Kategorie: Simbabwe

Report on the Socio-Economic and Environmental Impacts of Lithium Extraction in Zimbabwe

Lithium mining in Zimbabwe presents immense economic potential but also brings severe social, cultural, and environmental challenges. Together with the Zimbabwean Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG), KEESA ADR has commissioned a study examining the impact of lithium extraction on local communities in Zimbabwe. The report documents displacement, environmental destruction, and social inequalities associated with this booming sector, but also explores the potential of the “white gold” for Zimbabwe, as well as the whole region.

Many challenges, big potential

The reports outlines how relocations have violated rights, particularly of women, and left families in overcrowded conditions without adequate compensation or livelihoods. Environmental neglect, unsafe labour practices, and loss of access to land and resources have deepened community vulnerability and resentment.

While mining has also created some jobs and local business activity, the benefits remain unequally shared, underscoring the urgent need for stronger governance, accountability, and sustainable practices. Mining companies, government officials, and traditional leaders have worked in ways that disrupt communities, displace families, and damage the environment

Download the report here: Lithium Extraction in Zimbabwe

Register now: KEESA ADR Conference on Lithium Mining in Zimbabwe

The global energy transition needs raw materials – but at whose expense?

Whether for electromobility, renewable energies or digital technologies: The demand for lithium and other so-called “critical” raw materials is increasing rapidly. These resources are often mined in the Global South – with far-reaching social and environmental consequences for local communities.

Zimbabwe is currently experiencing a veritable lithium boom. The expansion of the mining sector has far-reaching consequences: Displacement, environmental degradation, human rights violations – these are just some of the challenges documented in a new study by KEESA in collaboration with the Center for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG). The research report (in German) “Green transition – at whose expense?” analyses the situation on the ground in Buhera, Bikita and Mberengwa and shows that the energy transition in the Global North is reproducing colonial structures.

What can you expect at the conference?

Activists from Zimbabwe will talk about the situation on the ground. Together with civil society representatives from Europe and Zimbabwe, we will discuss global responsibility, power relations and just alternatives in energy policy. The aim of the conference is to make critical perspectives visible and strengthen alliances of solidarity across borders.

Download the pamphlet to get more information including the agenda of the day.

Register now with this form:
(Please note that participation is only possible on site in Basel. The conference will not be broadcast online.) 

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Download the German research report here: Grüne Wende- auf wessen Kosten? Auswirkungen des Lithiumabbaus auf die lokale Bevölkerung in Simbabwe

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Forschungsbericht zu den Auswirkungen des Lithiumabbaus in Simbabwe: Grüne Wende – auf wessen Kosten?

Lithium ist ein zentraler Rohstoff der Energiewende – doch sein Abbau hat gravierende Folgen. Gemeinsam mit dem simbabwischen Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) hat KEESA eine Studie in Auftrag gegeben, die die Auswirkungen des Lithiumabbaus in Simbabwe untersucht. Der Bericht dokumentiert Vertreibungen, Umweltzerstörung und soziale Ungleichheiten, die mit dem boomenden Sektor einhergehen.

Anlässlich der diesjährigen KEESA-Tagung, die voraussichtlich am 20. September 2025 stattfinden wird, thematisieren Aktivist*innen aus Simbabwe und Europa, wie neokoloniale Strukturen in der Rohstoffgewinnung fortbestehen – und welche solidarischen Gegenstrategien es gibt. Mehr Informationen zur Tagung folgen in Kürze.

Der Bericht kann hier heruntergeladen werden.

Schulden als neokoloniale Ausbeutung: KEESA wirkt mit Artikel im neusten WIDERSPRUCH mit

Öffentliche Geldgeber stehen zunehmend unter Druck, hochverschuldete Staaten zu entlasten. Die KEESA zeigt mit drei Beispielen aus dem südlichen Afrika, dass gleichzeitig Private immense Kredite vergeben und sich diese in Rohstoffe zurückzahlen lassen. Der Beitrag erschien im Widerspruch Heft 77: Geld. Macht. Politik; Seiten 133-142.