Assessing environmental justice contributions in research and public policy: an applied framework and methodology

ABSTRACT

How can scholars and practitioners gauge the extent to which environmental justice (EJ) is present in research and policy? Through synthesizing the interdisciplinary environmental justice scholarship, we present a diagnostic framework for appraising the frequency and depth of environmental justice-based engagements in published academic research, with broader applications for gray literature, such as policy documents. We demonstrate how the diagnostic can be applied through a scoping review methodology for assessing EJ contributions in existing research on the Colorado River Basin – a global epicenter for intersecting climate change and water equity concerns. The results demonstrate that the existing literature mostly focuses on specific dimensions of justice and does not consider the interdependent nature of its multiple dimensions and measures. Overall, the applied diagnostic represents one approach for assessing EJ contributions, with important potential for informing research practice and public policy design.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental justice
• equity
• diagnostic
• climate change
• Colorado River Basin

Author contributions

L.M.B. conceptualized the idea, developed the framework and methodology, and performed the analysis. L.M.B., S.H.S., and A.D.R. provided interpretation of results and discussion, writing, and editing of manuscript. V.M. contributed to data collection and analysis. A.K.S. provided research assistance.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 For examples in the United States, see the Environmental Protection Authority’s (EPA) EJScreen, the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), and the CDC/ATSDR’s Environmental Justice Index.

2 The term Pueblos refers to Indigenous peoples and groups native to the southwestern United States (Merriam-Webster, n.d.).

3 n = 97 includes articles screened for full assessment, and articles identified in the complementary literature review.

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for the Study of (In)Equality (IRISE) at the University of Denver, and by the Household Water Insecurity Experiences - Research Coordination Network (NSF BCS-1759972).