The effects of climate change are increasingly manifesting themselves in an intense and dramatic way. Episodes of heat waves, floods, earthquakes, and droughts are occurring more and more frequently. Even though the international community is examining different options and opportunities to try to mitigate the devastating effects caused by climate change, through annual meetings with the various countries of the world, the so-called “Conferences of the Parties” (COPs) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other similar appointments, the effects of environmental changes continue to make life more and more difficult for living beings. Despite the decisions taken in the mentioned fora and the increasingly loud voice of young environmental activists, there is still a long and tortuous before seeing the strategies work effectively.
As specified, climate change affects all living beings, and therefore all human beings, wherever they live in the world. Despite this, however, it is necessary to bring to highlight the fact that there are some people who suffer more than others from the devastating effects of climate change. It is therefore appropriate to state that climate change causes or even exacerbates the conditions of inequality among peoples. It is therefore possible to speak about climate injustice. Instead, it would be desirable to act and fight to achieve its opposite, namely climate justice.
It is appropriate to understand what is meant by these two terms. As mentioned, one can speak of climate injustice when the effects resulting from climate change affect people differently. The reason
for this is the analysis of the conditions in which these people find themselves. By this is meant not only an understanding of environmental conditions, because it is clear that there may be areas of the world more vulnerable to the occurrence of natural disasters than others (e.g., there are countries more seismic than others or countries more prone to tsunamis than others), but it is equally pertinent to consider the social, political and economic conditions of the countries in which these disasters occur
and, therefore, the responsiveness in mitigating natural disasters that occur in these countries on the part of their governments must also be considered. To make what has been said clearer, it can be stated that the impacts of climate change are perceived differently by those living in a certain area of
the world than in another depending on the characteristics mentioned (1). Hence, climate injustice is precisely dictated by these two conditions: on the one hand, the vulnerability of the countries of the world, which are subjected differently to the natural disasters that occur as a result of climate change, and on the other hand, the capacity to respond, i.e., to mitigate these events. Related to this, also to be considered as climate injustice is the way in which the costs and benefits of the policies implemented and aimed at mitigating climate change are distributed; by this is meant not only the policies stipulated at the national level, but also and above all those decided at the international level. In this sense, therefore, we speak of climate injustice because it is evident that the countries most vulnerable to climate change are the same ones that contribute least to its exacerbation: they are usually poor and underdeveloped countries (they are usually part of the so-called “Least Developed Countries” – LDCs) and they are the ones that pay most for the consequences of climate change. In fact, LDCs tend to pay proportionally more for policies aimed at mitigating climate change while benefiting, paradoxically, less from measures aimed at incentivizing the reduction of carbon emissions in production, despite the fact that they are the ones that contribute the least to the problem with the number of emissions they emit (1). This is, in some ways, a form of discrimination between countries because the differences between those who produce more carbon emissions and those who emit less are not really taken into account by policies that, although aimed at mitigating the increasingly urgent problem of climate change, are not created ad hoc, but are general and, therefore, do not take into account the characteristics of the individual countries in which they are to be implemented, ultimately generating significant discrimination in the ability to tackle climate change by implementing such policies. In support of this, a data collection carried out by the World Bank on the lowest carbon emitting countries per capita found that
Countries like Somalia, Chad, Malawi, and Niger are among those hit hardest by climate change, despite contributing very little to global greenhouse gas emissions. Obviously, we see that some of the countries with the highest carbon footprints are also facing these effects, but these are also largely countries able to respond to disasters when they strike. The Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Burundi have comparatively fewer resources (2).
Besides climate injustice that discriminates against countries for the reasons described, other such injustices are gender inequalities because it is known how the effects of climate change can intensify pre-existing social conditions of inequality. As a matter of facts, gender inequalities within a community may leave women, for example, more vulnerable to the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster (3). In addition, there are climate inequalities of an economic nature. This means that climate change could most likely force more than 100 million people into extreme poverty if concrete actions are not implemented now. Many people living in extreme poverty relies on the land for their livelihoods, whether it’s through agriculture or pastoralism. 70% of those living in extreme poverty today are women. Such climate injustices combine to further the cycle of poverty (3). Not to mention that all these consequences would interconnect with increasing hunger, education of the young, etc. Therefore, there is a growing feeling that if solutions are not found urgently, the consequences of climate change will be much more serious than those that are already manifesting (4). The climate crisis is undoubtedly a significant poverty multiplier.
The question, therefore, is how to move from climate injustice to climate justice. Climate justice means linking action to mitigate climate change with respect for diversity in view of human rights and sustainable development. To make climate justice effective and thus implementable, it is necessary to combat social injustice, gender injustice, economic injustice, and environmental injustice. The intersectionality of these challenges must be acknowledged in order to address them globally (5). To be able to do this, it is first of all fundamental to protect the rights of the people most affected by the consequences of climate change by adopting strategies aimed at assisting such mitigation, taking into account the different needs of the countries in which action is taken to make such mitigation possible and as decisive as possible. To do this, therefore, people-centered, inclusive
and representative approaches should be created. Once the differences between countries (vulnerability to climate change and mitigation capacity) are taken into account, it will then be possible to adopt strategies to effectively reduce those effects that contribute to the exacerbation of climate change, such as the use of fossil fuels. The policies to be implemented must, however, have realistic goals, i.e., being achievable by these countries according to their capacities, and, moreover, adequate support from the international community to make this possible must be met (6).
Climate justice also means being able to accept that the dramatic situation we are experiencing is largely the fault of production processes. Indeed, priority has always been given to profit rather than sustainability. It is only in the last few years that we are becoming aware of the damage caused and, in addition to trying to slow down the devastating processes caused by climate change, it is desirable to find solutions that are geared towards developing systems for adapting to the new climatic conditions that allow the countries of the world to subsist without causing further inequalities. This means creating ad hoc policies that respect the individual peculiarities of the world’s countries for climate adaptation by including the respective stakeholders in the decision-making process. For example, in those countries where droughts occur and where there are high temperatures, it would be desirable to develop livelihood methods that are able to withstand these temperatures (6). Above all, however, climate justice requires a global transition to a low-carbon economy which means finding new, less damaging ways of living. This would ensure that costs and benefits of meeting the challenge of climate change are spread out fairly according to responsibility and ability of the different countries involved, thus according to their vulnerability and capacity to respond to destructive climatic events
(7).
References:
1) https://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/default/files/jrf/migrated/files/climate-change-social-justice-summary.pdf
2) https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.ATM.CO2E.PC?most_recent_value_desc=true
3) https://www.concern.net/news/climate-injustices
4) https://www.unicef.org/globalinsight/what-climate-justice-and-what-can-we-do-achieve-it
5) https://www.unicef.org/globalinsight/media/2866/file
6) https://www.mrfcj.org/pdf/Geography_of_Climate_Justice_Introductory_Resource.pdf
7) www.tcd.ie/iiis/research/climate-justice.php
By The European Institute for International Law and International Relations.
