Green extractivism and financialisation in Mozambique: the case of Gilé National Reserve

With the global environmental crisis intensifying, capitalism has extended the reach of financialisation through the creation of new financial assets that rely on further commodification of nature. Using the case of a national reserve in Mozambique, the paper examines the emergence of green extractivism as a consequence of deepening financialisation, an extractivism which is building on pre-existing relations of unequal and asymmetric exchange between industrialised and extractive economies. The article focuses on the linkages between financialisation and extractivism and nature-based financial mechanisms, whose operationalisation impacts on rural social reproduction. It is argued that the emergence of green extractivism, supported by green funds and loans, is intensifying the extractive character of the Mozambican economy. The case study shows, that with the support of philanthrocapitalism, the process of financialisation led by mature economies supports the appropriation of nature through green extractivist programmes in the periphery, with adverse implications for development and for rural subsistence.