Session Overview

 

An Environmental Justice Foundation in Earth System Governance

Roles

Organiser: Vasna Ramasar (Lund University)

Chair: Vasna Ramasar

Discussant: Fariborz Zelli

Presenters:

David Schlosberg

Stefan Mikaelsson

Stacia Ryders

         

Pitch

The call for environmental justice has been taken up through the ages and across communities and nations. As we face increasing environmental changes, as well as growing inequality between people inhabiting the planet, analytical, philosophical and empirical investigations of justice, become more critical.  This semi-plenary opens up the discussion of environmental justice and brings questions of fairness and equity to the fore for earth system governance. The cross-cutting themes of power, norms, knowledge and scale are central to a discussion of justice. Both in analysing current crises as well as ensuring that sustainability solutions meet the moral impetus of justice, researchers, policymakers and activists face several challenges. Stefan Mikaelsson, a Sami elder and former President of the Sami Parliament will chair his experiences with social and environmental justice in Sweden and David Schlosberg will offer a justice perspective to adaptation. These two talks will set the context for a panel discussion of environmental justice and how we respond at planetary, national, and local scales.

David Schlosberg – Governance for Just Adaptation

How can we use conceptions of environmental justice as a normative framework for governing adaptation? In addition to considerations of equity, a just form of adaptation addresses issues of recognition – in particular, the value of place and attachments – and the protection of capabilities and the functioning of communities. This talk examines some of the recent work on just adaptation, from the response to shock events to the design of just adaptation pathways.

Short Bio

David Schlosberg is Professor of Environmental Politics in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney, and co-Director of the Sydney Environment Institute. His work focuses on contemporary environmental and environmental justice movements, environment and everyday life, and climate adaptation planning and policy. He serves as a Lead Faculty on Environmental Justice for the Earth System Governance Project.