- Xuehua Zhang, Liushui Institute of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
- Carlton Waterhouse, J.D., Ph.D., Howard University School of Law, Professor of Law, Environmental Justice Center, Director, Washington, DC, USA.
- Stella Emery Santana, PhD, Centro Universitário FAESA, Professor of Law, Vitória, ES, Brazil.
Goals and Objectives of the Track
This track’s objectives are:
- To address global inequality and poverty issues.
- To comprehend the existing disparities between the Global North and the Global South, as well as within them.
- To understand how environmental injustices are linked to inequalities and poverty both globally and locally across the world.
- To analyze how countries around the world involve different stakeholders in environmental decision making and implementation.
- To exemplify how different governing bodies at regional, state, canton, province, and local levels are protecting their populations from environmental harms and risks and what challenges they have faced in their environmental governance.
The first of the Sustainable Development Goals is to end poverty in all its forms, everywhere, by 2030. The prominence of this goal is indicative of the importance of poverty alleviation to the global community. Nonetheless, this requires a deeper investigation. Significant disparities exist between the Global North and the Global South. Moreover, within the Global North deep disparities of wealth and income exists within some of the wealthiest countries. Countries within the Global South experience their share of group disparities as well. These group disparities, North, and South transcend questions of poverty and income. Gender, race, tribe, clan, religion, geography, indigeneity, and other factors can play decisive roles in distributing the burdens of pollution and the risks of climate and weather events. Deep disparities exist in the distribution of the benefits of pollution control, in the environmental decision-making process, and in the respect and recognition provided by communities. Environmental justice requires that protection from environmental harms and risks be made available for all and that communities be afforded the ability to participate meaningfully in decisions and be given equal recognition. This theme explores inequality in environmental experiences based on poverty and other factors and welcomes submissions from all disciplines and geographies.
Questions and topics for consideration include (but are not limited to):
- How does group identity relate to environmental experiences? For example, do waste disposal locations or techniques correlate with poverty?
- How, if any, do waste disposal practices in the global north impact pollution exposure in the global south?
- Is a decentralized management approach, e.g. community composting of bio-waste, a feasible solution for global waste management challenges?
- What injustices can be linked to other issues, such as ecological degradation, land use, migration, and political conflict?
- How do global greenhouse gas emissions disproportionally affect the Global South? How have climate justice issues evolved in the past few decades as some big GHG emitters (e.g., India and China) have emerged in the Global South?
- How do general wealth inequalities get translated into environmental inequalities in both the Global South and Global North? What are the differences and similarities?
- How are decisions being made in countries to achieve environmental justice? Fox example, is environmental justice addressed through one or more legal instruments? Are they adhered to?
Length and content of the proposed abstract to the track
Each proposed abstract (in connection to an area pointed out above) of between 300 and 500 words (including all aspects),
- shall be best organized (without headlines) along usual structures (e.g. intro/method/findings or results/ discussion/conclusions)
- does not need to, but can include references
- shall provide in a final section
a. to which SDG(s) and SDG-target(s) their proposed abstract especially relate to (e.g. “SDG+Target: 14.1.”).
b. a brief indication how the proposed contribution relates to the topic of the Conference (“ACCELERATING PROGRESS TOWARDS SDG’s IN TIMES OF CRISIS”).
Abstracts which do not outline points 3.a.) AND 3.b.) might not be given special consideration in the selection for potential publications and might be considered less relevant in the Review.
Potential publication channels
The co-chairs of this track are looking for quality contributions to find the best channel of publication. We will provide a deadline, before the Conference, for you to turn in your paper if you are interested in potentially publishing it with us and we have accepted it for publication.
Please submit your abstract by visiting the abstract submission system (you will be required to setup an account first) at
Extended deadline for abstracts: 15 February 2021
PLEASE ALSO CONSIDER A PARTICIPATION IN OUR PHD-WORKSHOP! https://2021.isdrsconferences.org/phd-workshop/