Language
Country/Area
No result found
The global expansion of the environmental justice movement: How is it affecting life in the global south?
The environmental justice movement is more than just a social movement; it is a rebellion against social inequality, focused on protecting poor and marginalized communities that suffer environmental harm due to economic interests. In the Global South, this movement is expanding rapidly and its impacts are changing the way people live, especially in the face of the challenges of global warming and resource extraction.
The movement began in the United States in the 1980s, inspired by the civil rights movement, and initially focused on manifestations of environmental racism in wealthy countries.
The environmental justice movement highlights the unfair distribution of environmental harms, and these sad facts are not limited to societies in the Global North. In the Global South, many communities face serious environmental challenges from oil extraction, mining and land use. In these cases, local residents are often the victims of environmental depredation without being able to benefit from it.
As the environmental justice movement expands around the world, the United Nations has begun to take notice of the issue and incorporate it into its development goals. Such changes have brought new opportunities and challenges to life in the Southern Hemisphere.
The movement aims to empower marginalized communities to take a leading role in environmental decisions that affect their lives.
In the Global South, the concept of environmental justice continues to evolve. For example, many Native American communities understand environmental justice very differently than non-Native communities, based on their cultural and religious beliefs. The environmental problems faced by these communities are not only due to the inadequacy of the legislative system, but also due to the social structure inherited from colonialism, which puts them at a greater disadvantage when facing environmental crises.
This is particularly evident in cases in South America, where communities have been forced to relocate due to resource extraction or face health crises due to environmental issues. As these communities resist and demand justice, they are playing a growing role in the global environmental justice movement and gaining traction with the international community.
In the global South, the impacts of environmental degradation often exacerbate inequalities between different social groups, including in the distribution of responsibilities for future livelihoods.
The grassroots social movement of the environmental justice movement has provided communities in the global south with a platform to voice their demands and issues, whether protesting ground-level pollution or fighting for control over environmental resources. These communities have gradually formed a powerful international alliance. Such alliances promote links between social movements in different countries, helping to more effectively combat environmental plunder by multinational corporations.
Environmental justice advocates in the Global South, particularly in Latin America, use a variety of strategies, including grassroots campaigns, legal action, and international advocacy, to protect their livelihoods and the environment. In recent years, the rise of social media has also enabled the voices of these movements to be transmitted to the world more quickly, expanding the influence of the protests.
“Slow violence” is an important concept that captures environmental justice challenges in the Global South, which manifests itself in long-term ecological damage and social inequalities that are often overlooked.
Regarding this concept, some scholars believe that chronic violence refers to violent acts that occur gradually but are barely noticed, such as climate change and environmental pollution. This chronic violence exacerbates the fragility of ecosystems and the vulnerability of poor people, exposing them to greater social conflicts.
As inequalities in access to global resources worsen, environmental justice movements in the Global South take on new importance. It reshapes social structures and political relations and prompts us to think about how solutions to environmental problems can reflect social justice and equity. Ultimately, these movements call for a broader conversation about human existence and the environment in which we live.
In the face of a changing global environment and inequality, how can resistance and solidarity at all levels of society more effectively achieve environmental justice?
