Description
The paper examines the ability for climate justice organisations in the Global South to influence local and national policy. The paper argues that they can do so beyond In particular, through their control of knowledge, ability to classify the world, ability to affix meaning, their role in the creation and diffusion of rules and norms, and ability to use ‘communication power’ to control, shape and influence the transfer of information. The paper contributes to the growing but still limited scholarly interest in climate justice activism beyond the Global North, and in the role of non-governmental organisations in the framing of environmental challenges and the production of knowledge and ideas. Further, the paper considers how climate activists in the Global South understand ‘climate justice’, and how their efforts at the local level are understood in relation to the global ‘climate emergency’. Though growing in other disciplines, climate justice has had limited engagement with international studies. The paper focuses on the case of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), a climate justice NGO in Durban, South Africa. The organisation has been active in lobbying, reporting and researching on local environmental injustices in Durban, and the implications of climate change on South Africa’s most vulnerable inhabitants. Based on fieldwork, the paper draws on the experiences, opinions, and understandings of climate activism, policymaking, and ‘climate justice’ by these grassroots activists in South Africa.
