Environmental Injustice And Climate Change

Tshewang Dema & Sanjay Rawat, BA LLB, School of Law Lovely Professional University

ABSTRACT

A balanced and natural system of the climatic pattern is a fundamental exponent of human existence, and everything around us depends on it. However, with the advent of technology and industrialization, humans have degraded nature enormously. Consequentiality, we are facing a climate crisis around the world today. To contain climate change and environmental degradation, countless treaties, laws, and conventions are constructed at both national and international levels by humans through governmental and non- governmental channels.

Today, these measures to contain climate change seem insufficient and discriminatory because of the disproportionate effect of climate change. Those people who are at a disadvantage because of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, class or income level tend to be hit hardest by climate change. These indigent and vulnerable people are also the least contributors to climate and environmental change and face environmental injustice at the hands of the affluent.

Rich countries in the west that historically exploited the environment and fossil fuels are responsible for 90 percent of the emissions that have been driving up global average temperatures since the industrial revolution want to put an equal onus to protect the environment in developing nations. Many countries that have benefited least from fossil-fuelled economic growth and therefore have less money to spend on adapting to a warmer world are seeing the most damage. This is environmental injustice to these poorer nations by the rich nations.

This paper systematically explains environmental injustice because of climate change at both global and national levels. It presents a comparative study of the effect of climate change between developing and developed nations and highlights the problem of environmental injustice and elaborates on some ways to tackle it. It further tries to understand the unprecedented impacts of climate change and disproportionately burdening developing countries against developed countries.

Keywords: Climate Change, Environmental Injustice, Developed Countries, Developing Countries