(Page 1 of 22) - Climate Justice: Human Security and Climate Change in Tuvalu authored by Fisher, P. Brian.

Climate Justice: Human Security and Climate Change in Tuvalu

P. Brian Fisher

1. Introduction: Global Climate Change, Climate Justice and Human Security

The current conditions that precipitate global climate change

are largely anthropogenic.

Human activities, primarily through the burning of fossil fuels, are the primary drivers of global
climate change. Simply, people are causing this form of environmental change, from which
people throughout the world are severely impacted. Although natural cycles and environmental
change have always existed, current human activities are creating and exacerbating
environmental conditions, including the conditions under which humans have previously adapted
successfully. Given the role of humans in causing global climate change, social justice must play
a major role in the development of collective action addressing global climate change.

Global climate change results from the aggregation of greenhouse gases (GHGs), which then
disproportionately affect other states, communities, ecosystems and people. As a result, unlike
other pervasive global problems—like poverty—global climate change has a direct causal link
from the aggregation of individually generated emissions. Global climate change is not then just
a ‘sin’ of omission, but an ongoing act of commission with a direct causal link resulting in
environmental changes. This direct causal link to aggregation of GHGs, combined with global
structural asymmetries that are the drivers of climate change and determinant for state capacity,
place global climate change in a heightened ethical and justice category. Thus, this brings the
social justice lens to the forefront as a prominent analytical vehicle for understanding global
climate change.

A global climate justice framework demands focus on the most vulnerable to climate change
because they will experience the “first and worst” of climate effects. In addition, global climate
change is experienced unevenly and largely at the local level. As a result, equity concerns in
global climate change should be analyzed by examining those who are the most vulnerable and
how climate changes imperil fundamental human security at the local level. Specifically, the
focus is on how global climate change and climate adaptation

impact human security (i.e.

human well-being) in vulnerable communities. My hypothesis is that while global structural
asymmetries create communities vulnerable to environmental change, global climate change
creates and exacerbates human insecurity, particularly in vulnerable communities. Even more,
these communities lack the adaptive and developmental capacity to address climate effects,
which further undermines their security and impinges on fundamental rights. As a result,

Department of Political Science, University of California, Irvine;

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. Do not cite without permission.

‘Global Climate Change’ here refers to continuing changes in global climate, and includes the presumption of

human causation (UNFCCC). The extremely high levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide have
led to global climate change (via the ‘greenhouse effect’), of which the most prominent consequence has been a
0.6°C increase in average global surface temperature (IPCC, 2007). The climatic changes from this phenomenon
will vary based on locality, with far reaching consequences like rises in sea level, desertification, deglaciation,
permafrost loss, weather changes, and increases in storm intensity.

IPCC, 2007.

Here, adaptation refers to adjustments in ecological, social, or economic systems in response to actual or expected

climatic stimuli and their effects or impacts. It refers to changes in processes, practices, and structures to moderate
potential damages or to benefit from opportunities associated with climate change.