Climate Justice: An Attempt at an Emancipatory Politics of Climate Change

Abstract

In recent times, the greater prominence of climate discourses amongst majority world environmentalists has occurred due to the fact that some of the world’s biggest polluters and/or reliers on fossil fuels have still not signed or endorsed the climate change protocols in Copenhagen, Kyoto, Johannesburg, Bali, and others in any realistic fashion. As far back as October 2002, for example, 5,000 people from communities in India, including international NGOs, gathered in a Rally for Climate Justice in New Delhi. This rally was organized to coincide with the United Nations meeting on climate change (Conference of Parties 8 — COP8), and was organized by the India Climate Justice Forum, including the National Alliance of People’s Movements, the National Fishworkers’ Forum, the Third World Network, and CorpWatch. At this 2002 protest, Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) expressed frustration with climate change negotiations: But climate negotiations show no progress and communities are calling for urgent action to address climate change and to protect their livelihoods in a manner that is consistent with human rights, worker’s rights, and environmental justice … Given the entrenched opposition to action from the fossil fuel industry and governments like the US and Saudi Arabia, environmental organisations joined forces with social movements in order to progress this most urgent agenda. The window of opportunity to prevent dangerous climate change is closing fast and, for many communities, the impacts are already alarmingly present.