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.

Advancement Towards Spatial Justice:The Barrier-Free Environment Construction from a Gender Perspective

Space is both a product and a producer of social relations.In the spatial domain,gender blindness has long existed,limiting women’s rights of access to and use of space,leading to structural oppression of women’s rights,and giving rise to new gender inequalities.The barrier-free environment construction has the functions of eliminating physical barriers and generating societal norms,and when combined with social changes,can facilitate justice correction across multiple dimensions.However,barrier-free environment construction itself,as a means of justice correction,also suffers from gender blindness.There remains room for improvement in the areas of facility construction,information exchange,and social services within the realm of barrier-free environments.In response to this phenomenon,gender equality offers a new critical perspective.Therefore,integrating a gender perspective into the barrier-free environment construction,focusing on the spatial rights of women,especially groups with multiple vulnerabilities,such as disabled women and elderly women,can contribute to the advancement towards spatial justice.

Debating ecological justice:implications for critical environmental education

This article will briefly discuss the implications of recognition of ecological justice in relation to environmental education(EE) and education for sustainable development(ESD).It is argued that the present conception of environment taught through EE and ESD negates the subjectivity of non-human species and ignores the ethical imperatives of ecological justice.Evocating environmental ethics,major directions integrating ecological justice into EE and ESD are proposed.

Environmental Justice through Community-Policy Participatory Partnerships

Geographical information systems (GIS) are often used to design environmental justice (EJ) policy interventions. Leveraging GIS and other graphics, overburdened EJ communities can learn from maps that geographically link environmental burden (EB) and social disparity (SD) data. Visually representing EB and SD data concretizes the unjust distributions of environmental and broader inequitable societal policies. These maps can be used to efficaciously assess EJ disparities created by such policies through exploring socioeconomic characteristics with local communities. Given the great variation in how GIS EJ applications measure and visualize EB and SD, we present a community-based participatory design (CBPD) lens to collaboratively work across overburdened communities and support making EJ data accessible to all stakeholders. Our location proximity approach is a powerful way to assess overburdened EJ communities because it relies on user-predefined boundaries, and it doesn’t use a single fixed unit of reference to prioritize areas of intervention. Moreover, most areal unit applications use ordinal measures, such as percentiles, and multidimensional indexes, which are intelligible to understand by many residents. Leveraging a community-based participatory design methodology, we present our novel Proximity to Hazards Dashboard (PHD) that includes data on asphalt plants and industrial corridors, hazards often missing from state-level dashboards but very relevant for city policymaking, as well as more traditionally used environmental hazard sources. The use of the tool by policymakers and community members suggests that EJ categorization should focus less on procedural benchmarks and more on systemic change for policy impacts in ways that sustain the participatory nature of our approach.

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.

Dialectic Approaches and Public Policy Interactions for Social, Environmental and Health Problems: Challenges for Health Promotion across Territorial Scales

A constant reproduction of environmental injustices and health iniquities has demanded the employment of participatory/dialectic approaches to research and to intervene in the reality making possible the involvement of social actors in healthy public policies. On this framework, the aim of this paper is to analyse scientific production with dialectic approaches associated with public policies in the context of social, environmental and health problems, considering territorial scales of intervention and the correspondence with some relevant strategies of health promotion. A systematic bibliographic review was applied on a wide pan-disciplinary scientific data base and 36 papers were analysed and classified by their territorial scales of approach. The amount of papers found and their spread through a variety of journals showed a modest, but increasing production which has been dispersed in terms of knowledge areas. Within the classification of territorial approaches, 14 papers were classified as local, 5 as expanded and 17 as a multi-level. Although the papers classified as local approaches were in a good structure of stakeholders’ participation, they are limited to dealing with the global driving forces that reproduce the environmental injustices. Regarding this limitation, the multilevel approaches were identified as more opportune to jointly deal with social, environmental and health problems by means of allowing interaction through multiple territorial scales, fomenting the strengthening of community action, creating supportive environments, and building healthy public policies.

Urban Geography and the Production of Socio-Environmental Inequalities

In this article we use the Urban Political Ecology approach to show that by analysing governance networks we can better understand the production of certain socio-environmental transformations that negatively affect some social groups while benefiting others. Drawing upon two case studies in the UK, the article explores the dialectical relationships between different modes of urban governance on one hand and the socio-environmental transformations fulfilled in each case study on the other hand. The article concludes that although urban regeneration policies are always constrained by the neoliberal established framework of power relations, policy outputs and outcomes could be very different from one place to another, shaping uneven socio-environmental constructions. Finally, we make some recommendations in order to stimulate the production of more sustainable communities in the future.

Environmental Justice in the Context of Scientific Uncertainty: On the Safety of Genetically Modified Organisms

A foremost issue of our time is our response to risks,especially those arising from scientific uncertainty,such as genetically modified organisms(GMOs).In this context,we need to achieve and maintain environmental justice.This should be based on the corresponding scientific research;essentially,however,it is a kind of social construct.We must maintain a free market mechanism for the development,application,and dissemination of modern technology,including genetically modified biotech and its products.At the same time,the necessary government intervention and legal regulation of the relevant science and technology should be put in place to ensure public safety and the interests of socially disadvantaged groups.

Power outage and environmental justice in Winter Storm Uri: an analytical workflow based on nighttime light remote sensing

The intensity of extreme weather events has been increasing,posing a unique threat to society and highlighting the importance of our electrical power system,a key component in our infrastructure.In severe weather events,quickly identifying power outage impact zones and affected communities is crucial for informed disaster response.However,a lack of household-level power outage data impedes timely and precise assessments.To address these challenges,we introduced an analytical workflow using NASA’s Black Marble daily nighttime light(NTL)images to detect power outages from the 2021 Winter Storm Uri.This workflow includes adjustments to mitigate viewing angle and snow reflection effects.Power outage is detected by comparing storm-time and baseline(normal condition)NTL images using an empirical adjusted equation.The outcomes of the workflow are 500-meter resolution power outage maps,which have the optimal correlation with real outage tracking data when NTL intensity is reduced by 26%.With the resultant power outage maps,we analyzed the relations between power outages and disadvantaged populations in 126 Texas counties and 4182 census tracts to evaluate environmental justice in the storm.The results show that Latino/Hispanic communities tend to suffer more from power outages at both the county and census tract levels.

Controlled Environment Agriculture and Its Ability to Mitigate Food Insecurity

The research objective of this review is to discuss the rationale that led to the development of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) and investigate this agricultural approach as a potential solution to mitigate the increased pressures on food security. It describes the need for urban cultivation systems using controlled environments and how they can be harnessed to address pressures facing food security. The factors that have contributed to the growth of CEAs, education, environmental justice, and the advantages and disadvantages of growing crops in CEAs in urban areas will be discussed. The article reviews global urban cultivation systems using controlled environments, by identifying the technologies needed to establish them. The practice of CEA is being increasingly adopted worldwide and we describe urban agriculture and compare it with traditional growing systems. Indoor farming systems that integrate into existing urban infrastructure such as vertical farming and plant factories using CEAs are discussed. Indoor farming gives urban areas enhanced access to food sources, but the cost is high, however decreasing due to recent technological advances. The current review extends the literature by incorporating recent research on the topic of agriculture in urban areas and food security. This review seeks to provide additional information regarding the viability of CEA in urban areas.

地方环境立法、环境司法与企业绿色创新--基于立法与司法协同视角

企业绿色创新是人与自然和谐现代化的基础和托底,是企业实施绿色转型战略的必然路径。基于机器学习和文本分析法从经济价值导向维度和生态价值导向维度衡量企业绿色创新,并以2007年开始陆续在全国各地设置专门环境法庭为背景,将地方环境立法与环境司法纳入同一分析框架,利用2004-2020年中国A股上市公司数据,研究地方环境立法与环境司法协同对企业绿色创新的影响。研究发现,环境立法和环境司法具有促进企业绿色创新的协同作用,这一结论在进行一系列稳健性检验后仍然成立;机制检验结果表明,环境司法协同环境立法能够通过增加企业环境成本和促进企业主动进行绿色战略调整来驱动企业进行绿色创新;通过进一步分析发现,相较于经济价值导向绿色创新,企业更加倾向选择生态价值导向绿色创新,并且在国有企业、成本转嫁能力低的企业、处于经济上行期的企业、处于官员绿色政绩考核时期的企业以及管制行业企业中,协同作用更加显著。研究结果拓展了企业绿色创新的驱动因素,对政府推进环境治理、加速企业绿色转型提供了重要启示。

基于环境正义的城市空间治理研究和实践进展

基于环境正义的城市空间治理研究与实践已成为国内外城市规划、建设和管理的关注热点话题。文章在界定环境正义与城市空间治理概念的前提下,构建基于环境正义的城市空间治理内涵和认知框架,并利用CiteSpace软件分析基于环境正义的城市治理研究的主题特征和变化情况。针对既有的城市环境不公正问题,文章构建了基于环境正义的城市空间治理内涵框架,从认知正义、程序正义与分布正义3个层面分析环境正义问题,并从治理目标和路径两个方面分别讨论城市空间治理如何迈向环境正义,以期为新时期我国开展以公平正义为目标的高水平城市空间治理提供借鉴。

流域环境司法机制的发展:从环境法庭到环境法院

为促进流域的司法保护,我国一些地方法院成立了专门的流域环境法庭。但从流域环境法庭和流域环境巡回法庭的实践情况来看,还不能满足流域整体性保护的需要,也不能适应流域法的发展需求。我国流域司法机制建设,宜从流域环境法庭逐渐转到流域环境法院。流域环境法院的建立在我国环境司法专门化进程中具有必要性和可行性。按照流域法的保护理念和环境司法专门化的要求,流域环境法院的建设首先要合理设置审判机构,其次要科学设计程序制度,为流域生态环境保护提供强有力的司法保障。

面向环境司法智能审判场景的人工智能大模型应用探讨

环境司法审判是生态环境治理体系的重要组成部分,基于生成式人工智能(AI)技术的突破而形成的AI大模型为环境司法审判工作转向更高水平的智能审判体系提供了重大机遇。本文围绕推进AI大模型技术与环境司法审判工作融合、实现环境司法审判工作创新发展的主旨,探讨了AI大模型在环境司法智能审判中的赋能作用和应用实践,凝炼了当前环境司法AI大模型存在的数据质量“低劣”“算法黑箱”引发偏见、深度应用能力不足等突出问题;以生态环境保护类案件应用为例,构建了基于AI大模型的环境司法智能审判系统,阐述了相应系统的架构设计以及涉及的技术要素。进一步提出了注重顶层设计、建设环境司法高端智库,建设环境司法数据中台、健全司法数据标准及规范体系,构建算法治理机制、促进环境司法审判公平正义,完善环境司法多元问责机制、筑牢司法监督管理体系等发展建议,以期丰富环境司法审判工作的前沿技术认知,加快环境司法的智能化、智慧化、现代化转型进程。

破解海岸带环境司法困境:基于陆海统筹原则

我国海岸带环境案件存在管辖权冲突、法律适用有争议、原告资格不明确、诉讼性质认定有争鸣、诉讼程序衔接未确定、司法执行机制不完善等环环相扣的问题,造成海岸带环境司法困境。究其根源,主要在于陆海“二分法”的分类思维影响较大,其与陆海统筹合为表里的内涵尚未得到全面、深入的理解。为破解海岸带环境司法困境,既要重视海岸带环境案件的特殊性,将其确立为类型化案件并由海事法院专门管辖,又要贯彻陆海统筹原则,实现司法规则内在融贯、法治环节协调一致。

生态环境保护中的尺度政治与正义实现:以A市绿中村改造为例

生态环境保护往往面临着保护责任和发展权益在整体社会与保护区局部群体间公平配置的难题。由于权益配置是不同层级政府与局部群体间博弈的结果,文章引入尺度政治与环境正义的理论框架,梳理用于解析生态环境保护中正义格局形成与演化的逻辑路径,并以中部某省会城市生态保护区内的村庄改造为例进行实证。研究发现:在未事先落实保护区居民发展权益的情况下,自上而下的刚性生态环境保护易造成不同尺度主体间的矛盾,表现为低尺度的居民发展权益受制于高尺度政府主体的保护要求;尺度重构成为前者寻求正义的一种非正规途径,表现为低尺度的居民寻求更高层级政府的介入,将其发展诉求的响应尺度上移,从而赋予发展与保护同等话语权,迎来环境正义实现的契机。诉诸非正规途径寻求正义本身也说明,中国城市生态环境保护中,缺乏保障低尺度群体合理权益的正规途径。文章结合理论与实证研究为此提供了解决思路。

长江流域环境案件跨区域集中管辖问题研究

以行政区划为标准的传统环境司法管辖模式与长江流域环境保护的生态性、整体性、系统性相矛盾,而流域环境案件集中管辖可作为破解环境治理难题的关键路径。通过实证分析可以发现,目前长江流域所涉各省跨行政区划集中管辖的具体实践存在行政区划分离程度不高、法律规范依据不足、环境司法专门机构设置衔接不畅等制约因素。因此,要明确以流域治理所遵循的整体和系统理论为基础,确立长江流域地理单元为基础的整体环境治理理念,确保集中管辖实质效用得到发挥;确立与完善流域跨行政区划环境案件管辖法律规范供给,为司法实践提供统一标准遵循;坚持环境司法专门化改革,以长江生态环境法院为基础框架发展完善专门管辖,以便破除行政区划对流域环境司法的阻碍,增强流域集中管辖的规范性、有效性。

环境司法强化与企业ESG表现——基于环保法庭设立的证据

在“双碳”目标下,ESG体系建设是企业实现高质量可持续发展的必由之路。基于地级市中级人民法院设立环保法庭这一准自然实验,以2009年至2022年沪深上市公司为研究样本,借助双重差分模型实证分析了环境司法强化对企业ESG表现的影响。研究发现,环保法庭的设立对企业ESG表现具有显著提升作用,即环境司法强化对企业可持续发展具有推动作用,且此作用具有长期性。异质性检验发现,在法治环境较好、司法独立性较强、环境执法强度较高的地区,环保法庭对企业ESG表现的提升作用更为明显;有过诉讼或环保行政处罚经历、数字化转型程度较高、环境绩效较低的企业及非国有企业,环保法庭对企业ESG表现的影响效应更大。机制分析发现,环保法庭可以通过促进企业环境治理加强、社会关注提升和信息披露水平提高来实现企业ESG表现的提升。

生态环境分区管控的基本逻辑、运行样态与法治进路

生态环境分区管控作为中国生态文明建设领域的特色制度创新,不仅是优化国土空间保护利用新格局的战略部署,也是习近平生态文明思想引领下的实践范例。对生态环境分区管控的逻辑论证和运行观察,发现:作为生态环境源头预防的基本性制度,生态环境分区管控根植于空间转向理论,蕴含着深厚的空间治理逻辑;生态环境分区管控以实现空间正义为价值目标,法治化是其制度发展的应然理路;法制供给滞后、法律内容残缺、配套机制缺失是掣肘生态环境分区管控战略实施和制度转型的主要动因。因此,提出要在明确立法策略的基础之上,按照内外在机理构筑生态环境分区管控的法治体系。

环境司法服务乡村生态振兴的逻辑展开

环境司法服务乡村生态振兴构成一个显性议题。《宪法》新发展理念以及生态环境国家目标任务对司法权履行乡村环境治理职责提供了规范依据。中国党政体制形塑之下的环境司法具有特殊回应机能,在实现环境正义的同时能够产生治理叠加效应。体制变革之后的国家检察机关能够有效承接立法权、有机整合行政权和有序对接审判权,在制约行政权方面凸显出不同于法院审判权的特殊意涵,实现了“行政主治”与“司法督促”的良性互动。检察机关通过发挥政府履职的承接者和监督者、条块联动协调者、多元参与组织者、治理机制稳定器等功能,消解政府主导乡村环境治理机制的牴牾、缺位、僵化,赋予环境司法服务乡村生态振兴新的内涵。同时,环境司法服务乡村生态振兴也存在着过度扩张、忽略过程监督、政治俘获和过度竞赛等风险,需要采取措施予以应对。