Climate Justice in India: Volume 1

Description

Climate Justice in India brings together a collective of academics, activists, and artists to paint a collage of action-oriented visions for a climate just India. This unique and agenda setting volume informs researchers and readers interested in topics of just transition, energy democracy, intersectionality of access to drinking water, agroecology and women's land rights, national and state climate plans, urban policy, caste justice, and environmental and climate social movements in India. It synthesizes the historical, social, economic, and political roots of climate vulnerability in India and articulates a research and policy agenda for collective democratic deliberations and action. This crossover volume will be of interest to academics, researchers, social activists, policymakers, politicians, and a general reader looking for a comprehensive introduction to the unprecedented challenge of building a praxis of justice in a climate-changed world. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Prakash Kashwan is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts. At the time of preparation of this volume, he was Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of Democracy in the Woods (Oxford University Press, 2017), an editor of the journal Environmental Politics, and Co-founder of the Climate Justice Network.

"There are growing calls for climate justice but what do they mean in a country like India haunted by centuries of oppression and injustice? This important volume demonstrates both conceptually and empirically how India's climate crisis is interlocked with multiple socio-political, economic and ecological crises and inequalities. Going beyond the usual international focus, Kashwan and collaborators unpack these issues at national, state-levels and in specific sectoral areas. Through rich historically and empirically grounded analyses, the contributors urge us to reimage alternative climate futures and show how transformative action to tackle climate change can help create a more just and inclusive society. Compelling reading for scholars, practitioners and activists in India and beyond." Lyla Mehta, Institute of Development Studies, UK and Norwegian University of Life Sciences "We cannot neuter politics from environmental concerns. Climate change action is not about new disruptive technologies but about disruptive politics of inclusion and justice. The world is interdependent and needs to think and act as one. This politics of marginalization, powerlessness and inequity is not only at the global scale but national and local. This is why Climate Justice in India, edited by Prakash Kashwan, must be your essential reading. This truth is inconvenient but must be understood as this perspective on what we need to do better in India - to walk lightly on Earth - and to listen to the environmentalism of the poor - is crucial for our today and tomorrow. We know that environmental sustainability is not possible if growth is not affordable and inclusive." Sunita Narain, Environmentalist and Director General, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi