Land matters: how Indigenous land restitution can inform loss and damage policy and chart a path toward an otherwise climate justice

Abstract

Loss and damage (L&D) has emerged as a focus for climate justice within the international policy arena and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meetings. L&D proposals often centre on a liberal conception of distributive justice, arguing that high-emitting parties must compensate those most vulnerable to climate change, who typically bear the least responsibility for it. This frame positions climate justice as reparations, financial support for adaptation, and other forms of restitution for impacted communities. I support L&D action and agree that responsible parties should pay. However, I urge caution about the underlying assumptions of liberal justice. What is of commensurate value for communities that lose access to sites of deep biocultural and spiritual heritage because of climate change? In considering this question, I draw from research on Indigenous land rights and restitution politics in Latin America to illustrate how L&D proposals and policies can learn from Indigenous experiences navigating the pursuit of justice through courts. I examine limitations of liberal justice to highlight pathways for thinking climate justice otherwise. Lessons from Indigenous land restitution make clear that rethinking the framing of L&D policy is essential to avoid replicating the logics that drive destructive development and resultant social inequality.