An agenda for ethics and justice in adaptation to climate change

ABSTRACT

As experts predict that at least some irreversible climate change will occur with potentially disastrous effects on the lives and well-being of vulnerable communities around the world, it is paramount to ensure that these communities are resilient and have adaptive capacity to withstand the consequences. Adaptation and resilience planning present several ethical issues that need to be resolved if we are to achieve successful adaptation and resilience to climate change. In this paper, we present six core discussions that should be an integral part of adaptation and resilience planning: (i) Where does ‘justice’ feature in resilience and adaptation planning and what does it require in that regard?; (ii) How can it be ensured that adaptation and resilience strategies protect, take into consideration, and represent the interest of the most vulnerable individuals and communities?; (iii) How can different forms of knowledge be integrated within adaptation and resilience planning?; (iv) What trade-offs need to be made when focusing on resilience and adaptation and how can they be resolved?; (v) What roles and responsibilities do different actors have to build resilience and achieve adaptation?; (vi) Finally, what does the focus on ethics imply for the practice of adaptation and resilience planning?

KEYWORDS:

• Climate adaptation
• resilience
• ethics
• justice
• IPCC

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Morten Fibieger Byskov is a postdoctoral researcher with the Interdisciplinary Ethics Research Group of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick.

Keith Hyams is an associate professor with the Interdisciplinary Ethics Research Group of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick.

Poshendra Satyal is a postdoctoral researcher with the Interdisciplinary Ethics Research Group of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick.

Isabelle Anguelovski is ICREA Researcher Professor with the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.

Lisa Benjamin is a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University.

Sophie Blackburn is lecturer in Development Geography at Oxford Brookes University.

Maud Borie is a teaching fellow at the Department of Geography, King's College London.

Simon Caney is Professor of Political Theory at Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick.

Eric Chu is an assistant professor at the Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis.

Gareth Edwards is a senior lecturer at the School of International Development, University of East Anglia.

Kristel Fourie is a researcher at the African Center for Disaster Studies, North West University Potchefstroom.

Arabella Fraser is a research fellow at the School of Geography, University of Nottingham.

Clare Heyward is professor of philosophy at the Department of Philosophy, the Arctic University of Norway.

Helen Jeans is the Head of the Resilience and Climate Adaptation Unit of the Economic Justice Team of Oxfam GB.

Colin McQuistan is the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adviser for Practical Action.

Jouni Paavola is Professor of Environmental Social Science at the School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds.

Ed Page is an Associate Professor of Political Theory at Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick.

Mark Pelling is Professor of Geography at the Department of Geography, King's College London 19.

Sally Priest is an Associate Professor and Head of the Flood Hazard Research Centre, Middlesex University ([email protected]).

Krystyna Swiderska is Principal researcher (agriculture and biodiversity) at the International Institute for Environment and Development.

Marcela Tarazona is an independent consultant in Climate and Disaster Risk Financing and director of Oxford Ripple Economics.

Thomas Thornton is a Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor at the Environmental Change Institute of the University of Oxford.

John Twigg is an independent researcher and honorary professor of the University College London.

Alice Venn is a doctoral candidate in Environment, Energy & Resilience at the University of Bristol Law School.

ORCID

Poshendra Satyal http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3503-5011

Isabelle Anguelovski http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6409-5155

Lisa Benjamin http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9696-9817

Eric Chu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5648-6615

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by British Academy [grant number KF2\100175]; Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/L008777/1].