Land governance and the politics of fair transitions: Deepening the search for social justice

The starting point for the Conference and Summit was the recognition that ongoing transitions in the name of climate change and clean energy are deeply unfair in multiple ways. Climate policies and so-called green investments place huge burdens on people and spaces in the Global South as well as on areas inhabited by marginalized populations in countries of the Global North. Their rights are put under pressure, safeguards are lacking or not enforced, and the room to defend their lands, forests, pastures, and territories is constrained. The questions central to the event were how to think social justice in the face of the high levels of destruction we are currently witnessing and how to face the issue of ‘extinguished’ rights? Furthermore, how to strengthen solidarities and re-think justice in relation to past and future generations or along the lines of multispecies justice, which brings the moral obligation to consider the interests of those who cannot represent themselves in political deliberation.