A Portraiture of Environmental Justice in Communities of Concern

Abstract

Environmental justice as a movement is an urgent step towards the realization of environmental equity. There is a necessity that makes environmental justice an important solution to climate change. The origin of the necessity was the damage that environmental racism was causing, and its realization in the United States and later as an international phenomenon. Through a theoretical approach, this article examined how communities of concern are denied environmental justice as a result of the current developmental models in practice and showed why they are vulnerable to the global challenge of climate change and environmental pollution. It identified the link between human rights and the environment. It explored a viable sustainable development model for communities of concern and concluded on how they can get past the economic challenges of implementing green industries.

“Their Color is a Diabolic Die,” Colonialism and the State of Environmental Justice in Africa

“…From the economic exploitation of Africa that brought about the destruction of many forests on the continent, to toxic waste pollution, trophy hunting of rare species, and environmentally dangerous experimentation, there have been protests by nature which has seen some devastating effects on rural life. The discourse on colonialism and its effects might seem to have grown stale, but complex interactions between colonial ways of resource and environmental management and sustained inequality prove that colonialism in the context of environmental justice in Africa has evolved to reflect a system of intra-racial oppression and consequently has impeded the realization of environmental justice in Africa (Lalude & Lawal-Arowolo, 2022). Intra-racial oppression was created by a system of colonial class ideology that evolved in the inevitable social restructuring that colonialism brought with it (Mhonopi, Urim, & Iruonagbe, 2013).…”