Environmental and Climate Justice
To achieve a sustainable and socially just transition that protects both people and nature, the negative impacts of environmental and climate change, and any unintended consequences from their solutions, must be reduced
Climate and environmental challenges disproportionately affect the most vulnerable groups in society, and often deepen existing inequalities. According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2022), between 3.3 and 3.6 billion people live in areas particularly vulnerable to climate change. Additionally, 75% of the world’s population lives in areas with insufficient access to water to meet basic needs (Global Water Security Assessment, 2023). Environmental and climatic change, as well as pollution and the loss of nature and ecosystems, will exacerbate these challenges in the coming years.
Measures to address climate and environmental challenges can, however, also have unintended consequences for social justice and marginalized groups, by contributing to unequal distributions of benefits and burdens, exclusions from decision-making processes, or restricted access to resources and land. To avoid reinforcing social inequalities, marginalization, and potential conflicts in these processes, climate and environmental measures must be holistic, inclusive, and rooted in principles of social justice. This includes ensuring equitable distribution, meaningful participation, recognition of diversity, the inclusion of multiple knowledge systems, and respect for human rights.
In the face of increasing climate and environmental challenges, there is a need for comprehensive approaches that promote sustainable and climate-resilient development. This requires a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness between ecological, social, political, and economic dimensions and how structural inequalities can be addressed through fair and inclusive solutions. As an interdisciplinary research institute with broad thematic and geographical expertise, NIVA contributes to developing sustainable solutions to climate and environmental challenges both nationally and globally.
What NIVA can contribute with
NIVA is a leading interdisciplinary research institute with extensive expertise in both social and natural sciences. We have a broad geographical focus, covering more than 70 countries across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Our institute works closely with international organizations, public agencies, the private sector, civil society organizations, academic institutions and other relevant stakeholders. NIVA’s researchers have extensive experience in applying both qualitative and quantitative methods, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of environmental challenges while upholding principles of social justice.
Here are some of our contributions in this field:
- Proposing measures to ensure a just transition. NIVA provides knowledge-based advice to both local and multinational bodies on the relationship between environmental and climate actions and critical societal challenges, contributing for instance to the negotiations for the UN Plastics Treaty.
- Facilitating collaboration for more socially just solutions. NIVA ensures meaningful participation through inclusive processes, co-creation of knowledge, and citizen science, while applying innovative research methods (such as participatory video production).
- Conducting vulnerability and risk analyses and evaluations of how climate and environmental challenges affect social groups differently, including Indigenous Peoples, with a particular focus on intersectional vulnerability and power relations.
- Strengthening the knowledge base on how climate change adaptation can be implemented in a sustainable and socially just manner and foster community resilience in urban and rural areas, for example, through the use of nature-based solutions.
- Investigating the relationship between climate and environmental challenges and mental and physical health. For instance, NIVA examines how nature-based solutions can help improve mental health, and how plastics influence human and environmental health across the entire value chain.
- Mapping the consequences of the use and protection of nature. NIVA contributes to produce knowledge that supports informed decision-making on trade-offs between conservation and the use of nature and resources, considering the intrinsic value of nature, based on international guidelines (IPBES 2022).
Why does NIVA work with environmental and climate justice?
Since NIVA was established in 1958, our goal has been to strengthen the knowledge base for solving environmental challenges. Today’s environmental and climate challenges are often complex, and solutions are more intricate than before. Climate change intensifies existing inequalities and creates new challenges for both nature and society.
Our work with environmental and climate justice is a key contribution to NIVA’s strategy for research toward a sustainable future. We are engaged in national and international collaboration and aim to play an important role in Norway’s efforts to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through our research and partnerships, we work to develop solutions to climate and environmental challenges that are not only effective but also socially just.
Please contact us if you would like to learn more about our contributions in this area.
RELATED TAGS
- Global solutions
- Environmental governance
- Environmental and climate change
- Nature-based solutions
- Plastic pollution
- Urban Environment
- Water and Societal Challenges
- Citizen science
- Conventions and international environmental cooperation
- Environmental law, institutional and policy analyses
- Circular solutions