Environmental Justice Framework Research Articles

Can Conflict Be Planned Away? A Critical Assessment of Participatory Land Use Planning in Swedish Forest Governance

A widespread governance response to land use conflict is to seek improved communication through the employment of dialogue-based instruments. In this paper, we interrogate the guiding presupposition that conflict can be planned away through a case study on the Reindeer Husbandry Plan (Renbruksplan), a tool used to address land use conflicts between industrial forestry and Indigenous Sámi reindeer herding. Drawing on critical policy analysis and environmental justice frameworks, we analyze the problematizations, silences, and effects emerging from the tool’s use in forestry planning and land use decisions. Our findings reveal that, operating in its current institutional and legal context, the tool offers limited improvements in procedural justice, exacerbates unequal distribution of burdens and benefits in terms of who gets to use forest resources, privileging a forestry-centered representation of the land use conflict. We therefore conclude that, in absence of institutional reform, the tool is likely to perpetuate conflicts and continue to reproduce the injustices embedded in Swedish forest and land use governance.

Exploring Community-Based Wildlife Tourism from an Environmental Justice Perspective: A Case Study of the Wild Olive Tree Camp in South Africa

Abstract Within the legacy of environmental injustices in South Africa, this study explores the role of community-based wildlife tourism (CBWT) in promoting equitable land management. We discuss whether community-based initiatives, specifically related to tourism, can provide lasting structural benefits to local communities. Utilizing the environmental justice (EJ) framework, we conducted a qualitative case study involving semi-structured interviews with 23 participants involving the Wild Olive Tree Camp, a CBWT enterprise in the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere Region in South Africa. By analyzing the neoliberal approach to environmental resources for tourism, we demonstrate that while CBWT might benefit local communities in the short term, it risks perpetuating neocolonial structures and dependencies in the long term. This study underscores the need to acknowledge historical trauma stemming from segregation and apartheid and advocates for the restructuring of power imbalances in tourism management while promoting equitable access to knowledge and land rights. This study contributes to the EJ scholarship by contextualizing these issues within the historical reality of the region.

Examining health equity in Nepal’s climate change and health policies through the lens of environmental justice: insights from a content analysis

ABSTRACT Background Climate change presents a multifaceted challenge with unequal health implications, particularly for vulnerable populations with limited adaptive capacity. Socioeconomic factors are intricately linked with environmental health outcomes and environmental factors significantly exacerbate existing health inequities. Health equity as a goal of environmental justice can address these issues. Objective To examine the integration of health equity within climate change and health policy documents in Nepal. Methods Using a qualitative content analysis approach based on Schlosberg’s framework of environmental justice, we analyzed the coverage of health equity considerations in climate and health policies, assessing aspects of distribution, recognition, and participation. Results Twenty-one national-level policies, strategies, and plans/guidelines on climate change and health were analyzed. Nepal’s policy documents lack clear definitions of health equity in relation to climate change, and related terms are used inconsistently. Health vulnerability is often addressed broadly rather than specifically. Health equity-related statements from environmental justice viewpoint vary across sectors. Many documents emphasize equitable distribution of resources and benefits, with participation in decision-making processes being the least discussed. Conclusions In Nepal, lack of shared understanding of health equity across sectors hinders coordinated policy efforts. There is an urgent need to expand climate change responses to consider specific health vulnerabilities. By positioning health equity as a key element of environmental justice, this study provides a broader perspective on climate change-related health equity that could encourage collaborative action between the environment and health sectors.

EHT and environmental justice at EPA Victoria: Aspirations and regulatory realities

Abstract EPA Victoria (Australia) is a statutory authority that regulates polluting activities and advises other Victorian government departments on relevant policy settings. In 2016, a public health function was installed at EPA Vic to provide emergency health messaging during pollution events, review research evidence of environmental-health relationships and assess industry-contracted health risk assessments of polluting entities. An Environmental Health Tracking Network (EHTN) is under development to support these activities. The EHTN is an agile data and analytical infrastructure for translating expertise across an expanding multidisciplinary network of public health researchers, EPA operational staff and public sector policy makers. Its current interactive dashboards calculate health impacts and associated costs of air pollution scenarios, model land-use influences on land and water contamination and identify coincidences of sociodemographic-, urban environment- and pollution exposure-disadvantage in a high spatial resolution environmental justice (EJ) framework. Regulatory leverage of EHTN intelligence, however, requires legislated EJ thresholds and/or legally tractable costing of industry-externalised human health impacts. Thus, to establish triggers for more stringent conditions on polluting activities and promote equity of interventions and regulations, novel regionally and EJ specific health risk functions are required. Considering these ambitions and challenges, the EHTN at EPA Vic is focussed on 1) identifying and characterising vulnerable populations at high spatial resolution, 2) estimating associated exposure-health effect size modifications using primary epidemiological methods and 3) applying these to health impact and cost assessments of pollution and waste. We seek defensible grounds on which to impose more stringent standards for polluters and redress entrenched social, health and economic disadvantage. Speakers/Panelists Hanna Tolonen THL, Helsinki, Finland

Navigating Environmental Justice Framework: A Scoping Literature Review Over Four Decades

Navigating Environmental Justice Framework: A Scoping Literature Review Over Four Decades

Mapping the Weaknesses of Nigeria’s Environmental Impact Assessment Mechanism as a Framework for Environmental Justice in the Petroleum Sector

Mapping the Weaknesses of Nigeria’s Environmental Impact Assessment Mechanism as a Framework for Environmental Justice in the Petroleum Sector

Community-engaged flood mitigation and ecological restoration on a university campus

Abstract Urban flooding is a major climate change risk that can be mitigated with green infrastructure such as tree plantings and restored naturalised buffers along watercourses. The creation and maintenance of green infrastructure projects for climate change adaptation provides opportunities for community partnerships and programming with co-benefits for human well-being and biodiversity. Here we present findings of action research on a flooding adaptation and education that was implemented on an urban higher education institution’s campus in partnerships within the university and with local Indigenous peoples, the regional conservation authority, the municipal government, and the public library. Through participatory workshops, we applied bioengineering and mixed planting methods to restore a creek bank. Using a combination of oral storytelling, digital media, and visual art that integrated perspectives across disciplines and knowledge systems, we situated our creek restoration project within a framework of environmental justice, emphasising specific acts of stewardship to improve watershed health and advance reconciliation. We produced digital resources and outreach materials to disseminate lessons from the project into the community and to support similar flooding adaptation efforts at local and global scales. Our project demonstrates how incorporating partnerships into the design and implementation of nature-based solutions can build cross-cultural ecological knowledge, forge important on and off-campus relationships, and create place-based opportunities for students to take direct and measurable action on climate change.

Participatory mapping of tree equity, preferences, and environmental justice in Portland, Oregon

In this study, we examine community lived experiences, preferences, and narratives about tree equity in Portland, Oregon. Using an environmental justice framework combined with participatory mapping, focus group discussions, and semi-structured interviews, we examine values, perceptions of canopy cover, and everyday relationships with trees across different racial and socio-economic backgrounds. Results show that participants from neighborhoods with histories of investment and privilege had different lived experiences compared to those with histories of disinvestment and marginalization. While participants overall valued trees, concerns about tree-related risk and safety varied in ways that reflected racial and class identities. Furthermore, memories and historic knowledge shaped perceived tree equity but contemporary problems such as tree removal, maintenance policies, and gentrification were viewed as barriers to achieving more equitable outcomes. Our study underscores the importance of centering community experiences, values, and needs along with tree programs that can alleviate barriers to tree care and maintenance.

Selective Attention to Environmental Justice by International Cooperative Initiatives for Biodiversity and Climate

Abstract The relevance of environmental justice in global biodiversity and climate governance has increased as stakeholders’ unequal affectedness by environmental action is becoming ever more obvious. International Cooperative Initiatives (ICIs) play an ever increasing role in addressing global environmental change and biodiversity loss. Yet, the consideration of demands of environmental justice by these non-state or hybrid actors is still under-explored. Informed by a three-pillar environmental justice framework comprising distributive, procedural, and recognition justice, we use content analysis to identify if and how these different pillars are presented on the websites and in the key publications of a sample of 53 ICIs. A majority of these ICIs include references to environmental justice and its different pillars in their description of their work. But environmental justice seems to be neither a central concern nor are the references very nuanced. Distributive justice receives the most attention, whereas aspects of procedural and recognition justice receive less attention. To better anchor environmental justice within global biodiversity and climate governance, we encourage ICIs to thoroughly integrate environmental justice in operational work and to integrate and establish ongoing dialogues with marginalised groups.

Rawlsian Anti-Capitalist Environmental Justice

In this paper, I examine John Rawls’ claim in the first edition of A Theory of Justice that Justice as Fairness cannot include considerations about the environment and non-human animals. The paper aims to resolve the tension in this statement, as the idea of a Rawlsian well-ordered society without concern for the rest of nature presents as a contradiction. Through a more charitable reading of Rawlsian theory that borrows from anti-capitalist and environmental justice frameworks, we can see how Rawlsian justice connects tightly to these issues. I conclude that the Rawlsian well-ordered society must be committed to anti-capitalist environmental justice.

A Comparative Rhetorical Analysis of Trump and Biden's Climate Change Speeches: Framing Strategies in Politics

This article analyzes the speeches of two U.S. politicians—President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden—to present how they make their arguments about climate change using various frames. While frames are rhetorical acts, they are also a form of persuasion. In particular, the author demonstrates how Trump foregrounded negative frames with fear-inducing elements. He presented job losses and economic harm as consequences of joining the Paris Climate Accord, putting him on the defensive. In contrast, Biden utilized positive frames to strengthen his arguments and aligned more closely with the environmental justice framework. Inspired by the rhetoric of the framing strategies employed by these two speakers, the study suggests that technical communicators should focus on using language that constructs new frames to enhance the success of their argumentations.

Environmental justice and human well-being bundles in protected areas: An assessment in Campo Ma'an landscape, Cameroon

Justice and human well-being are increasingly used as key considerations when assessing the socio-economic impacts and trade-offs associated with forest conservation on local and indigenous populations. This paper incorporates environmental justice framework and human well-being bundles to get a more comprehensive understanding of the social-economic impacts of forest conservation. Through household surveys, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews in three villages adjacent to the Campo Ma'an National Park (CMNP) in Cameroon, we examine how the creation of the national park amidst expanding large-scale commodity plantations affects perceptions of well-being bundles and justice among local and indigenous communities. Specifically, we look at how the establishment of CMNP influences forest-dependent people's freedom to access forest resources, food sufficiency, health, security, social relationships, life satisfaction, and perception of fairness in benefit distribution, participation and recognition. The results reveal a concerning state of relatively low well-being evaluation and diminished perception of justice among local populations which, we argue, lead to a deterioration of overall capabilities among local and indigenous communities. The lack of sense of justice was associated with the loss of freedom in accessing common resources, hindered cultural-spiritual practices, lack of compensation, and unresolved human-wildlife conflicts. Comparative analysis reveals variations in well-being bundles among the three communities, influenced by various factors such as the different histories of displacement and law enforcement, ethnicity, level of dependence towards forest resources, external NGO support, and the expansion of extractive industries in the area. Reflecting on these findings, this study offers insights into how justice and human well-being can be more integrated into the process of co-constructing and re-imagining future interventions aimed at improving the quality of life of local communities and promoting sustainability goals in Cameroon and beyond.

Analysing a private city being built from scratch through a social and environmental justice framework: A research agenda.

A growing body of scholarship examines new cities being built from scratch that are developed and governed by the private sector. While this scholarship explores discourse and rhetoric, economic objectives, and some social and environmental impacts of new private cities, scholars to date have not taken a social or environmental justice approach to analysing new city projects. In this article we examine Forest City, a private city project being built on artificial islands off the coast of Malaysia by one of China's largest property development companies, and its unique governance and claims to being 'eco', despite the significant environmental damage it has caused. Intended as a lush and exclusive gated enclave for Chinese nationals, Forest City is a productive case study through which to consider the consequences of a private city using the frameworks of social and environmental justice. We suggest more critical research that engages with social and environmental justice is needed on the many emerging projects branded as eco-cities of the future, a troubling claim that signals a growing normalisation of mega-scale privatisation and loose or absent regulations regarding social inclusivity and environmental protection.

Exploring the relationship between plural values of nature, human well‐being, and conservation and development intervention: Why it matters and how to do it?

Abstract Globally, land and seascapes across the bioculturally diverse tropics are in transition. Impacted by the demands of distant consumers, the processes of global environmental change and numerous interventions seeking climate, conservation and development goals, these transitions have the potential to impact the relationships and plurality of values held between people and place. This paper is a Synthesis of seven empirical studies within the Special Feature (SF): ‘What is lost in transition? Capturing the impacts of conservation and development interventions on relational values and human wellbeing in the tropics’. Through two Open Forum workshops, and critical review, contributing authors explored emergent properties across the papers of the SF. Six core themes were identified and are subsumed within broad categories of: (i) the problem of reconciling scale and complexity, (ii) key challenges to be overcome for more plural understanding of social dimensions of landscape change and (iii) ways forward: the potential of an environmental justice framework, and a practical overview of methods available to do so. The Synthesis interprets disparate fields and complex academic work on relational values, human well‐being and de‐colonial approaches in impact appraisal. It offers a practical and actionable catalogue of methods for plural valuation in the field, and reflects on their combinations, strengths and weaknesses. The research contribution is policy relevant because it builds the case for why a more plural approach in intervention design and evaluation is essential for achieving more just and sustainable futures, and highlights some of the key actions points deemed necessary to achieve such a transition to conventional practice. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Mutual Aid as a Praxis for Critical Environmental Justice: Lessons from W.E.B. Du Bois, Critical Theoretical Perspectives, and Mobilising Collective Care in Disasters

AbstractWe build on the critical environmental justice (CEJ) framework by exploring mutual aid as a means of practising and realising transformative environmental justice that allows activists to build environmentally resilient and just communities beyond the state. We draw on the work of W.E.B. Du Bois, the Black Radical Tradition, and other critical approaches to demonstrate how mutual aid offers a meaningful point of conjunction for uniting ideological approaches to environmental justice that are often understood as being at odds with one another. To demonstrate this in action, we provide brief examples on the proliferation and longevity of mutual aid in times of disaster, including the 1927 Mississippi floods, Hurricane Katrina, the Nashville tornados, and the Texas power outages. Through these accounts, we seek to demonstrate how environmental justice organisations can and have advanced collective liberation using mutual aid as a critical orientation rooted in community based care and empowerment.

Tourism and ecological restoration across borders: a political ecology approach

ABSTRACT This study uses political ecology and social and environmental justice frameworks to examine stakeholder attitudes towards tourism development and ecological restoration in a cross-border context. The purpose of this paper is to develop conceptual frameworks for understanding stakeholder attitudes towards cross-border tourism and ecological restoration that occur in the context of uneven power relations. Data were collected through personal observations, secondary sources such as legal documents and reports, and 56 in-depth interviews and two focus groups with tourism and conservation stakeholders from the US-Mexico border. The findings revealed how abundant social and environmental justice issues, such as unequal social and ecological mobility, access to resources, and power relations impact stakeholder attitudes. This study offers a new conceptual framework that considers socioeconomic, cultural, and religious/spiritual ties to a border landscape, aimed at understanding the injustices related to stakeholder in tourism development and ecological restoration initiatives. The equitable distribution of benefits derived from tourism and landscape restoration is further emphasized in the conceptual framework, as is the need for expanding social and ecological mobility. The paper contributes to the political ecology of cross-border tourism destinations by augmenting social and ecological mobility as a critical component of developing nature-based tourism in border areas.

Challenging the capability approach in the context of environmental, ecological and multispecies justice

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the challenges in applying Nussbaum’s capability approach to animals, as refracted through the lens of environmental justice (justice among humans on environmental issues and risks) and ecological justice (justice to non-human nature) in Schlosberg’s sense. Comparing and contrasting intra- and intergenerational justice for animals within the environmental and ecological justice frameworks, I demonstrate why capabilities-based multispecies justice can provide some benefits in overcoming ecological vulnerability. In this context, I point out the methodological pitfalls that environmental and ecological justice face in their attempts at eradicating unequal vulnerabilities embedded into some either-or dilemmas by exploring how the vulnerabilities in question negatively affect animals’ positive and negative rights.

Environmental Justice in the Urban Landscape

Environmental justice is a crucial subfield within environmental politics. Environmental justice studies have often been focussed on sites of natural disasters; however, more recently the scope of environmental justice study has been expanded to include environmental justice in urban locations. First, this paper contains a literature review of prominent scholarly articles within the field of environmental justice, including historical examples of environmentally unjust policies, and the factors influencing environmental injustice. Next, this paper examines case studies of environmental hazards within North America. Finally, this paper makes policy recommendations to mitigate environmental injustice through a Canadian federal context such as mandating the creation of environmental justice assessments, in the Canadian provincial context, by encouraging the creation of an environmental justice framework, as well as through a municipal context, by encouraging the creation of an environmental justice assessment to create equity within city planning.

The (ecologically) imperial mode of sport at the exterminist stage of capitalism: Counter stories of Dakar Rally's ride in South America (2009–2019)

This paper explores the voices of resistance against the Dakar Rally's decade-long operation in South America. Drawing upon the three-prong framework of environmental justice (EJ), the analysis showcases how the less powerful stakeholders in the hosting countries articulated the deleterious consequences caused by the event to the local communities and ecologies. Moreover, by situating the Dakar Rally's expeditions in South America within the global capitalist economy, the paper explains why the most prestigious car rally is an exemplary manifestation of ecological imperialism, as it is not only a showcase of unsustainable industries (represented by fossil-fuel vehicles) with European colonial hubris but also a newer stage of an ongoing centuries-old process of extracting ecological resources from the Global South to benefit the increasingly mobile, vampire-like transnational capital.

What Does Chelsea Creek Do for You? A Relational Approach to Environmental Justice Communication

Historically, academic and government environmental justice (EJ) research and communication efforts have centered on quantifying, mapping, and visualizing the environmental harms faced by EJ communities (communities facing disproportionate levels of environmental harm). Unangax Education scholar Eve Tuck critiques such frameworks as “damage-centered” because they cast entire communities—predominantly low-income, BIPOC communities—as lacking or lesser. In this case study, we identify three core pitfalls of damage-centered research in government agency EJ projects—reification, obfuscation, and discretization—through our analysis of two important U.S. federal EJ data tools and related policies: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s EJSCREEN, and the recently unveiled Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST). We center our study on the depiction of the Chelsea Creek Region in Massachusetts. In response, we describe preliminary research on an alternative approach to communicating EJ issues based on a relational rather than damage-centered EJ framework that advances relationships as the fundamental unit of both analysis and redress—in this case the Greater Boston region's relationship to and responsibility for ongoing environmental harms in the Chelsea Creek region.