Enhancing environmental justice research and praxis: the inclusion of human security, resilience and vulnerabilities literature

Abstract

Despite the diversification in research topics, the increase of academic fields addressing environmental wrongs and the global level reached by the environmental justice discipline, this scholarship still struggles in its effectiveness. To empower sociologists and build bridges that allow more synergistic development between disciplines dealing with environmental wrongs, we examine critical points of divergence and synergy between the fields of environmental justice, human security, coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) and resilience. We discuss powerful tools within these literatures to pinpoint how different fields have approached and addressed the exposure of individuals, groups and places to environmental risks and hazards, with a special emphasis on how environmental justice can be served by cross-fertilisation with other fields of study. Finally, we suggest a new line of argumentation and research to directly enhance environmental justice in communities of concern.