A public forum on the Geography of Climate Justice heard last week that climate change and the ability to respond to its impacts vary extensively both within and between nation states.
A public forum on the Geography of Climate Justice heard last week that climate change and the ability to respond to its impacts vary extensively both within and between nation states.
Organised by the Royal Irish Academy with the support of the Foundation and Concern Worldwide, the forum brought together speakers and respondents from within the broad fields of climate change, geography and development to engage with the difficult issues of justice and politics within their work.
The speakers included Professor Julian Agyeman, Chair of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University, Professor Brendan Gleeson, of the Department of Geography at NUI Maynooth and Dr Edward Page, Associate Professor in Political Theory at Warwick University.
The respondents to the speakers were Dr Edward Lahiff who lectures in International Development at University Cork, Dr Tara Shine, Head of Research and Development at the Foundation and Professor David Taylor, Professor of Geography at Trinity College Dublin. The contributors gave insights into their diverse areas research and showed how there can be a multi-disciplinary approach to the theme of climate justice.
Professor Agyeman discussed his research into environmental justice movements and focused on British Columbia in Canada. He said there is a link between environmental quality and human equality. Professor Gleeson described global warming as a “manifest and rapidly unfolding emergency”. He said that urban planning is not the frontline mechanism for mitigation and that the window to deal with climate change is very short but that the planning horizon tends to be long-term. Dr Edward Page dealt with the issue of climate justice from a political philosophy perspective. He discussed the burdens of climate change and who should bear responsibility.
Responding to Professor Agyeman’s presentation, Professor David Taylor said the distribution of climate change impacts are uneven and the effects are generally felt more strongly by those who have done least to cause it. Dr Tara Shine pointed out that it was interesting how terms relating to climate change were used differently by each of the speakers and how there are different interpretations of the term climate justice. Responding to Professor Glesson, Dr Shine said that she sees that planning by governments tends to be short-term, relating to electoral cycles, but that when it comes to climate change, she looks to governments to plan in the longer term. Dr Lahiff said that the concept of equity is an important component of justice, he said that Dr Page had introduced new elements to the debate that can be taken to an international level.
At the end of the event, there was a question and answer session around a wide range of topics including planning and the built environment and how that area responds to climate change, greenhouse gas emissions and consumption and climate equity frameworks.