Understanding climate justice issues

Climate justice is the idea that the impacts of climate change are not distributed equally and that addressing climate change should take into account the social, economic, and political dimensions of the issue.

It emphasises the ethical and moral responsibilities to ensure that the burdens of climate change and the benefits of mitigation and adaptation are fairly shared among all people, regardless of their contribution to the problem. Climate justice advocates for fair treatment and inclusion of these communities in decision-making processes related to environmental policies.

Addressing climate injustice involves not only mitigating the causes of climate change but also ensuring that adaptation and resilience efforts are equitable and inclusive. It requires acknowledging historical responsibilities, empowering vulnerable communities, and promoting policies that prioritise social and environmental justice (NAACP, 2010).

How is climate injustice manifested?

Here are a few ways in which climate injustice manifests (Preston, 2014):

• Disproportionate impact: Vulnerable communities, often in developing countries, may bear the brunt of climate change impacts such as extreme weather events, rising sea levels, or changes in agricultural patterns. These communities may lack the resources to adapt or recover effectively.
• Unequal contributions: Developed countries and industrialised nations historically have contributed significantly to greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. Yet, it is often developing nations and marginalised communities that suffer the most severe consequences.
• Limited access to resources: In the face of changing climate conditions, resources such as water, arable land, and food become scarcer. Vulnerable communities may have limited access to these resources, exacerbating existing social and economic inequalities.
• Inadequate representation: In many cases, the voices of those most affected by climate change are not adequately represented in decision-making processes. This lack of representation can lead to policies that do not adequately address the needs of vulnerable communities.
• Forced displacement: Climate change can lead to environmental degradation and extreme weather events that force communities to migrate. Often, those with fewer resources face displacement, and this can lead to conflicts over resources and exacerbate existing social tensions.

Why climate justice?

The impacts of climate change and the resources needed to address them are distributed unequally around the world. More frequent climate-related disasters are considerably increasing social inequalities and crippling social justice.

Around the planet, lives are being lost and homes destroyed, crops are failing, livelihoods are jeopardised, and cultural heritage is being wiped out. However, low-income countries, and vulnerable populations within those countries, are more susceptible to climate-induced loss and damage (NAACP, 2010).

Climate justice therefore matters to compel the global community and those most responsible for the climate crisis to work with and support those bearing its brunt. Furthermore, climate justice helps address a systemic problem — the fundamental cause of climate change and related disasters (Walker et al., 2006).

Thus, there are three main rationales for climate justice: ethical, legal, and pragmatic.

• Ethical climate justice is rooted in human rights, where fairness in experiencing the consequences of climate change is the central issue to be addressed. In this respect, certain countries, groups, communities, and individuals, usually with lower incomes, are impacted most by the effects of climate change while contributing least to causing it. Additionally, they participate less in decision making about mitigation and adaptation responses and yet are required to implement signed agreements at the same pace as those with higher incomes, thereby suffering procedural injustice (Preston et al., 2013).
• Legal climate justice is embedded in various international legal frameworks, including the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which commits governments to reducing greenhouse gases and considers equity in the “common but differentiated responsibility” of signatory states in doing so, with developed countries expected to take the lead. However, while there has been considerable discussion at the international level about a fair and equitable sharing of burdens and benefits associated with climate change, these discussions have only begun recently, especially in the 27th and 28th sessions of the Conference of the Parties (COP 27 and 28) to the UNFCCC, which took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in 2022 and in Dubai in 2023, respectively.
• Pragmatic climate justice refers to the acceptance and support of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies based on a fair balance of responsibility, capability, and need. Additionally, wider participation and a fair process in implementing mitigation and adaptation actions would help in managing climate change impacts fairly.

What are climate justice issues?

Many people are suffering from the impacts of climate change without having a direct or indirect hand in causing it. Injustice arises when the countries and people mainly responsible for accelerating climate change do not contribute to losses and damages payment or rehabilitation. The following are some selected cases:

• Climate change increases occurrences of injury, disease, or death in many regions, due to climate-induced heat waves and wildfires, malnutrition linked to crop failures, changes in food- and waterborne illnesses, and upsurges in ground-level ozone.
• Climate-related disasters are causing the displacement of families, groups of people, and communities. When people are forced to leave their homes, communities, and jobs, they may experience poverty and economic shocks. Separation from family and community members, loss of shelter, and the overall breakdown of social norms and cohesion that can accompany extreme disasters particularly increase social risks such as human trafficking for vulnerable populations. Furthermore, vulnerable groups, including the elderly and the disabled, are unable to move to emergency shelters.
• People in rural areas face serious income loss due to the decline in agricultural productivity accompanying extreme weather events, which are expected to increase with climate change, as well as slow-onset climate events such as droughts, long dry spells, or sea-level rise.
• Decreased agricultural productivity means more than lost rural income; it also means food prices will become more volatile and food availability less predictable. Food-insecure families, including those in urban food deserts, may face an increased risk of malnutrition.
• Droughts and other severe weather patterns damage and disrupt water supplies, causing shortages for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses. Conversely, heavy rainfall resulting in floods destroys water facilities and may also pollute drinking water. All these negatively impact the livelihoods of affected people and communities.
• Essential infrastructure systems, including water and waste management systems, public transportation, roads and railways, schools, health facilities, and energy supply, can be threatened by interrelated climate change impacts.

Therefore, when extreme weather events occur, individuals, communities, groups of people, and countries respond differently to climate-related disasters, depending on their adaptive capacity.

Activity

Activity 2.1. Give two examples demonstrating climate injustice in your local area.