Climate Justice Now! Fighting For Our Rights And Lives

Climate justice. A loaded term. What does it mean? Climate change is caused by greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions are mostly caused by fossil fuel use. Fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) are used as energy to power economic growth and to industrialize. For many years, since the beginning of the industrial era, fossil fuels have been the main source of energy for the industrialization of Europe, America and the entire western world.

The nature of the planet’s atmosphere is that it is one, and therefore emissions released in any part of the world will affect the atmosphere anywhere. As these greenhouse gases absorb solar radiation leaving the earth, air temperatures rise, and the entire global climate system is affected.

The difference however is in the impacts and effects. And this is where climate justice comes in. 

image courtesy

Greenhouse gas emissions causing climate change are largely from one area but climate change impacts will hit every single country on the planet irrespective of their contribution.

Even the least responsible.

The problem with this scenario is that these largely innocent parties receive little help in protecting themselves. And the polluting entities till now still won’t accept to cut emissions by required standards because doing so would hurt their economies.

So they protect themselves at the expense of others.

Some facts about Africa. Africa is the second largest continent in the world, both in terms of population and size. Out of all the seven continents, it is historically the least emitter. Africa lies between the tropics and relies heavily on natural resources and agriculture as the economic mainstay. 

Agriculture on this continent is rain fed, and relies almost entirely on the natural patterns of precipitation. These patterns of rainfall are now heavily and negatively altered by climate change.

The lives of over a billion people are affected. People who heavily rely on their farms and animals to give their children an education, to get food to eat, to have dignified shelter and all the basic necessities of life. These people are not responsible for climate change, but are now suffering heavily from it. Farms flooded by sudden flash floods, or failed harvests due to incessant, repetitive and strong droughts.1000 people lost their lives last year due to cyclone Idai in Mozambique and thousands watched their homes washed away.

In 2020, large swarms of desert locusts invaded Kenya from Somalia. This invasion was brought on by unusually warm and rainy weather in the country, prime conditions for the insects who devour every ounce of green in their sight.

Farmers, most of them small-scale, are directly on the path of these marauding insects. Wildlife sanctuaries too are on the receiving end.

The locust invasion in Kenya. Image - participatory gis

Victims of climate change. Something they are largely not responsible for.

Is it fair?

Climate justice argues that climate action is more a matter of human rights than anything else. This is true.

Africa and Asia have the biggest populations of young people. The youth are also largely innocent of causing climate change. Current climate change impacts already are powerfully destructive. On the current emissions trend, they are projected to increase in strength, unpredictability and severity.

It is worth noting that as it stands now, despite the amount of information, pacts and agreements about climate action already present, emissions still continue rising and the world, especially the biggest emitters; developed countries; are not doing enough and neither are they willing to in order to lower their emissions.

People at the highest level of power, those tasked with making decisions and policies are significantly older and will not as a matter of fact be alive to face the impacts of their decisions in years to come. 

These consequences will be felt by the youth of today and their children, whose health, food security, security, education and their very lives will be on the line, increasingly facing the worst ravages of an unpredictably changing climate.

Yet their voices are not heard. They are not given a chance to defend their right to life. Decisions which will affect their lives both in the present and future are being made by people who are not them.

Sea level rise is threatening the existence of island countries and low lying coastal areas. The sea is swallowing up land and flooding mangrove forests and fishing villages, causing inhabitants to become climate refugees, uprooting them from the only homes they have ever known. They are forced to migrate inland with the attendant repercussions on population, pressure on land and social dynamics.

Island nations such as Kiribati and most of the Caribbean are under a very real threat of being wiped out from existence. And as saline sea water invades land, the more groundwater aquifers storing freshwater are polluted. These people’s livelihoods, their countries’ economies, their lives are at stake. Should they become stateless?

In 2019, hurricane Dorian hit the Grand Bahama leaving behind a multibillion trail of destruction. In 2018, Puerto Rico was devastated by similar storms.

Are their lives less important than those of people in the western world?

Due to social dynamics, women and girls often lack equal representation at the decision making table and when it comes to distribution of resources. In some communities girls are not given an education similar to boys and may therefore lack enough knowledge about climate change. The female gender also works most with the environment and natural resources, because of societal norms requiring them to do domestic chores and subsistence farming.

All these factors mean that women suffer more from the consequences of climate change than men. 

But their voice and therefore rights are rarely upheld when it comes to climate action.

Indigenous groups rely on nature in many aspects of their lives. But as climate change hits everywhere in the world, their lands are not spared either. This has the compound effect on their livelihoods and way of life as well.

As researched and studied, communities of color, the poorest, those from low income neighborhoods stand to lose the most from climate change because they lack the financial muscle or political representation, to both raise awareness or fight for resources to create resilience, overcome loss and damage and rebound in case of climate change instigated disasters.

Developing countries, in addition to being least responsible for climate change, also lack the adaptive capacity needed to cope with climate change. Their economies are still growing and take years and a lot of resources to rebound when hit by the economic impact of extreme climate disasters.

They lack the economic firepower to cushion themselves or the ability to cut their relatively low share of greenhouse gas emissions. This notwithstanding, they continue to bear the brunt of climate change.

Despite all this information, the developed world still won’t commit to significantly and effectively cut their emissions.

Their contributions to climate finance which is used to bail out hard hit countries, help them cut their emissions as well as create resilience is still way below par.

This is what climate justice is about.

Are the lives of these most affected groups not worth as much as those from polluting countries?

Are there people more important than others in this world?

The polluter pays principle states that whichever polluting entity that causes damage to the environment, will also be responsible for fixing it.

This lies at the crux of climate justice, and is what stakeholders from affected groups are fighting for.

Climate justice is that we all have the right to life, and some people’s welfare should not be upheld at the expense of others.

We ALL have the right to a safe and healthy planet, and it is paramount that this is upheld at all levels and in both actions and words.