Abstract
Abstract. This special issue (SI) shows that environmental justice perspectives are especially useful for analysing current socio-ecological conflicts. These perspectives help to bridge epistemological and ontological gaps in inter- and transdisciplinary settings and promote normative and justice-oriented discussions on environmental struggles within and beyond the academy. Currently, the following two interrelated environmental crises and their impacts regularly make headlines: climate change and the impacts of the unsustainable use of the oceans. Still, for a large part of the global population – not only but especially in the Global North – both crises remain abstract, mainly becoming visible through news coverage of plastic waste in the oceans, storm surges and droughts, and through documentaries on sea-level rise and the destruction of ecosystems. However, the destruction of marine and coastal habitats and the effects of climate change are increasingly affecting people's daily lives. The effects of climate change, pollution, and marine resource overuse are creating serious disruption to livelihoods and leading to new socio-ecological conflicts and new claims. This SI aims to reflect and explore climate and marine narratives, environmental knowledge claims, multiple ontologies, climate change adaptation, and the spatial and temporal shaping of socio-ecological struggles for climate and marine justice in more detail. Furthermore, it takes up current strands of climate and marine justice scholarship and explores avenues for further research.
Highlights
There are two interrelated environmental crises and their impacts that regularly make headlines, namely climate change and the impacts of the unsustainable use of the oceans
The academic concept of environmental justice initially emerged from students, workers, and members of the African American civil rights and racial justice movement in the USA, who were protesting against toxic landfills in the early 1980s
In line with Bennett (2018), Armstrong (2020), and Menton et al (2020), we argue that greater attention and resources must be dedicated to issues of marine justice to promote a just and equitable pathway towards ocean sustainability
Summary
There are two interrelated environmental crises and their impacts that regularly make headlines, namely climate change and the impacts of the unsustainable use of the oceans. Global warming, shrinking fish populations, ocean pollution, and the coastal transformations caused by industry, port development, and tourism already affect coastal communities and marine species across the globe All of these issues, and society’s responses, namely environmental policies and climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, raise new questions of justice and demand new solutions. We view the environmental justice perspective as being especially useful for bridging epistemological and ontological gaps in inter- and transdisciplinary settings and to promote normative and justice-oriented discussions on environmental struggles within and beyond the academy The contributions of this SI reflect these normative aims and explore narratives, environmental knowledge claims, multiple ontologies, climate change adaptation, and the spatial and temporal shaping of socio-ecological struggles for climate and marine justice
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
