Climate justice : a global phenomenon
The heart of climate justice is the understanding that the urgent action needed to prevent climate change must be based on community-led solutions and the well-being of local communities, Indigenous Peoples and the global poor, as well as biodiversity and intact ecosystems.
Climate justice is the understanding that we will not be able to stop climate change if we don’t change the neo-liberal, corporate-based economy which stops us from achieving sustainable societies. It is the understanding that corporate globalization must be stopped.
The historical responsibility for the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions lies with the industrialized countries of the Global North. Even though the primary responsibility of the North to reduce emissions has been recognized in the UN Climate Convention, the production and consumption habits of industrialized countries like the United States continue to threaten the survival of humanity and biodiversity globally. It is imperative that the North urgently shifts to a low carbon economy. At the same time, in order to avoid the damaging carbon intensive model of industrialization, countries of the Global South are entitled to resources and technology to make a transition to a low-carbon economy that does not continue to subject them to crushing poverty.
Indigenous Peoples, peasant communities, fisherfolk, and especially women in these communities, have been able to live harmoniously and sustainably with the Earth for millennia. They are now not only the most affected by climate change, but also the most affected by its false solutions, such as agrofuels, mega-dams, genetic modification, tree plantations and carbon offset schemes.
Instead of market-based climate mitigation schemes, the sustainable practices of these peoples and communities should be seen as offering the real solutions to climate change.
Climate justice will never come from corporations or from schemes based on the market, because the market is what got us into this crisis in the first place.
Respect and Protect Human Rights
The international rights framework provides a reservoir for the supply of legal imperatives with which to frame morally appropriate responses to climate change, rooted in equality and justice. The idea of human rights point societies towards internationally agreed values around which common action can be negotiated and then acted upon. Human rights yardsticks deliver valuable minimal thresholds, legally defined, about which there is widespread consensus. The guarantee of basic rights rooted in respect for the dignity of the person which is at the core of this approach makes it an indispensable foundation for action on climate justice.
Support the Right to Development
The vast gulf in resources between rich and poor, evident in the gap between countries in the North and South and also within many countries (both North and South) is the deepest injustice of our age. This failure of resource-fairness makes it impossible for billions of humans to lead decent lives, the sort of life-opportunities that a commitment to true equality should make an absolute essential. Climate change both highlights and exacerbates this gulf in equality. It also provides the world with an opportunity. Climate change highlights our true interdependence and must lead to a new and respectful paradigm of sustainable development, based on the urgent need to scale up and transfer green technologies and to support low carbon climate resilient strategies for the poorest so that they become part of the combined effort in mitigation and adaptation.
Share Benefits and Burdens Equitably
The benefits and burdens associated with climate change and its resolution must be fairly allocated. This involves acceptance of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in relation to reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Those who have most responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions and most capacity to act must cut emissions first. In addition, those who have benefited and still benefit from emissions in the form of on-going economic development and increased wealth, mainly in industrialised countries, have an ethical obligation to share benefits with those who are today suffering from the effects of these emissions, mainly vulnerable people in developing countries. People in low income countries must have access to opportunities to adapt to the impacts of climate change and embrace low carbon development to avoid future environmental damage.
Ensure that Decisions on Climate Change are Participatory, Transparent and Accountable
The opportunity to participate in decision-making processes which are fair, accountable, open and corruption-free is essential to the growth of a culture of climate justice. The voices of the most vulnerable to climate change must be heard and acted upon. A basic of good international practice is the requirement for transparency in decision-making, and accountability for decisions that are made. It must be possible to ensure that policy developments and policy implementation in this field are seen to be informed by an understanding of the needs of low income countries in relation to climate justice, and that these needs are adequately understood and addressed. Decisions on policies with regard to climate change taken in a range of fora from the UNFCCC to trade, human rights, business, investment and development must be implemented in a way that is transparent and accountable: poverty can never be an alibi for government failure in this sphere.
Highlight Gender Equality and Equity
The gender dimension of climate change, and in turn climate justice, must be highlighted. The impacts of climate changes are different for women and men, with women likely to bear the greater burden in situations of poverty. Women’s voices must be heard and their priorities supported as part of climate justice. In many countries and cultures, women are at the forefront of living with the reality of the injustices caused by climate change. They are critically aware of the importance of climate justice in contributing to the right to development being recognized and can play a vital role as agents of change within their communities.
Harness the Transformative Power of Education for climate stewardship
The transformative power of education under-pins other principles, making their successful adoption more likely and inculcating into cultures a deeper awareness of human rights and climate justice than is presently to be found. To achieve climate stabilisation will necessitate radical changes in lifestyle and behaviour and education has the power to equip future generations with the skills and knowledge they will need to thrive and survive. As well as being a fundamental human right which is already well developed in the international framework of rights referred to above, education is indispensable to the just society. It draws those in receipt of it towards a fuller understanding of the world about them, deepening their awareness both of themselves and of those around them. Done well, it invites reflection on ethics and justice that make the well-educated also good citizens, both of their home state and (in these global times) of the world as well. Delivered in an effective multi-disciplinary school, college or university environmental education can increase consciousness of climate change, producing new insights not only at the scientific but also at the sociological and political level. Education is also achievable outside the formal system, through public and, increasingly, virtual (i.e. web-based) activity. The learning required to see climate change in justice terms cannot be done at the schools and university alone: it is a life-long responsibility and therefore a commitment.
Use Effective Partnerships to Secure Climate Justice
The principle of partnership points in the direction of solutions to climate change that are integrated both within states and across state boundaries. Climate justice requires effective action on a global scale which in turn requires a pooling of resources and a sharing of skills across the world. The nation state may remain the basic building block of the international system but without openness to coalitions of states and corporate interests and elements within civil society as well, the risk is that the whole house produced by these blocks will be rendered uninhabitable. Openness to partnership is a vital aspect of any coherent approach to climate change, and in the name of climate justice, this must also involve partnership with those most affected by climate change and least able adequately to deal with it – the poor and under-resourced. These principles are rooted in the frameworks of international and regional human rights law and do not require the breaking of any new ground on the part of those who ought, in the name of climate justice, to be willing to take them on.