CLIMATE CHANGE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

The change in the environment associated with the use of resources and raw materials brought about by our modern way of life has led first to an intense effort to convince society – by the scientific community – of the reality and the credibility of the changes, and secondly pressure has been put on politicians to discuss and develop strategies to face up to and mitigate global warming. Today, the seriousness of these environmental problems and their causes is beyond all doubt and there is even broad consensus with regard to their consequences. We are vulnerable to the effects of global warming, but it does not affect everybody in the same way. We are responsible for the causes that have brought us to the present situation, but not everyone has the same degree of responsibility. The strategies for action, on the other hand, are not commonly shared and there are even important disagreements about the advisability of the effort involved in developing them. In this context, however, the very different degree of vulnerability according to where people live and what they do comes to the fore. Concepts such as justice, reparations for damages or technology transfer are present when developing the adaptation to the changes. In this speech we will talk about and give some examples of these different views of a problem that affects everybody.

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