Global climate change is one of the defining issues of the 21st century. The phenomenon of natural climate variation being pushed beyond normal ranges has been fueled largely by industrial activities and those which support them (i.e. land-use change and the over-exploitation of natural resources). The urgency is well established with reports demonstrating an increased occurrence of rare, highly damaging weather events, and shifts in the natural range of species. The necessity of action on climate change has resulted in the development of novel global initiatives designed to address the problem across global and regional scales. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) is emblematic of this new wave of conservation strategy. It brings together parties which are often seen as opposed on environmental issues in collaborative environmental practise. This thesis explores the development of REDD+ as an effective and equitable solutions to this problem. REDD+ is a policy architecture designed for global deployment, the success of which will depend largely upon the engagement and involvement of local community groups. Community forest management (CFM) may inform the REDD+ design process, and enhance both land-use strategies by way of synergy. The pathway to that point is, however, uncertain and marred with potential pitfalls. This thesis uses the instructive and critical lens of political ecology to assess the potential for integrating greater CFM elements into the REDD+ policy structure. It explores how the narratives of CFM and REDD+ clash at discursive levels, while also identifying elements of each which may make them mutually beneficial. The thesis finds that much of the conflict between positions on REDD+ are the result of contrasting environmental understandings, some of which are informed by negative experiences with past environmental conservation initiatives. Greater community-centric attributes may assist in improving the local and regional acceptability of REDD+ projects by appealing to the “alternative” values of forest-dependent peoples. Some suggested policy modifications are made to improve the overall design of REDD+ to be inclusive of the concerns of forest user groups, and potential areas for future research projects are discussed. / Thesis (Master, Environmental Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-01-28 14:57:55.951

This thesis starts from the premise that Geopolitics is performative, an iterative discourse “of visualising global space…reproduced in the governing principles of geographic thought and through the practices of statecraft” (Agnew 1998:11). During the last decade, two dominant discourses have shaped the contemporary geopolitical imagination – the ‘war on terror’ and ‘climate change’. These have steered conceptualisations of security and insecurity - performative iterations of who, where, and what poses a threat. The resulting geopolitical picture of the world has enabled the legitimisation of human and geographical domination – an acceptance of geographical norms that enable the continuation of uneven geographies. The research is concerned with the performative spaces of alternative geopolitics; spaces that emerge where nonviolent social movement activism and geopolitics intersect and the sites through which these are practiced and mediated. The motivations are twofold. The first is a desire to intervene in a critical geopolitical discourse that remains biased toward engagement with violent geographies. The second is to take seriously ‘geopolitics from below’, alternative geographical imaginations. I address the first of these through research that is concerned primarily with the spacing of nonviolence – the performed and performative spaces of nonviolent geographies shaped through a politics of the act. The second is approached through substantial empirical engagement with social movement activists and sites of contention and creation in opposition to dominant environmental geopolitics. ‘Militant’ ethnographic research took place over six months in 2009. It traced the journeys of two groups as they organised for, and took part in, large counter-summit mobilisations. The first was a UK based social movement, the Camp for Climate Action (UK). The second was an intercontinental caravan, the Trade to Climate Caravan. Both groups shared a common aim – to converge on the 16th of December in a mass demonstration of nonviolent confrontation; the ‘People’s Assembly’, to contest dominant discourses being performed inside the intergovernmental United Nations Conference of the Parties 15. Social movement groups from around the world would present alternative narratives of insecurity and offer ‘alternative solutions’ garnered through non-hierarchical forms of decision-making. The research followed the route each group took to the People’s Assembly and the articulations (narrative and practices) of nonviolent action.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:34:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marina Courrol Ramos.pdf: 1172208 bytes, checksum: d57d7aa43d3acd3f64dc9617ddcfc789 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-02 / Global warming is unquestionable, but the resulting impacts of climate change will affect people and places unevenly, since populations with unfavorable socio-environmental conditions experience these impacts disproportionately. In this context, this master thesis aims the analysis of adaptation public policies to vulnerable populations and climate justice at the national level. Starting from the analysis of the concepts of adaptation, vulnerability and climate impacts, we identified that in Brazil the poor people in rural areas of the Northeast semi-arid and poor people of urban peripheries, due to pre-existing vulnerabilities, are more exposed to risks and negative impacts of climate change. For these people, it is the State's duty to ensure the fundamental rights through public adaptation policies, especially preventive, in order to mitigate social inequalities, increase their adaptive capacity and become more resilient. Therefore, were analyzed public policies related to the climate issue at the federal and state level, checking those with potential to promote adaptation and climate justice for these people, through a human rights and human dignity protection approach. We conclude that although there is a climate legal regime in Brazil that enables adaptation actions, the concern about adaptation strategies is still very new. As a result, it is clear that the existing regime is unsatisfactory, with policies that privilege more relief actions than longterm adaptation actions. / O aquecimento global é inquestionável, contudo os impactos resultantes das mudanças climáticas afetarão populações e lugares de forma desigual, já que populações que apresentam condições socioambientais desfavoráveis perceberão estes impactos de forma desproporcional. Neste contexto, a presente dissertação de mestrado teve por objetivo a análise das políticas públicas de adaptação em face das populações vulneráveis e da justiça climática no âmbito nacional. Partindo-se da análise de conceitos de adaptação, vulnerabilidade e impactos climáticos, identificou-se que no Brasil as populações pobres das zonas rurais do semiárido do Nordeste e as populações pobres das periferias dos centros urbanos, em razão das vulnerabilidades preexistentes, estão mais expostas aos riscos e impactos negativos das mudanças climáticas. Para estas populações, é dever do Estado garantir a realização dos direitos fundamentais por meio de políticas públicas de adaptação, principalmente preventivas, como forma de atenuar as desigualdades sociais, aumentando sua capacidade adaptativa e as tornando mais resilientes. Para tanto, foram analisadas políticas públicas relacionadas à questão climática em nível federal e estadual, verificando aquelas com potencial de promover adaptação destas populações vulneráveis e da justiça climática, a partir de uma abordagem de proteção aos direitos humanos e da dignidade humana. Conclui-se que apesar de haver no Brasil um regime jurídico climático que possibilite ações de adaptação, a preocupação com estratégias de adaptação no país ainda é muito recente. Como resultado disso, é evidente que o regime existente demonstra-se insatisfatório, com políticas que privilegiam mais ações de alívio do que a adaptação de longo prazo.

Le traitement des inégalités environnementales globales doit se faire en tenant compte de la différence d’impact des pays dans l’avènement de la crise environnementale. Ces inégalités n'impliquent pas seulement des injustices de redistribution liées au partage du fardeau environnemental ou des injustices historiques liées aux passifs écologiques coloniaux et aux émissions historiques de gaz à effet de serre du Nord. Elles impliquent également des injustices de participation et de reconnaissance. L’approche distributive et l’approche corrective des injustices environnementales ne permettent pas de réparer l’ensemble de ces injustices. Pour surmonter leurs limites et leurs défauts, nous proposons de recourir au paradigme de la justice restauratrice. L'approche restauratrice comporte deux avantages principaux. Le premier est qu’elle permet de prendre en compte la nature multidimensionnelle des injustices environnementales et de se recentrer sur un large éventail de besoins de justice des victimes étatiques et non étatiques : besoin de réparation des injustices historiques, besoin de reconnaissance, besoin de participation, besoin de redistribution et besoin d'assistance. Le second est qu’elle inscrit le processus de justice dans une logique transformatrice qui permet de prévenir les injustices futures. Dans cette optique, nous proposons l'institutionnalisation d'une « démocratie écologique mondiale » par le biais de la transformation du Programme des Nations Unies pour l'environnement (PNUE) en une institution écologique, démocratique, et dotée d'une souveraineté supranationale. / The treatment of global environmental inequalities must take into account the difference in the impact of countries in the advent of the environmental crisis. These inequalities do not emphasize only redistribution injustices related to the sharing of environmental burdens or historical injustices related to colonial ecological liabilities and historic greenhouse gas emissions from the Northern countries They also imply injustices of participation and recognition. The distributive approach and the corrective approach to environmental injustices do not make it possible to repair all these injustices. The use of the paradigm of restorative justice could allow to overcome their limitations and defects. The restorative approach has two main benefits. The first one is to consider the multidimensional nature of environmental injustices and to refocus on a wide range of justice needs of state and non-state victims : need for redressing historical injustices, need for recognition, need for participation, need for redistribution and need for assistance. The second advantage is the consideration of the process of justice into a transformative logic for the prevention of environmental injustices. With this aim in mind, we propose the institutionalization of a "global ecological democracy » through the transformation of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) into an ecological and democratic institution with supranational sovereignty.

While persons with disabilities are not a homogenous group, most are likely to be disproportionately impacted by climate change and the “natural” disasters that result from these changes. As a social worker living with chronic health conditions and a particular interest in disability and public policy, I was curious about how Canada’s Federal Government climate change policies and initiatives address persons with disabilities and their diverse needs. My research explored how matters of health and disability have been taken up in recent Canadian Federal Government climate change policies and strategies through an analysis of six significant climate change documents. Framed by a feminist, poststructural-inspired critical disability lens, the documents were examined through an inductive approach to reflexive thematic analysis, with the aim of contributing to critical conversations around the intersections of disability justice, climate justice, and related social justice matters. Through reflexive thematic analysis, I identified three key themes: persons with disabilities are widely absent from Canadian Federal Government climate change documents, both as collaborators as well as groups considered in climate change planning; adaptation to climate change and climate resilience are central in government climate mitigation strategies; and healthy and normative body-minds are presumed by the documents, which broadly assume all people have the same capacities to adapt. Subthemes included both a prioritization of the economy, and a foregrounding of a productive, compulsory, able-bodied and able-minded citizen around which climate change strategies are designed. I conclude with some suggestions for how Canada’s climate change policies may become more inclusive for persons with disabilities. / Graduate

Orientador: Enzo Barberio Mariano / Resumo: A justiça climática tem como foco analisar em termos éticos e morais as ações climáticas adotadas pelas nações do mundo e agora, passa a contemplar mais um conceito: a justiça social baseada na teoria das capacidades. Assim, o objetivo desta pesquisa é compreender e quantificar a dupla relação entre desenvolvimento humano e práticas de adaptação e mitigação às mudanças do clima, visando a construção de um índice mundial de justiça climática. Para isso, foram utilizadas as técnicas Modelagem de Equações Estruturais (SEM) e Análise Envoltória de Dados (DEA) a fim de verificar a dupla relação entre desenvolvimento humano e ações climáticas, possibilitando a construção do índice de justiça climática. A partir dos resultados da pesquisa é possível destacar: a) validação de modelo teórico para mensuração de justiça climática composto por 5 constructos de desenvolvimento humano e 2 constructos de mudanças climáticas; b) elaboração de rankings com 198 países que medem a conversão de desenvolvimento humano e ações climáticas nos sentidos direto e inverso; c) evidências iniciais mostram que aumentos graduais de desenvolvimento humano podem contribuir para avanços de justiça climática em sociedades de baixo carbono, d) diferenças entre as médias de desempenho entre regiões geográficas do planeta podem oferecer novas perspectivas para negociações sobre mudança do clima. / Abstract: Climate justice focuses on analyzing in ethical and moral terms the climate actions adopted by the nations of the world and now, it starts to contemplate yet another concept: social justice based on the capabilities approach. Thus, the objective of this research is to understand and quantify the double relationship between human development and adaptation and mitigation practices to climate change, aiming at the construction of a global index of climate justice. For this, the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) techniques were used to verify the double relationship between human development and climate actions, enabling the construction of the climate justice index. From the results of the research, it is possible to highlight: a) validation of a theoretical model for measuring climate justice composed of 5 human development constructs and 2 climate change constructs; b) elaboration of rankings with 198 countries that measure the conversion of human development and climate actions in the direct and reverse directions; c) initial evidence shows that gradual increases in human development can contribute to advances in climate justice in low-carbon societies; d) differences in performance averages across geographic regions of the planet can offer new perspectives for climate change negotiations. / Doutor

Climate change is a critical threat to all the countries of the world today, not least because of the severe human rights infringements it may well lead to. However, although climate change is a collective, global challenge, there are considerable inequalities regarding contribution to cause and burden of the effects. Those suffering the most from the effects of climate change tend to be least responsible for the emissions causing it. The theoretical concept of climate justice aims to address these injustices, between different countries as well as societal groups and generations. To contribute to the understanding of how this concept is present in the global climate debate today, this thesis examines a selection of the Paris Agreement parties’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) from a perspective of climate justice. The analysis is based on a theoretical framework developed by Andrea Schapper, focusing on three dimensions of climate justice – international, intra-societal and intergenerational. Through this framework, a total of 36 NDCs are studied, the top and bottom three countries for each world region based on levels of cumulative CO2-emissions. The aim of the case selection has been to obtain a variation regarding development status, vulnerability to the effects of climate change, levels of greenhouse gas emissions and geographical location of the studied countries. The results of the study show that all the dimensions are present in at least some of the studied NDCs, but to a very different extent. Primarily, the parties discuss the issue of international justice. Intra-societal justice is touched upon quite frequently but very few bring up the matter of intergenerational justice. Moreover, all three dimensions are predominantly handled by countries classified as ”developing” (according to the UN statistics division).  This implies that climate justice is a higher priority for the most vulnerable to and least responsible for climate change, which is problematic for many reasons. Above all, it indicates that rich, industrialized countries are reluctant to take responsibility for their current and historical emissions, as well as the effect those emissions have on others.

The environmental politics in Sweden are portrayed in the Swedish environmental discourse to be both ambiguous and a pioneer state internationally. Sweden has an established aim to solve the sixteen identified grand environmental issues in Sweden until the next generation (2025). For example, Tracy Skillington, mentioned in the field of research, argues of an absence of climate justice for future generations. This paper will therefore examine the way Sweden relates to future generations in the Swedish environmental politics through a lens of climate justice. I will approach this subject through a discourse analysis of three Swedish propositions which can be used to understand the background meaning of legislations, and therefore also can be regarded as authoritarian in the Swedish environmental discourse. The analysis will be based on the logic of signs in the discourse and structured according to the analysis tool, problem – reason – solution. The main problem in Swedish environmental discourse can relate to the ambiguous formulation of the generational aim. Sweden expresses, in their environmental discourse (proposition 1997/98:145), a confidence to solve the environmental issues until the next generation, meanwhile maintaining other political priorities such as economic growth. Sweden describes an overall change of society to sustainable development. In the Swedish environmental discourse terms such as justice and crisis are excluded, which forms and characterizes the Swedish discourse. The problems in Swedish environmental discourse are being visible though the environmental aims seem unreachable on the set timeline. There are three identified reasons in the Swedish environmental discourse, nature as an economic human resource, the environmental quality issues in Sweden depends on other states environmental actions due to the transnational problem and the initial environmental goals are portrayed as impossible to fulfill. Sweden legitimize their environmental discourse through the solutions found in the three propositions. The choice to use generation to describe the Swedish aim, could be understood to unify the Swedish environmental discourse. In the propositions, a change in the meaning of the generational aim will be shown, which makes a prominent difference for future generations. In proposition 2016/17:146, a transition to climate is made which means less focus on future generation in the Swedish discourse. The next generation has a prominent role in the environmental discourse of Sweden, but it turns out unclear what exact meaning the generation of today include in the term next generation. The promises made in the first proposition, are emptied of the initial meaning, why it is questionable if climate justice towards the next generation can be reached in the Swedish environmental discourse.

This thesis aims to enable the compensation for sustained Loss and Damage on Tuvalu through a principle conforming to the requirements of Climate Justice. By applying the method of conceptual framework analysis, the various concepts which form the larger frameworks of Climate Justice and Loss and Damage are identified and narrowed down to parameters. By applying the parameters of Loss and Damage, the facts of Tuvalu’s case are collected. The theory of Climate Justice is applied in the analysis to determine the requirements for compensation for Tuvalu and a concept, with which the duty to compensate can be fairly allocated. The thesis finds that the Polluter Pays Principle in connection to the Ability to Pay- and the Beneficiary Pays- Principle is best suited, since it considers both Tuvalu’s and the compensators side and thus fulfils the requirements of Climate Justice.

I den här uppsatsen görs en jämförelse mellan två aktörer på den klimatpolitiska arenan, den svenska staten och miljörörelsen. Syftet är att jämföra och analysera aktörernas syn på klimatfrågan med särskilt fokus på säkerhetisering och klimaträttvisa i ljuset av ekologisk modernisering som dominerande diskurs i det klimatpolitiska samtalet. Genom en diskursanalys av Sveriges första klimatpolitiska handlingsplan samt textmaterial från Svenska Naturskyddsföreningen och Extinction Rebellion visar denna studie på hur frågor om säkerhet och rättvisa nedprioriteras i statens sätt att prata om klimatfrågan. Detta förstås utifrån att ekologisk modernisering alltmer blivit den dominerande diskursen i svensk klimatpolitik. Det är i jämförelsen med miljörörelsens sätt att prata om klimatfrågan som detta blir som tydligast. / In this thesis, a comparison is made between two actors in the climate policy arena, the Swedish state and the environmental movement. The purpose is to compare and analyze the actors’ perspectives on the climate issue, with a particular focus on securitization and climate justice in the context of ecological modernization as the dominant discourse in the climate policy conversation. Through a discourse analysis of Sweden’s first climate policy action plan, as well as textual material from two different environmental groups in Sweden, Naturskyddsföreningen and Extinction Rebellion, this study demonstrates how issues of security and justice are deprioritized in the state’s discourse of climate issue. This finding is understood in the light of ecological modernization as the dominant discourse in Swedish climate policy. It is in the comparison with the environmental movement’s way of talking about the climate issue that this becomes most evident.