- How do different social groups experience and respond to climate change?
- How do environmental conflicts shape climate adaptation and resilience strategies both in rural and urban contexts?
- What type of systemic changes are required globally to prevent climate change and achieve just and sustainable socio-economic development?
Keywords: Climate; Inequality; Justice; Conflict
The Climate Change and Environmental Justice Academic Team examines how different social groups experience and respond to climate impacts, highlighting differentiated vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities shaped by, among others, class, race, gender and location.
It investigates the ways in which environmental conflicts influence the design and implementation of climate adaptation and resilience strategies across both rural and urban settings. Researchers analyse how power dynamics and social struggles determine whose voices are prioritized in adaptation planning and resource allocation.
A key focus lies in understanding how marginalized communities, such as those in coastal cities facing sea-level rise or those in living in tropical rainforests, navigate everyday risks and long-term uncertainties.
The work explores the intersection of local conflicts over land, water and resources with broader processes of climate adaptation and mitigation. It critically assesses what systemic changes – economic, political, and social – are required globally to prevent dangerous climate change while advancing just and sustainable socio-economic development
Advocating transformative approaches that address root causes of inequality and environmental degradation
By integrating political ecology and development studies perspectives, this team highlights the limitations of market-based or technocratic solutions that overlook justice dimensions.
Ultimately, it advocates for transformative approaches that address root causes of inequality and environmental degradation to foster genuine climate justice.
Climate Change and Environmental Justice researchers
Dr Julien-Francois GerberAssociate Professor of Environment and Development
Professor Lorenzo PellegriniProfessor of Economics of Environment and Development
Dr Luisa CortesiAssistant Professor of Water, Disasters and Environmental Justice
Professor Murat ArselProfessor of Political Economy of Sustainable Development
Professor Shuaib LwasaProfessor of Urban Resilience and Global Development
Dr Sonja FransenSenior Researcher Humanitarian Studies Centre
Dr Sylvia BerghAssociate Professor in Development Management and Governance
Postdoc
Dr Amanda da Silva Martinspostdoc
Climate Change and Environmental Justice PhD researchers
Get in touch!
Professor Murat Arsle
Academic Team leader
- Email address
- arsel@iss.nl