Fairness In Adaptation To Climate Change

Providing a scientific and policy analysis on the challenges of ensuring that adaptation to global climate change doesn't place unfair burdens on vulnerable populations, this book argues that the key to adapting to climate change lies in recognising the equity and justice issues inherent in its causes and in human responses to it.

This work analyses fairness dimensions of the climate regime. A central issue in international law and policy is how countries of the world should allocate the burden of addressing global climate change. With the link between human activities and climate change clearly established, and the first impacts of climate change being felt, there is a renewed sense of urgency in addressing the problem. On the basis of an overview of science and the development of the climate regime, this book seeks to identify the elements of a working consensus on fairness principles that could be used to solve the seemingly intractable problem of assigning responsibility for combating climate change. The book demonstrates how an analysis of fairness dimensions of climate change - grounded in practical developments and illustrated with reference to the key issues - can add value to our understanding of the options for international climate law and policy.

Is a unique, cross-disciplinary assessment of fairness and equity issues in the context of global climate change - a crucial dimension in current international negotiations - written by a collection of leading scientists in economics, sociology and social psychology, ethics, international law and political science. How should responsibility for adapting to climate change be distributed? Who should bear the costs of mitigating its impacts and how should these costs be measured? Answers to these questions differ, often according to the vulnerability, wealth and level of industrial development of the country. Finding a fair solution is controversial, but crucial to the complex and vital negotiations over global warming. This illuminating and accessible volume explores the policy dimensions and analytical needs of the negotiation process. It is essential reading for policy makers and students and teachers of economics, sociology and social psychology, ethics, international relations, law and political science. FERENC L TOTH is project leader at the Department of Global Change and Social Systems at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany. CONTRIBUTORS H Asbjorn Aaheim Frank Biermann Samuel Fankhauser Carsten Helm Juliane Kokott Joanne Linnerooth-Bayer Volker Linneweber Elizabeth L Malone Shuzo Nishioka Originally published in 1999 David W Pearce Steve Rayner P R Shukla Dominik Thieme Michael Thompson Richard S J Tol David G Victor

Covering the ethical dimensions of international-level adaptation funding, a subject of growing interest in the climate change debate, this book provides a theoretical analysis of the ethical foundations of the UNFCCC regime on adaptation funding, one that culminates in the definition of a framework of justice. The text features an interpretative analysis of the ethical contents of the UNFCCC funding architecture by applying the framework of justice proposed to different areas of empirical investigation. The book offers scholars working on climate change, international relations, and environmental politics an analysis characterized by both theoretical soundness and empirical richness. The comprehensiveness of the book’s approach should make it possible to plan and implement international adaptation funding more effectively, and eventually to define more just funding policies and practices.

This book presents the latest science and social science research on whether the world can adapt to climate change.

This book considers what is needed for fairness in the decisions of the UNFCCC. It analyses several principles of procedural fairness in order to develop practical policy measures for fair decision-making in the UNFCCC. This includes measures that determine who should have a right to participate in its decisions, how these decisions should take place and what level of equality should exist between these actors. In doing so, it proposes that procedural fairness is a fundamental feature of a multilateral response to address climate change. By showing that procedural fairness is most likely to be achieved through the inclusive process of the UNFCCC, it also shows that global efforts to address climate change should continue in this forum.

The far right is back with a vengeance. After several decades at the political margins, far-right politics has again taken center stage. Three of the world’s largest democracies – Brazil, India, and the United States – now have a radical right leader, while far-right parties continue to increase their profile and support within Europe. In this timely book, leading global expert on political extremism Cas Mudde provides a concise overview of the fourth wave of postwar far-right politics, exploring its history, ideology, organization, causes, and consequences, as well as the responses available to civil society, party, and state actors to challenge its ideas and influence. What defines this current far-right renaissance, Mudde argues, is its mainstreaming and normalization within the contemporary political landscape. Challenging orthodox thinking on the relationship between conventional and far-right politics, Mudde offers a complex and insightful picture of one of the key political challenges of our time.

Distributive justice has come to the fore in political philosophy: how should we arrange our social and economic institutions so as to distribute benefits and burdens fairly? Thirty-eight leading figures from philosophy and political theory present specially written critical assessments of the key issues in this flourishing area of research.