Geoscience Reference
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Box 1.1: an eco-justice perspective: three approaches to justice,
rights and harms
Environmental justice and human rights
Focus:
Environmental rights as an extension of human or social rights so as to enhance
the quality of human life.
Concepts
:
Intergenerational responsibility
: the present generation is responsible to ensure
environmental equity for future generations.
Environmental justice
: everyone has the right to a healthy environment and there
ought to be environmental equity for present generations.
Emphasis:
Environmental harm is constructed in relation to human-centred notions of
value and use.
Ecological justice and ecological citizenship
Focus:
Human beings are merely one component of complex ecosystems that should
be preserved for their own sake via the notion of the rights of the environment.
Concepts:
Ecological citizenship
: humans are responsible for the preservation and conservation
of nature.
Ecological justice
: is concerned with the quality of the biosphere and rights of
nonhuman species.
Emphasis:
Environmental harm is constructed in relation to notions of ecological harm and
destructive techniques of human intervention.
Species justice and animal rights
Focus:
Nonhuman animals have rights based upon utilitarian notions (maximising pleasure
and minimising pain), inherent value (right to respectful treatment) and an ethic
of responsible caring.
Concepts:
Anti-speciesism and animal rights
: addressing the discriminatory treatments of
animals as Other.
Animal welfare
: dealing with issues of animal abuse and suffering, and the nurturing
of respectful relationships.
Emphasis:
Environmental harm is constructed in relation to the place of nonhuman animals
within environments and their intrinsic right to not suffer abuse, whether this
be one-on-one harm, institutionalised harm or harm arising from human actions
that affect climates and environments on a global scale.
Source: modified from White, 2008a.
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