Environmental justice and Earth Stewardship

Background/Question/Methods

Promoting Earth Stewardship and the research necessary to inform sustainable socio-ecological change engages issues of environmental justice through questions that concern the distribution of harms and benefits across groups.  It must also engage the question of participatory justice or insuring meaningful involvement of all people in decision making processes. In the area of climate impact assessment and vulnerability analysis, there is increasing emphasis on using an end-to-end research approach that engages decision-makers, including practitioners in the identification of the research question as well as the development of the research and dissemination of findings. This talk introduces the end-to-end approach and provides examples of how it may be used to engage environmental justice issues. 

Results/Conclusions

An end-to-end approach offers several benefits in addressing environmental justice concerns. Bringing together scientists, practitioners, and stakeholders affected by ecological changes to identify information needs and research questions begins to address procedural justice concerns. As experts and members of the public do not necessarily agree on what are the most significant potential harms and benefits, which patterns of distribution our greatest concern, or who are the marginal and vulnerable populations, the early engagement with stakeholders and decision-makers can generate novel scientific questions. Practitioners have sophisticated knowledge of decision-making practices and associated information needs that may also improve the fit and relevance of scientific research to the sustainability issue at hand. This knowledge may inform the design of the research strategy and types of outputs generated.  Importantly, engagement can also inform the effective dissemination of results.  That last end step addresses concerns over access to information that facilitates meaningful participation in decision-making processes.