As the standard-bearer for the demands of developing countries at the recently concluded Paris climate talks, the Indian government has consistently advocated for justice on the international stage in order to allow it to develop its economy using the fossil fuels that powered the industrialization of developed countries. But this usage of the term justice is itself contested, the implications of which reverberate on both the international policy agenda and in communities on the front lines of resource exploitation.
What does environmental justice actually look like on the front lines of the rush for fossil fuel–led industrialization? What happens to communities and groups who resist this model of development? In policy and practice, how does the model of growth as defined by economic elites dovetail with the rights laid down for marginalized groups in India's Constitution and domestic laws?
Join the Open Society Foundations for a conversation that explores the linkages between international and local agendas at the intersection of environmental justice, drawing from on-the-ground reportage from India’s resource-rich rural regions.Speakers
- Chitrangada Choudhury is an Open Society Fellow.
- Brandon Wu is a senior policy analyst for ActionAid USA.
- Ben Batros (moderator) is a legal officer for the Open Society Justice Initiative.