Climate (In)Justice

Historically, marginalized communities have been more strongly impacted by climate change, despite the fact of being a rather small contributor into the anthropogenic drivers of global warming (Yip 2022).

This disproportionate advancement of the phenomenon led to the development of the concept of Climate Justice. The main ideology of such movement, mostly led by young activists, assumes the undeniable connection between climate action or development and human rights. It elaborates on the fact that the fight against climate change must be naturally linked to combatting social, gender, economic and intergenerational injustice in order to yield the most just and efficient future outcome (Colón  2022).

An appropriate example of such marginalization and climate injustice is represented by the indigenous communities.

"We argue that the factors driving vulnerability within these communities are partly a function of centuries of economic neglect and political marginalization and are also strongly related to the communities’ characteristically lower-socio economic status, geographic location, heavy reliance on land-based resources, coupled with a range of cognitive barriers that affect residents’ capacity to adapt to a changing and variable regional climate regime." (Smith 2016)

The general consideration of climate injustice at national level is easily recognized by the social and economic disparity of different countries. However, research fails to acknowledge and capture the diversified manifestations of climate impacts at community level, which represents the main driver of the high vulnerability in developing countries where the negative outcomes of extreme events are partly related to the "differential capabilities of different groups of people to cope or adapt." (Smith 2016)

The most visible impacts of climate-induced changes on Indigenous people are clearly related to the agricultural driven economy which affects the livelihood of the peoples. In the example of recent extreme weather events in the Caribbean 2019-20, agricultural production was reduced by 20% due to climate-induced changes (CDEMA 2010). This highlights a need in these communities to increase their adaptive capacities in order to ensure food security and reduce their sensitivity to these events. Alongside this, the low socio-economic status of these populations, increases their vulnerability towards any kind of economic shock and environmental hazard (Smith 2016). Finally, the historical development of the areas created an environment nowadays quite remote and marginalized with no effective infrastructure for transportation, which further enhances the segregation of the communities thus reducing the access to external assistance.

In conclusion, there is a need for local policy and administrative reformation to educate local people in learning how to develop adaptive capacity and mitigating strategies to climate shocks. Such communities are many time driven by spiritual beliefs or limited education which concludes in them adopting poor decision making ultimately resulting in a higher level of vulnerability. Furthermore, there is a lack at national level in effectively integrating climate information at the local level which creates difficulties for the communities to adopt a proactive approach rather than a reactive one. It has been recorded that when such knowledge has been handed down, farmers were able to apply their Indigenous know-how to effectively and proactively mitigate the risks of climate disasters. Finally, by empowering these peoples with correct information and tools, we can see that administrations are able to achieve an integrated and diversified strategy to tackle climate change in a fragmentated country where local communities are numerous and diverse.

References:

Cristina Colón (2022), "What is Climate Justice? And what can we do achieve it? Recap and reflections from UNICEF's Climate Justice Roundtable", UNICEF. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/globalinsight/what-climate-justice-and-what-can-we-do-achieve-it (Accessed: December 7, 2022).

Smith, Rose-Ann J. (07/2016). "Climate (in)justice, vulnerability and livelihoods in the Caribbean: The case of the indigenous Caribs in northeastern St. Vincent". Geoforum (0016-7185), 73 , p. 22.

Yip, L. (2022) "Why marginalised groups are disproportionately affected by climate change", Earth.Org. Available at: https://earth.org/marginalised-groups-are-disproportionately-affected-by-climate-change/ (Accessed: December 7, 2022). 

Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), (2010). Summary of Impact of Hurricane Tomas on CDEMA Participating States of St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. <http://www.cdema.org/HurricaneTomasSummaryofImpactandNeedsAssessment.pdf> (Accessed: December 7, 2022).