Local transitional justice practices for climate justice

This paper explores the intersection of climate justice and transitional justice through the case study of community-level engagements with climate change in the rural area of Nkhulambe, Malawi. It shows that residents have developed their own climate responses that tackle more fully the manifold climate harms they have experienced than top-down climate responses to date. These community-led measures address climate harms which occurred in the past, while building solidarity in the present, in order to prevent and reduce the harms of future climate events, as such they can be understood as climate-focused transformative transitional justice in practice. Moreover, they have the potential to complement and strengthen top-down national and international efforts, making them more inclusive and responsive to communities affected by climate harms, as well as opening the door to more equitable climate action.

Authors

Jasmina Brankovic