Is Climate Justice a Real Challenge in India?  

For decades, the global dialogue that centred on climate change has been dominated by two numbers: the increasing nature of carbon dioxide per million tons into the atmosphere, and gigawatt targets set by nations for mitigation. India a highly populated and culturally diverse country, the focus on emissions and macro-targets did not capture the hundreds of Indians that are facing crisis. Their believe is climate change is not life-threatening, not now and not in the future; rather, it is an immediate or daily crisis of inequality.

 Climate Justice in India, is book edited by Prakash Kashwan which examines the critical aspect of climate science and propose a policy and ground-up perspectives. Its argument is that India`s climate problems and the historical injustice of poverty, caste and gender should be inseparable when it comes to addressing them. This book central focus is not on the study of India`s emissions targets rather it is more of a comprehensive blueprint for genuine, transformative climate policy, one where justice is the core metric of success, not just sustainability.

The book’s central theme is that issues that affect climate change are not just mere occurrence, they are rooted from pre-existing socio-economic it is strategically layered upon pre-existing socio-economic weaknesses. Hence why any policy that fails to reform these existing structures of marginalization, the end result would be to only strengthen the crisis it is supposed to solve. Therefore, all the leading actors responsible to make policies need to ask fundamental question like how can a nation achieve climate resilience when its most vulnerable citizens shoulder the burden of global debt.

  Putnam`s Two-Level Game Theory Approach

The two-level game of the Indian climate policy can be linked to Putnam`s Theory (1988) that deals with negotiations, diplomacy and domestic politics. Level I talks about how diplomats from different countries form a cooperation (COP) to engage in a dialogue that seeks to advocate for equity and special emphasis on the historic responsibilities of developed nations.  Level II involves the domestic policy that manages the economic growth caters for energy demands and the widespread of poverty. The book central focus evaluates how historical of equity can be dissolve into justice at level II.

The assessment examines thoroughly into the most relevant sectors where this tension is most noticeable.

1. The Transition from coal power to People power

The move for a better transition from fossil fuels globally whilst making sure economic stability for those workers that are affected. The coal heartlands in India for example those in Jharkhand depend on the industry entirely. When policies necessitate the closure of thermal power plants and mines, the people that get affected immediately are the miners and those living in the surrounding communities who do not have the exposure to the alternatives skills and the infrastructure.

The book examines how rigid the transition and highlights the risk of the green policies and that if implemented without much social planning, this could generate a new form of injustice.  A genuine transition needs to have a huge investment in the creation of local jobs. The important aspect to pay attention to is that we cannot solve climate crisis by generating social crisis.

2. Water Scarcity, Land Rights and Renewables

Solar and renewable energy capacity in India have been made challenging because of ambitious targets but however, the contributors to Climate Justice in India identify these huge infrastructural projects that require lots of acres of land point out that these massive infrastructure projects require enormous tracts of land. Securing these large solar farms are detrimental to the livelihood of the indigenous people living in communities.

This intersection leads to:

Land Alienation: Renewable energy projects often times affect vulnerable farmers and forest dwellers thereby forcing them to move to urban centers that already affected or prone to climate disaster.

Water Politics: Water politics deals with who have access to water, in others who has priority access between the power plant or local community. This remains a question because this is an issue that is life threatening, reflecting long time hierarchies of power and caste.

The book put forward an argument that if truly we want to deliver climate justice, we need to localize the renewable energy policies to smaller communities owned models like the rooftop solar that do not concentrate land and power thereby balancing green energy goals localized democracy and economic ownership.

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Urban Inequality and the Politics of the Commons

Indians believe that Climate change is an issue that only affect rural as a result of fail monsoons but the book brings to light the urban climate justice. The rapidly growing cities in India are at a zero level for disaster anytime there is extreme heat, floodings and air pollution.

The chapters on urban policy examines the disparity between the wealthy and the poor. In short, delivering justice the risk is taken away from the rich and transfer to the poor how city systems function to transfer risk away from the wealthy and onto the poor. When flooding happens, it is the marginalized people living in these wetlands or prone areas that will feel the impact first.

Solid Waste and Pollution: All these landfills and hazardous sites are been occupied by the poor and these people are the ones that carry the burden of the internalizing pollutions and the climate heat crisis.

The Privatization of the Commons: One of the most common historical issues in so many cities in India are shared resources like grazing lands and community ponds. Some of these ponds or lands are being encroached upon or converted can result to reducing the capacity of the urban poor to cope with environmental shocks.

The solution proposed in the book involves urban planning that centers on reclaiming of public space and environment in order to ensure equitable access to cooling, clean air and storm resilience of the residents living in those communities.

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Caste Gender and the Search for Agroecology

One of the sections that catches my attention is the section where it explains the layers of vulnerability created by India`s enduring caste system and the patriarchal structures.

Caste and Climate: When drought and flooding hit the rural areas the communities that receive the impact are Dalit and Adivasis who often own the poorest lands, have the least access to institutional credit and they are the last to receive government reliefs and water distribution.

Gender and Water: Whenever a community faces drought or water scarcity, it is the women and girls that receive the impact because they are left with the burden of traveling for a social distance to fetch water thereby exposing them to health and safety risk, depriving them of education or activities that will generate income. It is a must for policy to recognize these social cost and not just economic ones.

The book proposed solutions to the agroecology which means the climate resilience to India`s agricultural challenges. Which implies linking ecological science with traditional farming ideas to strengthen community resilience and protect biodiversity.

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Building a Movement that Strengthens Climate Policy

The book Climate Justice in India is not just an ordinary reading material; it is a book that calls for action and emphasizes on the need for social mobilization and collaborative democratic dialogue to drive a policy change.

There are three critical steps that pave way to justice

Integration of Knowledge: It is mandatory for a policy to explain how climate change knowledge overlaps with pre-existing caste, gender and class. Solution cannot be given to just one issue,

Ensure Accountability and Transparency: Accountability and transparency in climate finance is when resource allocation to the affected victims/ communities is done fairly| thereby prevent the elites for capturing the green funds.

Prioritize Inclusive Grassroot Solutions: Empowering local ideas can result to be building true resilience which is the expertise of farmers, waste collectors and fishermen to inform and direct adaptation and mitigation approaches.

The lesson to learn from the book is simple, the climate future of India will not be secured by emissions trading alone rather it will be secured when the country makes a non-negotiable choice and that the climate policy a social transformative one. In addressing climate change in India, we must note that fighting climate change is as important as fighting for justice.