A climate activist, Dr Melania Chiponda, has warned that Southern Africa’s push for critical minerals, infrastructure and industrialisation risks deepening inequality if women, girls and rural communities are left to bear the social and environmental costs.

Chiponda, Executive Director of Shine Collab, a global feminist network advancing women-led energy access, climate justice and community power across Africa and the Global South, made the argument in an article reflecting on the 46th Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) held in Durban on August 17, 2026.

The summit adopted the theme, “Resilient, Sustainable, and Inclusive Industrialisation through Infrastructure Development, Agricultural and Critical Minerals Transformation in Pursuit of a Just World.”

Chiponda welcomed SADC’s focus on critical minerals, agriculture and infrastructure, as well as commitments to women’s leadership, gender-based violence prevention, climate preparedness and inclusive development.

However, she questioned whether the region’s industrialisation agenda would genuinely benefit women and communities whose land and livelihoods are increasingly exposed to extractive activities.

Critical Minerals and the Cost to Communities

According to Chiponda, Southern Africa’s mineral wealth presents an important economic opportunity as global demand grows for resources required for the energy transition.

But she cautioned that minerals exist beneath land used by communities for farming, collecting water and sustaining livelihoods.

She argued that policy discussions around lithium, cobalt, graphite, copper and rare earth minerals often focus heavily on investment, value addition and regional competitiveness without adequately addressing the people living in mining-affected communities.

“Just industrialisation for whom, and at whose cost?” she asked.

Chiponda said the question was particularly important for women, whose livelihoods are often closely connected to forests, rivers, agricultural land and other natural resources.

She warned that an industrialisation strategy could not be considered inclusive if the social and economic costs of development were systematically transferred to women, girls and rural communities.

Mining, Climate Change and Child Marriage

The activist also linked extractive activities and climate change to the vulnerability of girls, drawing on her work on the SADC Model Law on Eradicating Child Marriage.

She argued that child marriage should not be viewed solely through the lens of culture, tradition or household poverty because economic and environmental pressures can also contribute to the practice.

According to her, drought, failed harvests, displacement and water insecurity can weaken household resilience and increase the risk of child marriage.

“When drought destroys harvests, when water sources recede, when families lose access to productive land or when communities are displaced by mining, households become more economically vulnerable,” she said.

Chiponda argued that girls can bear a disproportionate share of these consequences, with marriage potentially becoming a coping mechanism for vulnerable families.

She therefore urged policymakers to recognise the connections between mining policy, climate policy, energy-transition strategies and child protection.

‘A Just Transition Can Still Be Gender-Blind’

Chiponda said SADC’s commitment to a just transition was welcome but argued that existing discussions often concentrate on jobs, skills, industrial policy, energy systems, critical-mineral supply chains, investment and financing.

She said gender-specific consequences of mining expansion, including gender-based violence, child marriage, displacement and women’s exclusion from decision-making, often receive less attention.

According to her, moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy does not automatically make the transition just.

She warned that renewable technologies could still be associated with injustice if the minerals required to produce them are obtained through land dispossession, environmental degradation, inadequate consultation or the exclusion of women from decision-making.

“A transition is not just merely because it is green,” she argued, stressing that justice should also consider how the transition is produced, who controls it and who benefits.

Call for Stronger Community Consent

Chiponda called for Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) to become a meaningful requirement in decisions involving mining, land acquisition, displacement, compensation and environmental impacts.

She said affected communities must have meaningful opportunities to influence decisions before mining projects begin.

The activist further stressed that consultation processes should be gender-responsive, arguing that women should not simply be invited to meetings to satisfy procedural requirements.

Instead, she said women should have access to information and sufficient institutional power to influence decisions affecting their land, livelihoods and futures.

Women Must Have a Voice in Economic Transformation

Chiponda also welcomed SADC’s call for greater participation of women in leadership and decision-making, but said political representation alone was insufficient.

She argued that women should have decision-making power over economic transformations taking place in their communities.

“A woman whose land is acquired for mining is not simply a ‘beneficiary’ of development. She is a rights-holder,” she said.

She added that girls affected by school closures, displacement or loss of household livelihoods should not be treated merely as statistics in development planning.

Chiponda also called for greater protection for environmental defenders, arguing that community members defending their land and environment should not automatically be portrayed as opponents of development.

Chiponda Calls for a Different Model of Industrialisation

The activist said she was not advocating an end to industrialisation or rejecting the development of critical-mineral value chains.

Instead, she urged SADC to pursue a model that ensures greater value remains within the region while protecting communities and addressing gender inequality.

She said the language of resilience, sustainability, inclusion and justice contained in the summit’s agenda provides an opportunity for governments, civil society and communities to push for stronger safeguards.

However, she stressed that commitments must translate into laws, budgets, accountability mechanisms and enforceable protections.

Chiponda called for the critical-minerals agenda to be explicitly linked to gender justice, child protection, climate resilience and community land rights.

She also urged governments to establish clear obligations for extractive companies and investors, strengthen gender-responsive FPIC, protect environmental defenders and incorporate the social impacts of mining and climate change into development assessments.

‘No Transition Is Truly Just While Women Subsidise It’

Chiponda said the success of SADC’s industrialisation agenda should not be measured only by investment attracted, minerals extracted, infrastructure built or factories established.

She argued that the more important measure should be whether communities experience greater security, dignity and control over their futures.

“No transition is truly just while women and girls are expected to subsidise it with their land, labour, livelihoods or bodies,” she said.

She urged SADC leaders to ensure that Africa’s energy and industrial transition becomes not only environmentally sustainable but also feminist, community-centred and accountable.

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