Knowra Climate justice Climate justice Climate justice addresses how responsibility for climate change, exposure to its harms, and power over climate decisions are distributed unequally. It seeks fair responses across communities, generations, and nations.
Climate change : Long-term changes in temperatures and weather patterns, driven today primarily by human greenhouse gas emissions. Climate justice concerns who causes these changes and who bears their effects.
Climate finance : Public and private funding for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to climate impacts, and addressing climate-related losses. Funding arrangements determine whether wealthy emitters help finance action where needs are greatest.
Small Island States : Sovereign countries made up wholly or mainly of islands, many of which face severe risks from sea-level rise. Their limited emissions and acute exposure sharpen demands for support and accountability.
Polluter pays principle : The principle that those responsible for pollution should bear the costs of preventing or remedying it. It grounds responsibility in pollution caused, one basis for assigning climate obligations.
Climate litigation : Legal proceedings that seek to influence climate policy, assign responsibility, or address climate-related harms. Litigation can turn justice claims into demands enforceable through courts.
Environmental justice : A movement and framework seeking fair treatment and meaningful participation in environmental decisions for all communities. Climate justice extends this concern for fairness to climate causes, impacts, and policies.
Loss and damage : Climate-related harms that cannot be avoided through mitigation or adaptation, including both economic and non-economic losses. It raises questions about responsibility for harms that affected communities cannot prevent or repair.
Pacific Islands Forum : A regional intergovernmental organization coordinating cooperation among Pacific countries and territories. Its members have used regional diplomacy to press for ambitious climate action and survival.
Common but differentiated responsibilities : A climate treaty principle that all states share responsibility while obligations differ according to circumstances and capabilities. It expresses how shared climate action can account for unequal contributions and resources.
Indigenous environmental knowledge : Knowledge developed by Indigenous peoples through long relationships with lands, waters, species, and ecological change. Recognizing this knowledge challenges policies that exclude communities most directly connected to affected places.
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