Key skills for addressing climate justice and equity (e.g., awareness and understanding)

A comprehensive framework is needed to address climate change issues by ensuring justice and equity. The fundamental skills to address climate justice and equity must be based on creating understanding and awareness of climate issue in different categories of people. Climate equity can be woven into broader efforts to address the socioeconomic, sociocultural, and physical impacts of climate change. The following ways can help governments, community leaders, and community members develop their awareness and consideration of climate change justice and equity in daily practices:

1. Engaging multilateral actors with diverse backgrounds and experiences to address community issues and develop innovative approaches for climate action.
2. Creating a participative approach and an open and honest conversation with various categories of people in their various areas, such as in schools, community centres, business activities, and religious organisations.
3. Dealing with community leaders who are more influential in decision making and have sufficient skills to address community issues.
4. Promoting a knowledge co-creation approach by valuing indigenous and local knowledge to understand climate change effects and bring sustainable solutions.
5. Promoting initiatives for youths to tackle climate change issues from their local community perspectives and suggest sustainable solutions within their local environment.
6. Establishing a permanent communication network with communities and sharing information and data that can help them prepare for and adapt to climate impacts as well as refine their climate resiliency efforts, and empower them to develop targeted, grassroots solutions.
7. Fostering climate-resilient solutions based on equity and justice that boost resilience while improving livelihoods and social and economic well-being. These solutions can include improving the efficiency of buildings, investing in low-carbon transportation networks, and adding green spaces in urban areas.
8. Thinking on climate solutions that result in a positive externality by promoting other local benefits and by mitigating the effects of urbanisation, reducing air pollution and global warming, and strengthening community interaction.
9. Predicting and prioritising vulnerable categories: think about an effective disaster response and a well-planned intervention in case of extreme events by considering how to assist the overburdened and underserved groups in emergency situations.
10. Justice and equity involve considering the diversity and differences of countries. This calls for elaborating climate actions and making policies by considering the vulnerable people, communities, and poor countries that struggle to respond to climate recommendations in a global context. Considering the diversity of needs and capacities is a part of efficient, good climate governance.

Activity

Activity 3.2.  Referring to the practices suggested above, give examples of any other five practices that could be practical in your own locality.