#ClimateJusticeThursday: 4 steps to achieving effective climate justice

climate justice - climateaction

#ClimateJusticeThursday: 4 steps to achieving effective climate justice

Hello readers,

Welcome to #ClimateJusticeThursday on CleanbuildVoices!

Climate change is an urgent issue in our world today as it causes greater harm, especially for the most vulnerable across the world.

Emissions continue to rise and current actions are insufficient to achieve the necessary reductions, according to the United Nations Emissions Gap report.

What can we do? We need profound changes in every sphere in order to achieve concrete climate actions if we hope to cut emissions and reach net zero by 2050.

While significant efforts are undoubtedly being made in that regard, we won’t make headway if we do not take steps that would make climate action more effective.

For that reason, we have put together four steps that are sure to make climate action more effective and help the world achieve climate justice:

Involve indigenous communities

Indigenous communities, which mostly comprise farmers, hunters, fishers, wild harvesters, and herders, depend on ecological abundance for their economic, social, and cultural well-being. This makes them especially vulnerable to the effects of extreme weather events like floods, droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires.

It then becomes necessary for indigenous communities to be at the center of climate action discussions, and governments to build the capacity of these people through dialogues and gatherings so as to develop community-driven plans for climate action in order to prepare for and respond to the impacts of climate change as well as foster a network of indigenous climate activists.

Also, because they have protected millions of hectares of forests and other natural areas essential for climate resilience, they need to be involved in the planning, discussion, decision-making, and monitoring of climate actions.

Ensuring diverse discussions and decisions is essential for achieving climate goals.

Prioritize human rights

It’s a good thing that human rights in climate justice is gaining recognition but a lot still needs to be done.

Actions must, however, transcend human rights recognition alone and fully focus on implementation. Social inequality is a burning issue that needs urgent action if the world is truly big on ensuring climate justice.

That also means holding those responsible for the climate crisis accountable for it by demanding that they take charge and prioritize loss and damage.

Ensure funds are distributed equitably

We have established that wealth is unevenly distributed, the same way the impacts of the climate crisis disproportionately affect the poor.

For that reason, we need to ensure that poor communities have access to opportunities as well as economic and human resources in order to participate on equal footing towards true climate justice. This would increase the possibility of finding alternative solutions and replicating those already in place.

Address the true cost of climate justice

The economic assessments that have been carried out so far most often focus on calculating the costs of the transition to a zero-emission economy at the neglect of social, environmental, and cultural impacts.

Communities are suffering human and cultural losses coupled with losing their natural wealth. Ignoring this fact means these communities will continue to suffer and the longer these losses take to be addressed, the more costly they become to address in the long run.

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