Nowadays, natural sciences provide precise information on the status of the climate system and projections of future changes.
In our current context, Climate change poses a real challenge for scientists, philosophers, teachers, missionaries, politicians, attorneys, policy-makers and all the people involved in the attempt to equation and manage the causes and impacts on people and environment.
The crucial matter to consider is that the adverse impacts of climate change will be unevenly distributed, with the countries least responsible for the historical buildup of greenhouse gases (GHGs) bearing the brunt. Under such conditions, values and principles carry added weight in decision making process.
Justice considerations must arise in just about any context involving people, health, the environment and the use of natural resources. It permeats the development and application as well as evaluation and analysis of environmental laws and policies. Justice is an aspiration in its own right, but it also matters for the legitimacy and effectiveness of the socioenvironmental policies and laws intended to protect health and the environment. The answer partly depends on how justice is measured and which interests, factors and subjects are taken into account.
Questions of fairness and equity are central to the challenge of tackling global climate change. The complexity of the questions arises from the global and long-term nature of the problem. At the same time, the impacts are localized and differentiated so the poor nations are least able to respond to the effects on people and environment.
The notion of environmental justice has spread to numerous countries and regions of the world, and, while the (in) justice factors may be contextual and differ from one country to the other, it has taken the form of a critical voice, e.g. by revealing what is seen as unjust consequences of existing social arrangements and norms.1
Climate change is a classical over-the-horizon problem and social and environmental policy steps need to be taken today, with largely no return in the near term, even while scientists are still engaged in putting the precise outlines to the threat. As demonstrated by the halting effort to address it with international legal instruments, climate change poses enormous challenges for international environmental governance and legal systems.
Developed countries cannot rely on their unequal power and influence to determine a solution, but rather require the voluntary cooperation of developing countries, particularly those that are rapidly industrializing. This opens the possibility for developed countries to deal on fair and equitable terms with developing countries, taking into account the imperative of poorer countries to pursue economic and social development, while at the same time maintaining the stability of the climate system.2
The discourse on fairness is woven into the political process of the climate change regime. It has been observed that international environmental negotiations among developing countries have frequently cast their arguments in terms of justice and fairness. 3
Combating climate change requires global action based on a consensus among sovereign nations that are more likely to adopt and faithfully implement an agreement that is perceived to be fair and equitable.4
There is a risk that climate change could impede the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, including those on poverty eradication; child mortality; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and environmental sustainability.5
Global challenges must be managed in a way that distributes the costs and burdens fairly in accordance with basic principles of equity and social justice. Those who suffer or who benefit least deserve help from those who benefit most.6
Stabilizing emissions at the level that would prevent large-scale, irreversible damage to the biosphere will require not merely an incremental adjustment of our energy system, but over time, a full-scale transition to new modes of low-carbon consumption and production and, essentially, social organization in more equitable standards.
The ideas here are a reminder that global climate change presents a fundamental challenge to out social, cultural, and political systems, and all of us, as professionals, individuals and communities are part in the problem and, also, in the solution. We must open the dialogue, interconnect ourselves and join forces to achieve a real and durable climate change justice.
