An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr Liz Hemsley (Postdoctoral Fellow, 2024-25)
From Principles of Justice to Theories of Practice: How Populations Unaffected by Adverse Climate Events Can and Should Assist Adversely Affected Populations
Extreme climate-events are destroying the viability of agricultural land in a number of vulnerable regions of the global south. Where inhabitants of these regions are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods and subsistence, the destruction of the land’s viability will leave them struggling to meet their basic needs. This raises a moral question: what do those unaffected by adverse climate-events owe, as a matter of justice, to those adversely affected by them? My project first articulates, via a process of abstract reasoning, a general principle of justice applicable to this scenario. It then seeks to understand what this principle entails in practice, given the diverse impacts of adverse climate-events in different regions and for different populations. This second stage involves leaving the realm of abstract theory to study the ways in which affected populations in the real-world have sought to remedy their circumstances, and to analyse what role unaffected or less-affected communities play in either helping or hindering this process. My project seeks to move between abstract theory and empirical evidence to develop a relevant account of how populations unaffected by adverse climate-events can and should respond to the needs of those adversely affected by climate change. In taking this approach, my project also tries to grapple with the methodological question of how far empirical realities should inform theories of justice, and whose empirical realities come to be included in this process.
Please join us in the Seminar Room, or click the link below to join the webinar:
https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/83015772676
Passcode: b1QpaAD7