Climate, Security, and the Study of Religion in Africa Insights from Northern Mozambique
Main Article Content
Keywords
climate change, peace and security , African religions, conflict, Mozambique
Abstract
How the security risks associated with climate change, such as social instability and conflicts over dwindling resources, impact the study of religion in Africa has received limited attention from scholars of African religions, despite the need to determine how these impacts influence how religion is conceptualized. However, climate-related security risks intersect with religious beliefs and practices. This article draws on participatory methodologies and an ethnographic study of the security risks stemming from climate change in northern Mozambique. It demonstrates that the emergence of security challenges related to climate change provides religious studies with new data and, therefore, new challenges in rethinking the meaning of African religions. It also shows the significance of attributing religion to climate disasters among religious communities, exposes the epistemological assumptions and conflicts over the role of religion in social challenges, and demonstrates the transcendence of religious differences in times of widespread social crises. The article thus contributes to setting the stage for future studies that aim to understand how climate-driven vulnerabilities change the conception of and engagement with religion in Africa.
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References
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Awuah-Nyamekye, Samuel. 2014. “Indigenous Ways of Creating Environmental Awareness: Case Study from Berekum Traditional Area of Ghana.” Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture 8 (1): 46–63. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v8i1.46.
Banla, Noela Kinyuy. 2024. “Nso’ Traditional Religion and Climate Forecast: A Critical Photographic Analysis” Journal of the British Academy 12 (1/2): a19. https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/012.a19.
Bergmann, Sigurd. 2009. “Climate Change Changes Religion: Space, Spirit, Ritual, Technology – through a Theological Lens.” Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology 63 (2): 98–118. https://doi.org/10.1080/00393380903345057.
———. 2017. Religion, Space, and the Environment. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315128412.
Cannon, Terry, and Lisa Schipper, eds. 2014. World Disasters Report 2014: Focus on Culture and Risk. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Geneva.
Chitando, Ezra, Ernst Conradie, and Susan Kilonzo, eds. 2022. African Perspectives on Religion and Climate Change. Routledge Studies on Religion in Africa and the Diaspora. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003147909.
Desai, Bharat H, and Moumita Mandal. 2021. “Role of Climate Change in Exacerbating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence against Women: A New Challenge for International Law.” Environmental Policy and Law 51 (3): 137–57. https://doi.org/10.3233/EPL-210055.
Gambir, Katherine, Abel Blessing Matsika, Anna Panagiotou, Eleanor Snowden, Clare Lofthouse, and Janna Metzler. 2024. “Associations between Child Marriage and Food Insecurity in Zimbabwe: A Participatory Mixed Methods Study.” BMC Public Health 24 (13): 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-17408-7.
Grim, Brian J., Todd M. Johnson, Vegard Skirbekk, and Gina A. Zurlo, eds. 2015. Yearbook of International Religious Demography 2015. Yearbook of International Religious Demography 2. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004297395.
Haberman, David L., ed. 2021. Understanding Climate Change through Religious Lifeworlds. Indiana University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv21hrh8r.
Haluza‐DeLay, Randolph. 2014. “Religion and Climate Change: Varieties in Viewpoints and Practices.” Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 5 (2): 261–79. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.268.
Hulme, Mike. 2009. Why We Disagree about Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511841200.
———. 2017. “Climate Change and the Significance of Religion.” Economic and Political Weekly 52 (28): 14–17.
INGC. 2009. “Estudo Sobre o Impacto Das Alterações Climáticas No Risco de Calamidades Em Moçambique Relatório Síntese. Segunda Versão.” Instituto Nacional de Gestão de Calamidades (INGC). May 2009. Mozambique. https://biblioteca.biofund.org.mz/
wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1548337662-INGC_Segunda_Versao_Alteracoes_Climaticas_
Low.pdf.
IPBES, Unai Pascual, Patricia Balvanera, Michael Christie, Brigitte Baptiste, David González-Jiménez, Christopher B. Anderson, et al. 2022. “Summary for Policymakers of the Methodological Assessment of the Diverse Values and Valuation of Nature of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).” Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.7410287.
Jenkins, Willis, Evan Berry, and Luke Beck Kreider. 2018. “Religion and Climate Change.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 43 (1): 85–108. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-102017-025855.
Khaira, Annisa Nabilatul, and Munif Arif Ranti. 2024. “A Crisis for Peace? Climate Change, Environmental Peacebuilding, and Interfaith Harmony in Indonesia.” Journal of Law and Social Transformation 2 (1): 8–22. https://doi.org/10.62527/jlast.2.1.6.
Mac Ginty, Roger, and Pamina Firchow. 2016. “Top-down and Bottom-up Narratives of Peace and Conflict.” Politics 36 (3): 308–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395715622967.
Maingey, Yvonne, Maggie Opondo, Daniel Olago, and Gilbert Ouma. 2022. “The Impacts of Increasing Water Scarcity and the Potential for Water-Related Conflict in Lamu, Kenya.” Water Supply 22 (2): 1983–94. https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2021.299.
Morier-Genoud, Éric. 2023. Towards Jihad? Muslims and Politics in Postcolonial Mozambique. Hurst Publishers.
Nações Unidas Moçambique. 2019. “Mozambique: Urgent Humanitarian Priorities, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).” Published December 20. https://www.reliefweb.int/report/mozambique/mozambique-urgent-humanitarian-priorities.
Nche, George C. 2012. “Challenges of Climate Change: The Role of Christian Religious Leaders.” Journal of Educational and Social Research 2 (10): 73–80. https://doi.org/10.5901/jesr.2012.v2n10p73.
———. 2023. “The Influence of Religious Affiliation and Church Attendance on Climate Change Awareness, Perception, and Action: The Role of Churches through Environmental Education in Nigeria.” Didaktika: Jurnal Kependidikan 12 (4): 1087–1102. https://doi.org/10.58230/27454312.453.
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Premawardhana, Devaka. 2021. Faith in Flux: Pentecostalism and Mobility in Rural Mozambique. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Republic of Mozambique. 1990. “Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique.” National Legislative Bodies / National Authorities, November 30. https://www.refworld.org/legal/legislation/natlegbod/1990/en/21027.
Schipper, E.L.F. 2010. “Religion as an integral part of determining and reducing Climate Change and Disaster Risk: An agenda for research.” In Der Klimawandel: Sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven, edited by Martin Voss. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-92258-4_22.
Schuman, Simone, Jon-Vegard Dokken, Dewald van Niekerk, and Ruth A. Loubser. 2018. “Religious Beliefs and Climate Change Adaptation: A Study of Three Rural South African Communities.” Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies 10 (1). https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v10i1.509.
Smith, Dan, and Janani Vivekananda. 2007. “A Climate of Conflict: The Links between Climate Change, Peace and War.” International Alert.
Swain, Ashok, Ranjula Bali Swain, Anders Themnér, and Florian Krampe. 2011. Climate Change and the Risk of Violent Conflicts in Southern Africa. Global Crisis Solutions.
US State Department. 2021. “2021 Report on International Religious Freedom: Mozambique.” https://www.state.gov/reports/2021-report-on-international-religious-freedom/mozambique/.
Van Klinken, Adriaan, Simon Manda, Damaris Parsitau, and Abel Ugba. 2024. “African Ecologies: The Value and Politics of Indigenous Knowledges—Introduction.” Journal of the British Academy 12 (3): a28. https://doi.org/10.5871/jba/012.a28.
Van Klinken, Adriaan. 2022. “Wangari Maathai’s Environmental Bible as an African Knowledge: Eco-Spirituality, Christianity, and Decolonial Thought.” Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies 8 (3): 156–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/23277408.2021.1922129.
Vaughan-Williams, Nick, and Daniel Stevens. 2016. “Vernacular Theories of Everyday (in) Security: The Disruptive Potential of Non-Elite Knowledge.” Security Dialogue 47 (1): 40–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/0967010615604101.
Veldman, Robin Globus. 2016. “What Is the Meaning of Greening? Cultural Analysis of a Southern Baptist Environmental Text.” Journal of Contemporary Religion 31 (2): 199–222. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2016.1152676.
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Apr 28, 2025
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Climate, Security, and the Study of Religion in Africa: Insights from Northern Mozambique. (2025). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 8(1), 82-93. https://doi.org/10.36615/20t6va54
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Author Biographies
Joram Tarusarira, University of Groningen
Joram Tarusarira is an Associate Professor of Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and a Climate Peace and Security Research Associate with the Alliance for Bioversity and CIAT.
Gracsious Maviza
Gender and Migration Climate Security Scientist and the Regional Lead for Southern Africa within the CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security Team at the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
How to Cite
Climate, Security, and the Study of Religion in Africa: Insights from Northern Mozambique. (2025). Utambuzi: Journal for the Study of the Religions of Africa and Its Diaspora, 8(1), 82-93. https://doi.org/10.36615/20t6va54