to tensions over land.

The Deputy Commander of the 5 Infantry Division, Col Gai Fraser Mpadwa, urged field commanders to strengthen intelligence sharing and community engagement to prevent land disputes from escalating into violence.

The meeting brought together the Commander of 3 Infantry Division, Brig Gen Michael Hyeroba Wakala; Deputy Commander of 5 Infantry Division, Col Gai Fraser Mpadwa; brigade commanders; ASTU commanders; District Internal Security Officers; intelligence officers; and Resident District Commissioners from the affected districts.

Source:  chimpreports.com