Remedying Injustice in Indigenous Climate Adaptation Planning

Indigenous communities are highly vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change, yet their voices are under-represented within current national and international climate adaptation policies. Recent research has emphasised that members of indigenous communities hold important knowledge about how best to adapt to climate change within their local context. This project investigates ethical aspects of the relationship between indigenous communities, climate change and adaptation policies, bringing together both a philosophical and a social scientific perspective. It asks how adaptation policies that integrate indigenous knowledge on climate adaptation can work to reduce the unequal and inequitable distribution of climate impacts on indigenous populations. Leveraging existing collaborations with indigenous communities in Uganda, the project draws on philosophical approaches and empirical observations on the impact of climate change on indigenous communities and the contribution that indigenous adaptation practices can make to UK and international climate adaptation policies.