Environmental and Climate Justice in Palestine

To have a clean, safe, and functional environment is not only essential for the purpose of preservation, but also imperative for safeguarding the most fundamental of human rights. Resolution 45/94 of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly also stresses and acknowledges that: “all individuals are entitled to live in an environment adequate for their health and wellbeing” (United Nations Digital Library System, 1991). Environmental and climate justice, which: “emerged in the context of the local environmental struggles of directly oppressed groups”, is a global movement dedicated to ensuring equal protection of people’s human rights (i.e., water, health, life, etc.) in the face of the climate crisis. Moreover, health, environment and human rights are part of the 2030 agenda (in particular, SDG 1, SDG 5, SDG 6, SDG 7, SDG 13, SDG 16, SDG 17). Individually, both environmental and climate justice are rooted in an intersectional outlook, by which they highlight the common threads between communities and the people’s inclusion, irrespective of race, class, or gender, in the pursuit of justice. On the other hand, they recognise and acknowledge the role and consequences of climate change in economic, social, and political dimensions;thus, drawing emphasis on the rights of people under the emerging inequities. In the case of Palestine, the Palestinian community is increasingly becoming vulnerable to these effects and the resulting inequalities of climate change. This vulnerability stems from: 1) The right to life;clean WASH;equitable work opportunities;access to resources;and free movement;are all examples of human rights that the Israeli colonial regime infringes upon;2) Infrastructure is essential for climate adaptation: 61% of the West Bank is ultimately barred from building infrastructure (B’Tselem, 2019) and Gaza Strip has major gaps in infrastructure due to intentional destruction by Israel;3) Palestinian deprivation of the sovereign right to natural resources by Israel;4) Apartheid system in water accessibility: Israeli water usage per person is over three times higher than that of Palestinians (their usage is under the WHO recommended minimum per day) (B’Tselem, 2023);and 5) Violent settler attacks. In 2022 alone, the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ) recorded 1527 settler attacks that targeted land, properties, livestock, agriculture and even Palestinian civilians. The ongoing neglect of these concerns and the persistent colonization of Palestine by Israel unequivocally and unwaveringly affect the human rights of Palestinians. The power dynamics at play especially hamper the Palestinian ability to exercise and fulfill their inalienable human rights and to tackle the obstacles to justice in their environment.

Climate Justice Dimensions:Approaching Loss and Damage and Adaptation towards a Just City

The escalating occurrence of severe climatic events over the past decade,with a projection for further intensification due to the climate emergency,underscores the critical role of urban and regional planning in climate action towards just cities.Municipalities and regions are both significant contributors to CO_(2)emissions and are vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.This paper contends that urban and regional planning must undergo a paradigm shift to address this challenge.Climate justice,encompassing dimensions of inequality and environmental equity,is a pivotal dialogue in these contexts.Through a comprehensive review,this study contributes to the evolving landscape of climate justice planning and policy,offering insights that could resonate across the Global South and beyond.As an illustrative case,the authors delve into Brazil’s climate challenges,discussing adaptation planning and post-disaster response,and emphasizing the need for localized and community-driven initiatives.This article delves into the interplay between Loss and Damage,adaptation,and just cities,with a focus on the Global South.The authors scrutinize the emerging discourse on Loss and Damage,its associations with climate impacts,and the quest for a just and equitable approach.The work advances the understanding of the distinction between adaptation and Loss and Damage actions,highlighting the significance of a dedicated fund for addressing Loss and Damage in vulnerable countries.

Remedies for loss and damage caused by climate change from the dimension of climate justice

Adverse consequences to the ecological system and human health caused by impacts potentially attributable to climate change have already drawn great and widespread concern of many scientists and international organizations.However,we still have a hard time determining exactly the impact of climate change on the environment or the damage that climate change inflicts on countries comprising small islands or low-lying lands in light of today's science and technology.The progress for dealing with the issue of loss and damage has been struggling for a long time from the beginning to the present.In this paper,the author begins by summarizing talks on the concept and the positions of commentators.The author is proposing that the development of future climate negotiations and rule-making process be based on global climate justice as a standard for measuring value.Also,the author proposes that a holistic view of climate justice be established.Generally,three aspects of climate justice can be derived.First,the dimension of human rights protection shows that protection of fundamental human rights is a logical precondition if small-island and low-lying countries are able to achieve climate justice.Second,the definite and traditional concepts of distributive justice and corrective justice hold the view that the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities should be upheld as a basic standard of allocating rights and duties associated with climate change.Third,climate justice requires that any state follow the "no-harm principle," which is regarded as an international customary rule.According to the principle,the obligation of states to prevent the use of their territory for causing trans-boundary harm to the environment shall be a violation of state responsibility,which incurs international punishment.Then we put forward three remedial approaches in light of climate justice,including the approach of State Responsibility(SR) based on the principles and rules of international human rights law and international environmental law.Based on clear rules,the judge can determine whether the damaging behavior or the damage perpetrated by a state party constitutes a state responsibility.The International Environmental Regulation(IEB),which means solving the problems within the framework established by the Conventions on Climate Change,takes advantage of the market mechanisms and incentives such as fund and insurance support system to relieve or compensate the loss and damage.International Environmental Dispute Settlement Mechanism(IEDSM),which includes the means such as consultations,negotiations,nonmandatory ways and international arbitration,international judicial ways to solve these disputes,functions as a procedural safeguard.As an active promoter of global climate governance,China should no doubt stand by the principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibility(CBDR) and take it as a basis for negotiations,actively strengthen the work of South-South cooperation,fulfill her international climate commitments without reservation,vigorously develop a low-carbon economy,and actively promote international negotiations on the subject of loss and damage.

What We Owe to Each Other: On Global Climate Justice

The key to global climate justice is how to define or distribute greenhouse-gas （sometimes abbreviated to GHG） emissions rights in different countries. Throe questions are to be answered： First, what does global climate justice distribute？ Second, on what principle does it distribute？ Third, what is the moral foundation of the principle？ The thesis analyzes the peculiarity of GHG emissions permit as a global public resource and its consequent ethical issues. On the ground of egalitarianism, it proves the basic principle of distributing GHG emissions permit required by global climate justice, and the basic ethical ground of global climate justice accepted by international community.

The Paris Agreement Revisited: Diplomatic Triumphalism or Denial of Climate Justice?

The 2015 Paris COP 21, after the failure of the 2009 Copenhagen COP, raised many expectations regarding the elaboration of the post-Kyoto legal instrument to lead the global fight against climate change. At the sunset of the summit, world leaders and climate negotiators, relayed by mainstream Medias, presented the results of the Paris climate discussions as an important success for the global climate community. A success contested by climate justice and just transition defenders. Given the foundation role the Paris agreement plays for subsequent global, national and sub-national climate policies on one side and, on the other side, the continuous growing global demands for climate justice and just transition, this article investigates the conciliatory possibilities put in place by the agreement to advance those demands. To reach such goals, the article focuses on the retrospective critical reading of the agreement in the light of human-centered climate perspectives such as climate justice and just transition, without neglecting other aspects related to the very nature of the agreement, and the enhanced commodification of nature and resulting carbon trading. This analysis of the agreement through climate justice lenses will be instrumental in confirming or disproving the following hypothesis: From the climate justice and just transition perspectives, the success of the Paris regime will not pass through the implementation of the Paris agreement itself, but thought corrective mechanisms that could be put in place to correct the loopholes of the agreement. The initiative of putting such post-Paris corrective mechanisms in place is expected to be one of the key priorities of the international community.