China’s presence in Africa is often described in terms of win–win development: new roads, power plants and capital flows. Yet when the focus shifts from spreadsheets to the lived realities of communities and ecosystems, the picture becomes more complex. The continent’s experience shows how rapid resource investment — from any partner — can generate both opportunities and risks if environmental and social safeguards are weak.
When Mining Goes Wrong
The recent incident on Zambia’s Kafue River illustrates this tension. In February 2025, a tailings dam at a Chinese-operated copper facility failed, releasing acidic, metal-laden waste into waterways used for drinking water, irrigation and fisheries. Local media reported fisheries wiped out and crops contaminated. Authorities scrambled to neutralise the acid with lime, while independent experts raised questions about the transparency of the clean-up. It was a stark reminder that modern mining’s toxic by-products travel far beyond concession fences, and that weak enforcement magnifies the fallout in times of crisis.
Similar dilemmas are visible in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the linchpin of the global battery and electric-vehicle supply chain. Surging demand for cobalt and copper — and the rapid industrial expansion it has triggered — has sometimes led to evictions, water pollution and stripped landscapes around Kolwezi and other hubs. Human-rights groups have documented forced removals and disrupted livelihoods linked to various operators as production scaled up to meet global demand. This tension between accelerating extraction for a low-carbon future and protecting the living environments of host communities is not unique to Chinese firms, but the scale of Chinese involvement makes its practices especially consequential.
Oceans and Forests Under Pressure
The environmental risks extend beyond mines. China’s distant-water fishing fleet — the largest in the world — has been repeatedly flagged by local fishers and NGOs for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing off West and Southern Africa. Coastal communities report declining near-shore stocks and damaged gear as industrial trawlers vacuum up fish, often under weak licensing regimes. Labour abuses and destructive fishing methods documented on some vessels erode marine ecosystems and food security alike. These problems are hardly exclusive to Chinese vessels, but they underscore the need for stronger regional monitoring and transparent licensing of all foreign fleets.
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Forestry is another front. Demand from China’s vast market for tropical timber and wood products has helped drive commercial logging from Gabon to Cameroon. Studies show how new roads and concession expansions open previously intact forests to industrial exploitation, leading to biodiversity loss and carbon emissions. Communities see traditional territories fragmented or sidelined in the race for export revenue. Again, the issue is not simply who buys the timber but how concessions are managed, monitored and enforced.
Why the Pattern Persists
Three forces converge: soaring global demand for cobalt, copper, timber and seafood; capacity gaps in resource-rich but institutionally stretched states; and weak transparency mechanisms that allow poor practices to persist. State-owned or private firms, whether Chinese or otherwise, have incentives to secure supply quickly, and regulators often struggle to keep pace.
Toward a Higher Standard
This does not mean all Chinese investment is inherently harmful. Many projects bring jobs, infrastructure and fiscal revenues. But evidence from across Africa shows that higher standards are urgently needed — and achievable. Practical steps include:
- Strengthening and publishing environmental and social impact assessments;
- Attaching enforceable remediation and liability clauses to licences and loans;
- Requiring independent monitoring of tailings dams, emissions and fishing licences;
- Encouraging companies in strategic supply chains — from battery manufacturers to furniture makers — to undertake credible, independently verified due diligence.
Civil society and investigative journalism, which have brought recent problems to light, should be supported as watchdogs. Donors and multilateral lenders can also use finance to reinforce environmental safeguards instead of undercutting them.
A Shared Responsibility
Sustainable African development cannot be achieved by ignoring the health of rivers, coasts and forests. The urgency of the climate transition does not absolve any party — governments, companies or consumers — from protecting the environments of those who live alongside mines, rivers and coasts. The choice is not between development and environmental respect; it is how to make resource-driven growth genuinely regenerative rather than purely extractive.
For Africa’s partners, including China, this is an opportunity as much as a challenge. By embedding strong safeguards and transparent practices into their projects, they can ensure that investment becomes a vehicle for long-term prosperity and environmental resilience rather than a short-term transfer of wealth out of sight and out of mind.