Adaptive Capacity in Maputo's Informal Settlements

• Climate & Development Knowledge Network project in Maputo

• UN-HABITAT Cities and Climate Change Initiative (CCCI) initial climate impact report (2010)

•  AVSI in Mozambique

• Universidade Eduardo Mondane Architecture and Civil Planning Department

• World Bank's completed Maputo Municipal Development Program: https://projects.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/project-detail/P096332 

• Applied architecture project in Maputo's informal settlement: https://www.archdaily.com/897735/compact-housing-in-the-informal-settlements-of-maputo-casas-melhoradas 

• UN-Habitat Urban Resilience Hub: Maputo

• Rapid flood risk assessment of informal settlements in Maputo: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2019.101270 

• ReliefWeb Mozambique Resources

• Cyclone Idai wreaked havoc on Mozambique in March 2019, particularly the city of Beira in Sofala Province (central Mozambique)

• In early 2020, thousands of displaced people in Mozambique were still struggling in resettlement areas further damaged by heavy rains

• Now in the COVID-19 crisis, the settlements lack personal protective equipment and space for isolation

• In February 2021, Cyclone Eloise was the fourth tropical storm to land in central / northern Mozambique in four years, striking Sofala Province and leaving over 260,000 people in urgent need

• Movement of water and movement of people are in competition (Marilia)

• Adaptation in one area could put more pressure elsewhere(Marilia)

• Informal settlements mean that there is no formal ownership or land title(Marilia)

• Conflict between scales of government(Marilia)

• What is a development agencies place to change social relations? (Marilia)

Three Interpretive Questions:

1. How do the main research question(s) and conclusion(s) fit within the resilience – transition – transformation framework?

   • The authors frame their question as adaptation as resilience with effort taken to make sure the perspective includes contextual vulnerability 

   • They find that many of the core requirements of adaptation as resilience are missing in Maputo, especially opportunity for self-organization and experimentation with new institutions and social organizations. Most of the adaptations in practice are individual / autonomous. Some progress has been made with external funding to increase the sharing and co-production of knowledge across levels of organization, e.g. with participatory mapping of flood risk.

2. What were the goals of the main climate change actor(s) in terms of the resilience – transition –transformation framework?

   • It honestly seems like the national and municipal governments are most interested in resilience.

   • The rigid top-down political structure is even stymieing those characteristics of resilience which might build capacity for transitional adaptation down the line.

   • Maputo is far from showing evidence of capacity for planned transitional or transformational adaptation.

3. How is geographic space and scale implicated in the outcomes of adaptation as resilience, transition, or transformation?

   • Informal status of so much of the city's settlements makes adaptation very difficult: everything has to happen out of official legal authority, through individual action or shadow organizations.

   • Many individual adaptation actions, scaled up to a whole community, may increase overall severity of flooding and/or displace the risk elsewhere through increase in built infrastructure, impervious surfaces, and channelization of drainage

   • The high density and unplanned patterns of informal settlements creates competition over space, e.g. for infrastructure to safely move people or vehicles through the built urban landscape and infrastructure to efficiently drain floodwater from the landscape. The same competition over space applies to drinking water supplies, sewer/sanitation, energy infrastructure, solid waste management, green space, and other public services. Solid waste management is often in direct conflict with flood mitigation measures, with trash accumulating in ditches and culverts and blocking drainage.

   • The high density and rapid growth of the city make it very difficult to conceive of urban planning alternatives if society was ever to mobilize around the idea of zoning some areas as high-risk and planning relocation of current residents.

   • Remember from urban geography that urban residents decide where to live based on costs/benefits of transportation to work, environmental amenities, risks, and costs of housing. In rapidly urbanizing cities of developing countries, there will always be very high demand for affordable residences close to economic resources near the city center, even if the residences are high-risk, low-amenity, and technically illegal.